The capital of the Tirolean Alps is in feisty form these days, with thrilling culture and outdoor adventures aplenty.
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Why go to Innsbruck, Austria?
Behind colossal mountains of snow, ice and rock is Austria’s capital of the Tirolean Alps, historic and imperial Innsbruck. The House of Habsburg, once one of the most important ruling dynasties in Europe, had a soft spot for the city, at one point making it the centre of its empire, and still today Innsbruck is home to pleasure palaces, parade grounds and ceremonial domes. Architecturally, it’s as stunning as Vienna or Salzburg, but it also comes densely packed with modern culture, dyed-in-the-wool Tirolean tradition, and – the clincher – it acts as a gateway to mountains, lakes and rivers where you can see Austria’s greatest hits without needing a rental car. Pause on the Nordkette, the city’s easily accessible bank of mountains, and you can almost hear the whooping laughter of locals realising how good they’ve got it.
Certainly, everyone in Innsbruck spends a lot of time outdoors because there are so many thrills here, but that would be to overlook the city’s modern flow. This is a swaggering and restless student city, with a quarter of its 120,000 population in higher education, and that drives a carousel of breakfast clubs, vegan burger bars and cocktail hangouts – the trend is for conscious sustainability, compassionate consumerism and championing the local. And with that as well, Innsbruck is also rewardingly cheap. Small wonder people surrender to the city.
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The best things to do in Innsbruck, Austria
Take the cable car to Nordkette
High above the Inn River, on a plateau at around 7,217 feet (2,200m), the outdoorsy folk of Innsbruck congregate, sharing stories of the day’s adventures atop Nordkette, the city’s north-facing mountain spine. Few cities have immediate access to such a heart-pumping landscape and only 20-minutes after taking the Hungerburgbahn from Congress station and up on the Seegrubenbahn you are deep in yodelling country. Nordkette is part of the near kingdom of Karwendel Nature Park and, even if lung-filling exercise doesn’t appeal, surely Innsbruck‘s highest sundeck does.
Gawp at the Goldenes Dachl
This impressive merchant’s house has been causing a fuss ever since Emperor Maximillian I built the façade in 1500. Otherwise known as the Golden Roof, the photogenic site is, in fact, an alcove balcony plastered with some 2,657 fire-gilded copper tiles and it’s as pretty a spot as you can find in Austria. Especially when it is sunlit at dusk, after which it’s not so hard to imagine medieval jousts replacing the jostling tourists beneath it.
Brave your ears for the Bell Foundry
Hells bells: the Grassmayr Bell Foundry, 400 years and still going strong, is not only the glory of Innsbruck and Austria, but of synagogues, monasteries, cathedrals, mosques and shrines the world over. The ‘glockengiesserei’ is Austria’s oldest family-run business and, ever since 1599, has exported works of chiming bronze around the world. Today, more than a hundred countries are home to its musical symbols and expressions of peace. While the museum and workshop are a window on Innsbruck’s past, more impressive is the bell graveyard – where veteran ding-dongers are sent to retire.
Unearth Imperial Innsbruck
Visiting a tomb hardly gives a holiday a reassuring sense of purpose, but Emperor Maximilian I’s Empty Tomb inside the Court Church is as magnificent as any monument and the enormous mausoleum is a destination in itself. Here, the centrepiece is the Schwarzen Mander, 28 charcoal-black figures in mourning. Reality often struggles to match the fairy-tale appeal of the Europe of old, but that’s not the case at the intoxicating Imperial Palace, or Hofburg. It’s Memorial Hall and State Apartments are open to visitors, with both jewel-boxes of gilded mirrors, chandeliers, candelabras and imaginative frescoes.
Visit the Christmas market
Come December, Innsbruck’s Old Town turns into a life-size snow globe with a variety of markets taking place from Maria-Theresien-Straße to Marktplatz to the Hungerburg. With huge evergreen trees, fairy tale figurines and turmbläser (brass bands) pa rum-pum-pum-ing on the cobblestones, the city has every festive cliché wrapped up. As the winter chill sets in, join locals with a hot fruit punch from one of the 70-odd stalls.
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Where to eat: Innsbruck restaurants & bars
Food is as good a reason to travel as any, but to bring the past to life and to indulge in the spectacular, Innsbruck offers more motivation than most. Homage is paid to the Tyrolean larder in full, with dishes like schweinebraten (roast pork) and sugar-topped strudel less sophisticated than the refined coffee and cake ritual of Vienna but far more comforting. In-the-know Weisses Rössl, the oldest restaurant in the city, epitomises an Austrian hunting lodge and the menu sketches the highlights of the region’s deceptively simple cuisine: stand outs are fall-off-the-fork schnitzel, spinat und kase knödel (spinach and cheese dumplings), cheese spätzle (fried dough-pasta), and Tiroler Gröstl (potato, speck and onion hash). Other old school haunts to try the staples are Gasthaus Goldenes Dachl, Ottoburg, and Restaurant 1809. It’s all or nothing in these places and rarely is anything held back. For something altogether more here and now, go all-out vegan at Swing Kitchen.
It would be easy to spend days in Innsbruck sitting beneath the vaulted terraces on Herzog-Friedrich-Straße that run the length of the Old Town, people watching and drinking froth-topped steins of Zillertal. Many people do just that, but slaking thirst elsewhere is equally satisfying. At tucked-away Blaue Brigitte, one of Austria’s most memorable cocktails bars, day drinking on the rooftop is encouraged long before nightcap time, while 360 Grad, with its floor-to-ceiling glass panorama, puts a whole new perspective on a white wine Kaiserspritzer.
Where to stay: the best Innsbruck hotels
The Penz may be the flagship property in Innsbruck from this group, but Stage 12 is where the smart money is at. It’s an Austrian take on the globe-trotting Ace Hotel brand, with moody, minimalist retro design, slick service and puckish ground floor cocktail bar that is arguably the city’s best, with all sorts of naughtiness served alongside rosemary, truffle and chilli popcorn. Room-wise, there are singles, doubles, triples and family combos, with the loveliest meditatively staring out to Nordkette across the rooftops. Should it be full, try The Penz Hotel across the street, or Penz West Hotel towards the airport.
NALA individuellhotel’s confusing name aside, this boutique bolthole a few minutes’ walk to the Old Town has pan-Asian design, with sensory fountain pond and walled garden, and a style that screams ‘look at me’. From the bar with deer antler taps and stone sculpture to the shimmering tiles and zen-style individualism of the rooms, lofts and apartments, there’s a curious sense of discovery and space at play. Alternatively, for a less schizophrenic hotel right in the thick of things, the new Motel One Innsbruck-Hauptbahnhof will soon open beside the train tracks.
Need to know
British Airways, easyJet and Jet2.com all fly direct from the UK to Innsbruck Airport and its location makes for one of the most dramatic landings and take-offs in Europe. Transfer-wise, the airport is a short 20-minute hop by train or bus into the city centre. Innsbruck Tourism is an excellent resource for planning a trip, and Tirol’s official tourism portal also gives highly recommended itinerary suggestions for exploring the wider region.