Innsbruck
Introduction
Innsbruck is the capital of the Austrian state of Tyrol, set on the River Inn where it meets the Wipp Valley. That valley gives the city its direct route south to the Brenner Pass, the crossing through the Alps that has long tied Innsbruck to the country beyond.
Before you go
Innsbruck sits in the Alps, surrounded by mountains, and its distance from the coast and altitude give it a continental climate. Winters are cold and snowy, while summers are generally warmer and wetter with highly variable weather: hot, dry days are common but can be followed by a cool, rainy spell, and summer nights are cool, with temperatures often dropping quickly after sunset. Pack for changeable conditions and bring layers you can add or shed through the day.
The city is compact and easy to get around without a car — it has a very good public transport system and a partial ban on cars in parts of the historic old town. The old town itself holds many buildings surviving from the Middle Ages and modern times, and the city has two universities and several colleges, which keep its nightlife lively. For planning, the Innsbruck tourism website is the place to start.
Getting there
Innsbruck Airport (Kranebitten) is the largest airport in Tyrol, with scheduled flights from Vienna, Frankfurt, Berlin, London (Gatwick and Heathrow), Manchester, Bristol, Antwerp, Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Prague, among others. Seasonal services, mostly during the skiing season, reach many more destinations in the UK, the Netherlands, Greece and Scandinavia, as well as Berlin, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Kyiv and Moscow, and charter flights serve several German cities, especially in winter. Bus line F runs to the city centre every 15 minutes (every 30 minutes on Sundays). You can also fly into Munich, Memmingen, Salzburg, St. Gallen-Altenrhein or Friedrichshafen and continue by train.
Direct trains run from Venice, Bolzano/Bozen, Zürich, Munich, Graz and Vienna (via Linz and Salzburg), among many other places. OBB Nightjet sleeper trains run twice a week to Brussels, taking 15 hours via Munich, Cologne, Aachen and Liège, and to Amsterdam via Munich, Nuremberg, Hanover and Hamburg. The main station, Innsbruck Hauptbahnhof, sits at Südtiroler Platz in the east of the city centre, and several stations serve suburban and regional connections. Coming from Germany with the Deutschland-Ticket, take a local or regional train to Mittenwald and stay on the same train to Innsbruck; buying the ticket on the OBB website costs less than on the Deutsche Bahn counterpart. The bus station is right next to the main train station, with local, interregional and international services to Seefeld, Wipptal, Ötztal and Zillertal, and international buses offer a budget-friendly alternative to the train, such as from Munich with a stop in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
By car, Innsbruck is reached via the Inntalautobahn (A12) and the Brennerautobahn (A13), which intersect south of the city. Expect heavy traffic on both motorways during holiday seasons, when Europeans head in or out of Italy over the Brenner Pass in summer or to and from ski resorts in winter, particularly at weekends; snowfall makes things worse, so tune in to Radio Tyrol at 96.4 MHz FM for the latest updates. Cyclists can reach Innsbruck on the Inntalradweg from Passau to St. Moritz, signposted even within the city with small green road signs.
Getting around
Most day visitors never touch public transport: the Old Town sights sit within easy walking distance of one another. The classic route into the centre starts at the Hauptbahnhof — leave the station, cross at the crosswalk, turn right, then take the next street on your left and follow it to Maria-Theresien Strasse. Turn right there and keep going; the street carries you into the pedestrian zone and on to the Golden Roof, a short and pleasant ten to fifteen minutes on foot. If you arrive by car, note that large parts of downtown are fee-based short-term parking zones, so for longer stays it's worth parking off-site and switching to public transport.
Trams and buses are run by Innsbrucker Verkehrsbetriebe alongside private operators, all under the Verkehrsverbund Tirol umbrella, so one ticket is valid across buses, trams and trains. Vehicles are modern low-floor, and you can board at any door and pay the driver, with no exact change needed; validate your ticket on your first bus or tram. Some bus lines split into different destinations en route, so watch the displays inside and out and listen for the announcements. Daily and weekly tickets come from multi-language machines at many stations. Two tram lines are especially handy: line 6 climbs to the mountain village of Igls through upland forest, stopping near Schloß Ambras and the Lansersee bathing lake, and its terminus falls inside the city fare zone; the red STB trams run through the Stubaital, giving access to Bergisel at Sonneburgerhof and, via a short walk from Nockhofweg in Mutters, the Mutteralm skiing area. The "TS" sightseeing bus links Schloß Ambras, Bergisel and Alpenzoo with downtown on special fares. Cycling is common, though city bike paths are not well interlinked, and the Stadtrad shared bikes require registration with a credit card.
Where to stay
Innsbruck's budget beds are limited but practical. A campsite at Kranebitten, on Kranebitter Allee, serves those travelling with their own tent or van, while a youth hostel on Reichenauerstraße offers simple dorm-style accommodation for backpackers and younger travellers.
Mid-range hotels cluster around the city centre and the Pradler district. Hotel Binders sits on Dr. Glatzstrasse, while Hotel Grauer Bär is close to the university on Universitätsstrasse. Hotel AlpinPark on Pradlerstrasse and the Alphotel on Bernhard-Höfel-Strasse round out the moderate options, the latter sharing its address with the Austrotel. At the top end, Hotel Innsbruck on Innrain places you in the historic centre with a lounge bar and indoor pool, and is among the most expensive places to stay in the region. Hotel the PENZ on Adolf Pichler Platz and Stage 12 on Maria-Theresien-Strasse offer four-star comfort with wellness facilities and a trendy bar, while the Tivoli Hotel on Olympiastrasse sits near the Olympiaworld area.
