Sightseeing in Innsbruck

The weather forecast wasn’t looking great for a hike, so we decided to catch the train into Innsbruck and explore the city. Our first stop was tourist information where we bought a 2-day city pass, having decided this was good value for all the places we wanted to visit.

We wandered into the old town first, stopping to admire the beautiful buildings, especially The Goldenes Dachl with its roof adorned with 2657 copper tiles. Then, after a stop for breakfast, we climbed 133 steps to the top of the City Tower. From the 31 metre high viewing platform we could see across the medieval streets, to the River Inn and the snowy mountains beyond. Beautiful!

Back down on the ground, we wandered through the Christmas market stalls, which were just opening up, to the river beyond. After taking some photographs of the colourful buildings on the opposite bank, we walked to the station for the Hungarburg funicular. The curvy stations were designed by the British architect Zara Hadid and inspired by the snow and ice in the region. I’m not sure she’d be impressed to know we thought they looked like slugs!

The modern funicular took us through a tunnel, then across the river before heading steeply uphill through the snowy trees to a viewing platform in Hungerburg. We decided against taking the cable car higher up the mountain because the cloud was so low so, after enjoying the city panorama, we headed back down on the funicular. Having managed to get to the front both on the way up and down, we thoroughly enjoyed the round trip and the wonderful views.

Back in the city, we took the hop-on hop-off bus to Schloss Ambras, a little way outside the city. This castle belonged to Archduke Ferdinand II (1529-1595) who established various collections of art and curiosities. It is said to be the first museum in the world that is still in its original situation. I particularly enjoyed the marvellous Spanish hall, 43 metres long and 13 metres wide, with colourful portraits of Tyrolean princes and a beautifully carved wooden ceiling. The gardens at the castle sound lovely for a wander but it was such a damp day, reminiscent of home, that we spent our time inside the castle rooms and galleries, conscious that we had to get back to the bus.

Our next stop was the Bergisel Stadium and ski jump, where the Olympics took place in 1964 and 1976. It was rebuilt in 2001, to the design of Zara Hadid. As we went up in the lift, I couldn’t imagine flying down the ramp, launching into the air and landing in front of the stadium full of fans. Scary! We definitely developed a new respect for Eddie the Eagle!

We were disappointed that the Panorama Restaurant at the top of the tower above the ski jump was closed for a private event. Instead, we found another restaurant and had another typical Tirolean meal, while waiting for the bus… they were rather infrequent today. On the plus side, all the attractions were quiet… a novelty for us, being used to school holidays!

Back in the town, the bus dropped us at the station because it had finished for the day, so we walked through to visit Lumagica. I didn’t have high expectations for this, expecting it to be aimed at children, but it was included in our city pass and I was pleasantly surprised. The trail was a kilometre long through the Hofgarten park with various light installations. We especially enjoyed the interactive ones, including a couple where we had to kiss to make the lights come on, and another where we competed to get balls to the top of the display… off course, John won!

Finally, we meandered back to the historic centre, past the Inn Bridge that the city’s named after, and the market. By now the Christmas market stalls were in full swing and the old streets were full of people. We managed to find a restaurant for dinner before catching the train back to Matrei. With almost 30,000 steps, it was a tiring day, but Innsbruck is beautiful. I’d throughly recommend visiting.