10 Reasons to Visit Innsbruck Austria - Capital of the Alps! - As We Travel

Last Updated on October 10, 2022 by Alice Benny

Innsbruck Austria – Innsbruck is one of the most beautiful cities in the world, a city that boasts an incredible setting between the Alps and the Tyrolean Alps, in which you can enjoy a wide range of attractions and activities.

In recent years, Innsbruck has been on a seemingly unstoppable growth curve: The number of inhabitants increased by over 3% in just two years, while annual visitors rose by 5% in that period. In 2017 alone, over 3 million people visited our city’s many sites and attractions! With such high tourist numbers comes all sorts of challenges – from parking to crowds to traffic jams to security issues – but we want all our visitors to have as enjoyable an experience as possible.

What was supposed to be a comfortable 1.5 hr train ride through the Alps to Innsbruck, instead turned out to be a 5-hour train ride in the wrong direction. Because of an avalanche on the track, the train had to take a ridiculously long way around, going in the completely wrong direction (via Munich). The train we would be taking instead also got canceled, and 2 hours later we were still at the same station, wishing we would have hired a car for the day instead.

When we finally arrived late in the afternoon we were absolutely exhausted, but as soon as we walked out of the train station, our mood lightened up: Many cities don’t live up to your expectations, so we usually try not to have any at all, but when it came to Innsbruck we couldn’t help but to expect something great – and I’m happy to say that Innsbruck definitely lived up to its reputation…

Innsbruck is the capital of the Austrian Alps and is home to several of Europe’s highest peaks: Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau, as well as the Alps’ most famous ski resorts: Garmisch and Hochgurgl. Innsbruck is also home to numerous other attractions including the Museum of Natural History, the Schladminger Alpenfest mountain festival, and horse races at the Innsbruck Stadion.

It is a popular tourist destination with more than a million visitors annually and more than 30 million tourists have passed through it in recent years. The city has been historically linked with Alpine culture and tourism, which is why it was a popular location for films such as ‘The Prestige’.

Innsbruck Austria Capital of the Alps

Innsbruck has everything any other typical city has: an Old Town, museums, tourist attractions and incredible churches – but there is one thing that makes this place stand out from most other cities in the world: The Alps. Known as the capital of the Alps, Innsbruck is one of the largest ski resorts in the Alps, giving you the best of both worlds: a vibrant city-life and stunning nature.

No matter what direction you look, majestic snow-capped mountains dominate the view, giving you access to 7 ski fields and a great free ride park in winter, and in summer plenty of walking trails along with one of the best mountain bike tracks in Europe. You don’t really realize how close the ski fields and sport opportunities are until you see people in their full ski gear walking down the main street, on their way to the slopes.

The Top 10 Reasons to Visit Innsbruck

Innsbruck is an amazing place to visit. There are many things to see and do in the city, but there are also many interesting people, beautiful architecture, and an amazing cityscape. Even if you don’t want to spend a whole day wandering around the city, there are still many attractions that you can see in just a few hours.

A trip to Innsbruck is not just about seeing all the sights; it’s about experiencing a new culture and sharing its special atmosphere with the people who live here. Innsbruck is like no other city in Austria – but it isn’t alone. The city and country have developed into a cosmopolitan place, serving as one of Europe’s most culturally diverse cities.

The Alps boast some of Europe’s most spectacular scenery: from snow-capped peaks in winter or blazing sun on summer days, the Alps offer something for everyone.

Innsbruck is like no other city in Austria – but it isn’t alone. The city and country have developed into a cosmopolitan place, serving as one of Europe’s most culturally diverse cities. From ancient Roman ruins to elegant architecture worthy of a royal palace (Herzog Albrecht), Innsbruck boasts more than enough to draw visitors from all over the world.