Food & drink
Innsbruck's budget eating is concentrated in the city centre, and much of it is tavern-style Austrian cooking or quick, filling ethnic food. Gasthaus Anich on Anichstraße is a real tavern with big portions, mostly locals, and separate smoking and non-smoking areas. For something fast, Magic Kebab near the old town looks like a 1970s American diner and serves large portions; Simay on Innrain is a kebab shop with good pizza and a few vegetarian options; and Piccola casa on Universitätsstraße is the place to go if you want a dürüm that is actually spicy when you order it spicy, plus a quickly served garlic soup. Yummy Noodles on Marktgraben looks like a simple diner from outside but is large and cosy inside, with good noodles and sushi, while Ristorante Leonardo da Vinci on Salurner Straße serves Italian food in a setting that feels like an old Napoli pizzeria.
For mid-range meals, Shere Punjab sits near the Golden Roof across the bridge and serves Indian food in generous portions, and FloJos in the old town does Mexican, Caribbean and Creole food in a laidback setting with big servings. Mamma Mia on Kiebachgasse is known for its salmon tagliatelle, and Cafe & Pub Hocus Pocus south of the historic centre serves simple, good food in a friendly atmosphere with board games to pass the time. Further out, Buzzihütte is reached by bus and a steep walk uphill and serves traditional cuisine, including the Eiterbeule, which is the same thing as a Wiener Schnitzel. At the higher end, Il Convento on Burggraben serves Italian food with a recommended black risotto, and Das Schindler on Maria-Theresien-Straße offers high-class cuisine with a great ambience and a tasty kingfish.
For drinking, Zappa Music Bar near the university has special offers and events every day of the week and draws a student crowd, so you may need to call ahead for a table. Limerick Bill's Irish Pub near the old town is lively and usually crowded with students and visitors from around the world, with bilingual staff. Weekender is a place to have a drink and dance, with national and international live bands almost every week. The Galway Bay Pub is an authentic Irish pub over two large floors, with pub quizzes on Mondays outside summer and an open mic night on Thursdays. Treibhaus next to the old town is a spacious café with a garden, jazz salon and two big event halls, hosting concerts, screenings, comedy and dances almost daily, with free concerts on Fridays and food and snacks served in the café until midnight.
What to see and do
Innsbruck's sights cluster tightly enough that you can cover the centre on foot. Start in the old town, where the Hofkirche holds the monumental tomb of Emperor Maximilian I, surrounded by the larger-than-life bronze figures known as the "schwarze Mander". Nearby, the Cathedral of St. James is a Baroque rebuild with works by Lucas Cranach the Elder, and the Helbling House on Herzog-Friedrich-Strasse shows off a Rococo stucco facade that looks almost like icing. Along Maria-Theresien-Straße you'll pass two free landmarks: the St. Anna Column, carved from Tyrolean marble, and the Triumphal Arch at the southern end of the street. Across the river, the Armoury served the city's defences from the early 16th century and now houses the Tyrolean State History Museum, with its courtyard used for open-air cinema and concerts in summer.
Above the city, Ambras Castle is a Renaissance palace built for Archduke Ferdinand II and holds his art and curiosity collections along with portrait and armour displays and the Spanish Hall; queues can be long, so arriving just before opening helps. On Bergisel, Zaha Hadid's ski jump replaced the stadium used for the Winter Olympics and is now a city landmark — you can climb the steps or take the funicular, and the café at the top has views over the city and mountains along with good Apfelstrudel. Other options include the Alpinist Association Museum in the Hofburg, devoted to mountaineering history, and the Anatomical Museum, which displays real specimens and body parts. For churches, the Wiltener Basilika has Rococo stucco and the nearby Stift Wilten is a Premonstratensian monastery with a Baroque collegiate church; both are free to enter. The Sightseer bus links the major sights, though a regular public transport line will usually get you to the same place more cheaply, if more slowly, and the Innsbruck-Card covers entry to many sights plus transport and a one-time trip up the Nordkette, Patscherkofel and Axamer Lizum — worth comparing against a plain transport ticket before you buy.
When to go
Innsbruck has a continental climate, which means the seasons shape your trip in very different ways. Winters are cold and snowy, with snow on the ground in the city and in the mountains, so pack for genuine winter conditions if you visit then.
Summers are generally warmer but wetter, and the weather is highly variable. Hot, dry days are quite common, yet a cool and rainy spell can follow, and nights are cool with temperatures often dropping quickly after sunset. Bring layers so you can adapt as conditions change through the day.
Three days in Innsbruck
Day one: Start in Innsbruck itself, getting your bearings along the River Inn before turning to the old town, whose roots reach back to the Middle Ages. Note that many places close on Sundays, so plan your first day around what is open. If you arrive by air, Innsbruck Airport at Kranebitten sits close to the city, with seasonal flights from the UK, the Netherlands, Greece and Scandinavia, and connections from Vienna, Frankfurt, Berlin, London Gatwick and Heathrow, Manchester, Bristol, Antwerp, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Prague, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Kyiv and Moscow.
Day two: Head out into the Alps of Tyrol. The Wipp Valley and the Brenner Pass give you a sense of the terrain that has shaped travel through this part of Austria for centuries. In winter the mountains are bitterly cold and snowbound; in summer the valleys are mild and green. Buses cover many routes, though services are thinner on Sundays.
Day three: Give the city a final morning at an easy pace, returning to the River Inn and the streets you liked best, then pick up anything you missed. Keep the day flexible if you are flying out, since seasonal schedules from Innsbruck Airport vary through the year.