Kessel (Hallstatt)
Cave diving in Austria
- Max depth
- 65 m
- Trimix from
- 45 m
- Type
- Sidemount
- Certification (estimate)
- Full cave
- DPV
- Not DPV-suitable
Episodic giant karst spring of the Dachstein and one of the Hirlatzhöhle (>100 km) entrances usable only by divers. Overflows about twice a year on average, then pours violently 200 m down to the lake.
More about Kessel (Hallstatt)
Signed-in divers also see:
- Whether this site fits everyone's certification, gas and gear
- Access, parking and the route from the road
- Exact map pin and navigation
- Depth profile and sumps
- Configuration advice
- Warnings with sources (5)
- DPV suitability
- Driving times from your stay and a plan with the AI instructor
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Current conditions
Visibility, flow and water levels change quickly. Right before your dive, check what other divers report:
- Höhlentauchen in Oberösterreich (blog) ↗
Blog of an Upper Austrian cave diver with reports from the Kessel, the Rötelseehöhle and the Pießling-Ursprung and a list of Austria's longest and deepest sumps (2009–2017).
- VHO – Höhlentauchen (hoehle.at) ↗
Cave-diving pages of the VHO, including the history of the Pießling-Ursprung.
- cavediving.cz ↗
Czech explorer with reports and photos from the Hirschbrunn and the Kessel.
- FST – Cave diving projects ↗
Austrian dive instructor with reports from the Kessel, the Koppenbrüllerhöhle and the Rötelseehöhle.
Plan a cave diving trip to Austria
Enter your team, with certifications, gas and configurations, and see right away which caves fit. With driving times from your stay, fill stations and an AI instructor who thinks along.
Certification requirements, configurations and trimix depths are estimates for planning. Always check them locally and dive within your training. Compiled from web research (Wikipedia de/en, the 'Höhlentauchen in Oberösterreich' blog, VHO (hoehle.at), norbertleutner.at, cavediving.cz, FST (fst-int.com), lochstein.de, meinbezirk.at, Stodertalfreunde, showcaves.com, schauhoehlen.at, Dachstein Salzkammergut, wasserlochklamm.at, EnnstalWiki, europeanwaterfalls.com, gollinger-wasserfall.com, Gipfeltreffen, ORF Steiermark, Salzburg cave law (jusline), Land Oberösterreich, Notruf NÖ, GTÜM, Austrian cave rescue association, hallstatt.net, salzkammergut.at, nautilus.at, attersee-tauchsportservice.com; Sept 2026). Pins from Wikipedia, showcaves.com and a car park (europeanwaterfalls.com); the Kessel, Hirschbrunn and Rötelseehöhle have no pin. ~ = estimate. Rules change — check locally.