The Alps

For those who have never seen the Alps, it is a stunning sight with the peaks of the Matterhorn, which rises to an awe-inspiring 988 meters (3,353 feet) and is a popular destination for climbers. The Alps offer an incomparable view of the Alps. A trip up to the Matterhorn and back down to Europe from Innsbruck in just over 2 hours takes you from one of the most gorgeous spots in Europe to another. On top of that, there are two other mountains – Eiger and Jungfrau – that rise up to heights of almost 3,000 meters.

The Old Town

If you have any doubt as to why Innsbruck is nicknamed “The Capital Of The Alps,” then I suggest checking out this video below: It gives a very nice overview of the history and culture of Innsbruck and its many highlights in less than 15 minutes! It is definitely worth watching!

Beautiful Churches

The churches are beautiful too! Here are just some highlights: St Nicholas Church , on top of Muhlberg, has one of the most beautiful frescoes ever done by Flemish artists in Germany. St Mary’s Church on top of Muhlberg has one of the most impressive carvings ever created by Flemish artists in Germany. St Catherine’s Church on top of Kastel Kirchberg has one of the most beautiful stained glass windows ever created by Flemish artists in Germany.

Of course, not all churches are based around frescos or carvings; many are made entirely out of stone or even concrete (such as St Michael’s Basilica with its concrete dome). Whatever their purpose, they all make beautiful additions to any trip to Innsbruck Austria! You can access more information about these churches here.

Skiing & Snowboarding

Innsbruck is home to some incredible skiing and snowboarding locations such as Hahnenkamm slopes (the highest ski slope in Austria), Zell am See , Söll , Wengernalp & Meiringen . If you want something a little more exciting for your day on skis than just skiing at an Austrian ski resort (which I wouldn’t recommend anyway), you can head out onto Austria’s famous ski slopes anytime from

Innsbruck Austria Views

The abundant nature and beautiful mountains surrounding you makes it impossible even for the most stubborn of urban people to resist the urge to get up high. Innsbruck is all about the views, and there are plenty of places to get them; Bergsiel ski jump, the City tower and Nordkette are just a few of them.

We took the Nordkettenbahn up to the ski field, sat down in the sun chairs and embraced the view. There is something about getting above a city and seeing it from a distance that truly makes you appreciate it, and getting a look over the endless number of mountain peaks reaching out to the horizon, makes you feel very small.

Innsbruck Austria Cupcake Buildings & Other Yummy Sweets

Painted in pastel colors of green, yellow, pink and blue, the buildings reminded me of cupcakes, and the white fluffy decorations made the icing on the cake. Walking around the warren of cobblestoned streets in the Old Town, soaking up the atmosphere and enjoying a coffee and cake in the sun at an outdoor seating was a great way to spend a day in the city.

Talking about coffee, Austria has one of the oldest cafe cultures in Europe, and the cakes are to die for! While the cafe culture really derives from Vienna, it’s flourishing in Innsbruck as well. The famous cafe in Vienna which invented the Sacher torte can be found in this city too, and on the opposite side of that cafe is another cafe specializing in what Austria is perhaps even more famous for: the strudel…

We stuffed ourselves full of different types of strudel (there is more than just apple flavor!), ice cream and cakes until we couldn’t take another bite, and then continued exploring the streets of Innsbruck. In many ways, Innsbruck reminded me of my home town, which is probably why I felt so “at home” there. It is hard to pinpoint exactly what it was that reminded me of Gothenburg, but I think it was the relaxed and friendly vibe, one that you find more often in places that are larger than towns but smaller than cosmopolitan cities – a vibe that you find in places like Innsbruck.

Innsbruck’s Best Attractions

After spending 1 month in Innsbruck we realized the city didn’t want us hanging around anymore – it was kicking us out! Having to take care of thousands of new students desperate for a place to stay, Innsbruck simply didn’t have time to deal with us as well. So after two full weeks of apartment searching, we decided that while we really liked the city, it just wasn’t meant to be.

