Incredible Innsbruck

You’ll feel wonderful visiting the beautiful capital of the Tirol region, the city of Innsbruck.

Ringed by alpine peaks, many of them home to ski areas, you’ll enjoy a very different kind of ski holiday.

Firstly, your arrival will be fast and smooth with Innsbruck’s small friendly airport and train station just minutes from your accommodation and the ski slopes. For drivers it’s also easy to reach with great motorway connections.

Then, with your affordable Ski Plus City pass, you’ll have immediate access to no less than 12 separate ski centres surrounding the city, with fast and easy public transport to them included in your pass. Altogether the pass covers almost 300km of slopes at centres ranging from smaller family-friendly resorts, to freeride Mecca’s, hosts of multiple Olympic downhill races and snowsure glacier slopes over 3,000m high.  It’s an incredible range and depth of on-snow experiences.

Innsbruck has a very rich cultural and historical heritage, with evidence of this around every corner as you walk its enticing streets, particularly in the historic Old Town. There’s the famous Golden Roof, the Imperial Palace and numerous museums and galleries offer an insight into the history and culture of the region.

Staying in this perfect-sized, historic and vibrant city close to nature adds a whole other dimension to your ski holiday. There are so many things to do, great dining experiences, fantastic shopping, amazing cultural events and your Ski Plus City pass gives you access to many of the city’s visitor attractions and non-ski sports facilities too to deliver one of the best ski holidays you’ve ever had.

In Austria, that kind of feeling that’s everything is going your way and set up for you to have the best time is called “Lebensgefühl” …and we all need of much of it as we can get!

The Ski Areas

There are no less than 12 ski resorts in the Innsbruck region and the Stubai Valley, offering something for everyone and all included on the Ski Plus City pass, as is the bus to them from your city accommodation. The city has hosted three Winter Olympic Games, more than anywhere else, which has led to the development of excellent facilities and means you can ski Olympic slopes here.

Axamer Lizum is one of the larger centres closest to the city and offers 300 hectares of open terrain for freeriders. The Muttereralm is a family friendly centre above the city and the snowsure Stubai Glacier has 35 slopes and a long season that starts in mid-autumn and lasts well into spring.

The Patscherkofel is another great choice. Offering amazing views over the city, there are well groomed slopes here suited to both beginners and advanced skiers and it is a great choice for families.

There are many other destinations to decide on which to pick each morning. Contenders for experienced skiers searching a challenge include the Figln on the Nordkette by the end of the winter season – fast and fun.

You can ski in the evening too if you can’t get enough on-snow-time in the day with Kühtai offering floodlit night skiing.

Activities in an Around The City

Innsbruck has a lively city centre with shopping, restaurants and cultural attractions as well as great sports facilities and a lively evening scene.

Most activities you can think of are available either in the city itself or one of the surrounding ski villages, be it snowshoeing or tobogganing to something with a little more high octane adrenaline like winter climbing.  There are also plenty of swimming and spa facilities and, unusually for a ski destinations, museums, galleries and historic buildings like palaces to visit.

The famous Golden Roof, the Imperial Palace, the historic Old Town and numerous museums and galleries offer an insight into the history and culture of the region.

Cross-country skiing is a wonderful activity if you wish to realty embrace the natural environment in winter, travelling through the beautiful landscape on skinny skis under your own steam. The sunny Mieminger Plateau in particularly highly regarded for cross country skiing with some 80 kilometres of trails winding past snow-covered forests and pretty villages with the spectacular backdrop of the Tirolean Alps behind them all.

Or of course you don’t need to ski downhill or cross country, you can simply hike on one of the many cleared winter hiking trails in and around the city. The Sellrain Valley is a beautiful spot for a winter hike surrounded by magnificent nature, but there are many more. Another popular winter hiking spot is Oberperfuss where well-maintained paths through the snowy landscape take you to both breathtaking viewpoints and cosy mountain huts. The path up to the Rosskoglhütte hut is a favourite, opening up marvellous views of the Inn Valley and surrounding mountains

Tobogganing is another popular activity possible at several ski areas around the city. It’s something that everyone can have great fun joining in together. The 1.4km long toboggan run at Kühtai is the highest in Tirol at over 2,000 metres altitude and is illuminated for evening use until 10.30pm. Before you start your run down you can stop for refreshment and to take in the view at the Graf Ferdinand House. There’s another toboggan run offering another collection of likely thrills and spills for the whole family on the Muttereralm. It drops quickly through snow-covered forests and stunning winter landscapes providing an adrenaline rush and sense of sheer fun that you’ll love.

A visit to the toboggan hut whilst you’re there is a must, with its warm welcome and cozy atmosphere.

Similar fun and fabulous Tirolean food can be enjoyed at a third toboggan run on the Ranggerköpfl where the cosy Rosskoglhütte offers filling local specialities and some amazing views.

For a more unusual activity, perfect for both adventurers and romantics, there’s the chance to spend an unforgettable night in a room of snow and ice at Kühtai’s Igloo Village.

The famous Bergisel ski jump, which featured in multiple Olympic games and still fills TV screens each year during the famous Four Hills Tournament each New Year, is also well worth a visit, if only for the fantastic views out over the city from the observation tower. But you can also appreciate its architecture and enjoy great food in the ski jump restaurant.

You can also visit the world-famous Swarovski Crystal Worlds located a short drive from the city to discover all about the glittering world of crystals.

Dining

Innsbruck is home to hundreds of restaurants of all shapes, sizes, tastes and styles so you’ll never be short of choice.  There are also some fabulous mountain huts where you can enjoy classic alpine cuisine, often with a regional twist.

The Umbrüggler Alm, though, has very modern architecture. You’ll enjoy its excellent cuisine whilst enjoying fabulous views of the city and the wider Inn Valley, as it’s located at 1,123 metres high above the city.

The Drei-Seen-Hütte is a more traditional affair. Located high in the mountains at the ski area of Kühtai at 2,334 metres, the landlady who has the nickname “Wild Hilde” and her team are ready to welcome you with some hearty traditional Tirolean food whilst you take in the amazing mountain views.

Events

There’s always something happening with major cultural, popular and sports events running throughout the winter season, sometimes things you might not immediately associate with a snowy destination.

For example, Innsbruck will host the Women’s Handball EHF Euro 2024 from 28 November to 15 December 2024.

When they’re not battling on the handball court, participants will surely join everyone else visiting Innsbrucker Bergweihnacht, a magical time that brings festive cheer including traditional Christmas markets and the light festival Lumagica to the city, between 15 November 2024 and 6 January 2025.

After the handballers, from 17 to 19 January 2025, it’s the turn of the elite of natural track luge who’ll be in town, competing for the World Championships in the exciting natural track luge competition in Kühtai.

Then it’s time for the Innsbruck Winter Dance Festival which begins on 30 January to 02 March 2025. This will see the famous Limonada dance company by the multi-talented choreographer Enrique Gasa Valga who brings captivating dance pieces paired with Cuban sounds to the Tirolean capital this winter. Planned as an annual event, the first festival focuses on the history of the famous Cuban musician family Valdes in the production “Lágrimas Negras” delivering romance, melancholy, fabulous dance and enchanting music.

Innsbruck also hosts regular cultural events and festivals that highlight the city’s diverse cultural life.

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Main Image Skiing in Kühtai © Innsbruck Tourism Jonas Schwarzwaelder 

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