Apartments were taken within hours of being put online. The students were desperate for ANYTHING! We were not …This photo was taken in a small village in the Austrian alps. And is living proof that places like in those old fairy tales still exist today – we loved the outdoor lifestyle there and could hardly leave – Sound of Music anyone???

Innsbruck has all of the things you are looking for: an Old Town, museums, tourist attractions and incredible churches. But there is one thing that makes this place stand out from most other cities in the world: The Alps. Known as the capital of the Alps, Innsbruck is one of the most popular vacation locations in the world.

In my view, that’s a perfect example of why we need to be careful with what we call “attractions”. There are plenty of points where a city can compete with other places for tourists’ attention and generate revenue (for example, in New York there is a big market for its art galleries; in London there is also a huge market for its museums).

But it would be wrong to claim that Innsbruck has all its bases covered: it still has to compete with Lake Constance (home to Switzerland’s second-largest city Berne), which attracts tourists eager to escape their daily routine and spend some time on Lake Zurich (home of Zurich International Airport).

And if we are so confident about what Innsbruck has that we can just call it Austria Capital Of The Alps? No way! This really doesn’t make sense. We should focus on what makes this place different from most other places:

The Alps, For example, there are several lakes which can’t be reached by any means by people who live here (Sächsische Seenplatte/Spitzsee, Zürichsee/Zurich Airport) – but who wants to go up into them anyway? Well then, why not just go skiing on top? And it’s not like people don’t already go skiing on top anyway – but this is pretty much a special case!

So you could say that there exists an active tourist niche here which doesn’t exist anywhere else – but what does it mean? It means that they have an active recreation and leisure market here which hasn’t been covered by any other city but Innsbruck!

And best of all – they have room for expansion! There are plenty of places where you can ski without resorting to airports or hotels – but as I’ll show below, no matter how hot your ski season may be right now, you never know when winter will come again. And if you think about new markets… well then some people might want to stay outside during cold winters too…

The Hohe Tauern – a mountain range in Austria, with some of Europe’s highest peaks – such as 3,473 meters (11,834 feet) peak Königstuhl.
The Stubai – an Alpine valley that stretches from Austria all the way to Italy; it is one of nine valleys that make up the Salzkammergut Alps.
The Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen – a mountain range in Germany and Austria, it is home to numerous summits as well as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a monument to Kaiser Wilhelm I.
Tibetan Buddhism has been practiced in Austria for centuries. The oldest Buddhist monastery in Europe is located in Vienna’s New Town district known as St Stephen’s Church.

A close friend asked me where exactly Innsbruck is located so I figured I would get an easy answer: “Just above Austria”. He had just moved there and wanted to know if anyone knew where he could find this town and its best attractions. So, let me take you on a brief trip through Innsbruck’s history.

Since an early time people had been coming here to practice their religion. Over time, these buildings were converted into churches where monks lived; these monasteries are still active today.

As time went by and more people came here for jobs and other reasons they started to build more monasteries which grew into Orthodox churches during 17th century when the Holy Roman Empire started letting religious people build up their own churches without having to go through Rome first.

With all this happening new ideas emerged about how you could do your own church without having church going monks who might get jealous or offended while they are doing something completely different like building houses or washing cars or whatever… And then the idea hit them that they might not need priests at all! Nowadays, there are over 60 different kinds of churches around town but only five have priests at all! But why don’t we talk about our own cathedral/church? It was built in 1856 by Franz Kne

Small village in the Austrian alps

We didn’t want to share a room in someone’s home, or pay €1500 extra just to get hold of an apartment – so we have decided to move on, or more precisely, we’re moving north into the wild..! Ok, perhaps that was a “little” exaggerated, but the place we’ve decided to move to is one of those places you would like to find yourself in when the rest of the world falls apart – so what better place to spend the end of 2012 than in Norway?

Norway is a country we both have been longing to see more of, and we’re looking forward to see if it really is what everyone always claims; the most beautiful country in the world. Having found a great 2 room apartment in Trysil (Norway’s biggest ski resort) located only 3 mins from the slopes, we decided to just go for it and spend the next 6 months in Norway.

That’s the blessing and the curse with being able to be wherever you want – a blessing because you can do whatever the hell you want, but a curse for the very same reason. The students in Innsbruck HAD to make it work, we didn’t – so we moved on. Sometimes, having too many options makes it more difficult than if there was only one way to go.

Other Things to Do in the Innsbruck Area

Innsbruck Austria is a perfect city for enjoying a local life. This lovely region can be found in the Alps, in the middle of the country, and in the centre of Südbayern. The capital of the Alps is located at the highest point of Austria, at an altitude of 1,960 meters. The city was founded in 1420 by Duke Albert I and has since always been a centre for trade and culture. Innsbruck is also home to numerous attractions such as:

The Hallenberg Castle – Built to house two kings (Ferdinand II and Maximilian I) and their families, this castle was once occupied by Rudolf II (1716-1785) who later became king in 1711.
The Schlossgraben – A grand Renaissance style palace built in 1665 by Duke Maximilian III, it is now home to the Kunsthistorisches Museum
The Dom – Situated next to the Schlossgraben on a hill overlooking Innsbruck, this church was built between 1587-1602 by Charles V as a wedding present for his son Philip II. It has been renovated several times since then and it still holds one of Austria’s largest collections of early paintings and sculptures – some dating back to 900 years ago

People often ask me about my favourite thing about Innsbruck – because it’s not traditionally considered part of ‘Austria’ – but that would be an understatement! Many people from all over Europe come here to visit its many attractions (from castles to churches) or just enjoy its beautiful scenery . . . or maybe just come for a stroll along “The Promenade” (also known as “Südbayern”).

There are so many things you can do in this lovely little town with such beautiful views that you’ll probably want to do them all! And if you’re travelling with children . . . well then you’ll be able to get even more out of your trip! This charming city has something for everyone! And don’t forget: classical music concerts are held at 150 different places around Innsbruck every day throughout the year! This could easily make it one of your favourite cities on your trip too!

Innsbruck is a city located in Austria, and is the capital of the Land of Tyrol. It has the highest mountain in Europe, the Zwimmererkopf (Zwimmenkopf), which at 2,107 metres (7,970 ft) is second only to the Matterhorn in Switzerland. The town is located on the southern slopes of a mountain range named after it: the Alps of Tyrol.

Bolzano

The nearest major city is Bolzano to its north, which lies across a valley from Innsbruck; Bolzano’s proximity to Innsbruck has resulted in several railway lines being built together with their own terminal stations. As with most Alpine cities, Innsbruck’s climate varies greatly depending on its altitude above sea level. Its winters are mild and wet and its summers are hot and dry. The town’s temperature reaches 18–22°C during the day, but stays lower at night due to prevailing anti-clockwise winds that blow over the Alps’ northern side.

International Events

Innsbruck hosts numerous international events every year, including big music festivals such as Rock im Park (Worldwide Rock Festival), FIS Alpine World Ski Championships and Stadtrundfahrt. It also hosts an annual cycling event known as Tour de la garrison (Tour of Garrison) and world championships for bobsleigh and luge. Since 2013 it has been hosting many events for motorcycling: zdvultra tour deutschland , zdvultra race of 2017 .

Tourist Attractions

Major tourist attractions include:

The Austrian Parliament Building
Hohensalzburg Fortress
Salzburg Cathedral
Salzburg Castle
Schloss Tirol – a hotel built around a former monastery founded by Emperor Frederick III
Schloss Schönau – a palace built by Emperor Joseph II on the ruins of an old medieval castle
Snowmass Ski Resort
Zugspitze – Germany’s highest mountain peak
Älpliina Ski Resort – home of Austria’s largest ski resort with 3 lifts and over 1 million skiers per season since 2001
Wipptal Valley Race/Kangaloo/Leichtzug – features one of Europe’s largest downhill ski areas
Meiringen Valley Race/Kangaloo/Leichtzug – features Europe’s largest cross-country ski area
Wipptalspitze-Kangaloo-Leichtz

Check out our video from a day exploring Innsbruck below:

After Portugal, we continued for a 4 day weekend getaway with Skyscanner to Bergamo, before continuing to our “final destination” Innsbruck, Austria.

Where to Stay in Innsbruck

A lot of people are going to Innsbruck for their skiing vacation. Whether you’re a skier, a mountain biker or a snowboarder, it is hard not to fall in love with the Austrian Alps. They’re so beautiful, with that blue sky and the white fluffy snow – and with ski resorts like Salzburg, Innsbruck and Kitzbuehel within an easy drive. But if you don’t have time to go skiing or snowboarding yourself, but still want to book your hotel room in Innsbruck, there are some good hotels near the slopes.

But where do you go? Are there any good hotels around Salzburg? What about Innsbruck? Well, if you’ve chosen to stay in Austria for your vacation you might have heard of the Austrian capital Vienna – but maybe not.

Vienna’s Park Inn by Radisson Blu

You can spend your entire trip relaxing at Vienna’s Park Inn by Radisson Blu when you don’t need to ski or wade through snow – or even if you want to venture outside Vienna’s city center on foot! The park Inn is not just an inn – it’s also a pretty cool place to eat and drink at night too!

The only thing that really matters is that the hotel has great reviews online and will be reasonably priced for those who are spending time on their own in Austria.

Inn Hotel Innsbruck

The Inn Hotel Innsbruck is the perfect choice for a holiday or business trip to Innsbruck. It is the ideal place to base yourself in the city and enjoy all the wonders of this beautiful Alpine capital. It is located close to the historic centre and offers an excellent location for shopping, sightseeing and leisure activities.

If you are planning a business trip, then you should definitely consider staying at the Inn Hotel Innsbruck. It is located close to the historic centre and offers an excellent location for shopping, sightseeing and leisure activities. The hotel is one of the oldest hotels in Austria and was established in 1891 by Ernst Gansz.

The hotel offers 301 inviting rooms with a variety of amenities that include complimentary Wi-Fi, in-house meeting facilities and currency exchange facilities.

Guests can enjoy a range of dining options including local Austrian cuisine served in several restaurants located on site that feature international dishes. A wide range of entertainment options are also available, including tickets to theatre performances and sporting events such as horse riding.

Flying “Everywhere”

We often find it very time-consuming looking for good flight deals, especially when it doesn’t really matter where you go, only where you travel from. We experienced this problem again earlier this summer when looking for a flight from Asia to Europe – it didn’t matter where in Europe we ended up, as long as we got there.

Back then we didn’t know had this “Everywhere” feature where all you had to do was to enter the destination you flew from, and they would find the best deals to destinations all over the world from your airport.

We spent days searching airport to airport to compare the prices, something which would have easily been done in a few minutes with this feature. This time around, we tried the feature for the first time, and found a great deal to Bergamo, and from there continuing to Innsbruck. Perfect!

Why InnsBruck

There is no other city like Innsbruck. It is the one place where most of the world’s cycling starts and finishes. The amazing thing about Innsbruck is that it is a perfect blend of old and new. It has the history of an ancient city and modern amenities like a large international airport, a trendy new shopping centre, a sophisticated nightlife and an abundance of restaurants that are just waiting to be discovered by visitors.

The Alps are a very special place. They can be great as a tourist site, but they also have a lot to offer in terms of serious business. There is the Old Town, with its gorgeous architecture and cobbled streets. For the business person, there are banks and offices, the shopping centers and the latest technology. And if you live in Innsbruck or just visit it regularly, you will have no trouble finding an office during your stay there to work before you go out and explore.