Ramkishore's Travel blog!

We chose to visit Austria (Innsbruck, Salzburg, and Vienna) as an alternative to Switzerland since we had already been there during our previous Euro trip in 2007 and didn’t want to repeat the same destination for the sake of our daughter whose only request was that she wanted to experience playing in the snow!

Nestled in the heart of the Austrian Alps, Innsbruck offers breathtaking views at every turn. It effortlessly blends natural beauty with rich history and vibrant culture. It is a city that offers something for everyone, whether you’re a history buff, an outdoor enthusiast, or a foodie. We wanted to indulge in a bit of history and outdoor adventure as part of our 2 night, 3-day stay at Innsbruck and planned the following activities:

Day 1

• Swarovski Crystal Worlds
• The City Tower
• Imperial Palace (Hofburg Innsbruck)
• The Court Church

Day 2

• Nordkette Mountain (Top of Innsbruck)
• Alpine Zoo
• Ambras Castle
• Bergisel Stadium (Ski jump platform)

We decided to pick up the Innsbruck city card for the convenience it offered, but the decision also ended up saving us quite a bit of money, so much so that we concluded this was the best way to explore cities in Europe and chose to pick up a similar product for Vienna as well. The card covered the cost of entry to all the above attractions (and many more, refer to City Card) and also came with unlimited rides on the hop-on-hop-off bus along with the local bus and tram services (public transportation). We purchased the 48-hour variant for around INR 14500 for the three of us and probably recovered the cost by using it for entry at the above attractions alone, not to mention the multiple trips we took on the buses and trams to get around the city.

We arrived at Innsbruck HBF (main train station) from Munich by Euro Rail mid-morning and picked up the city cards from the Visitor Information Center at the train station. We had selected all our hotels on the trip relatively close to the main train stations in the cities we were visiting since that was our primary mode of travel within Europe, and we did not want any hassles lugging our suitcases around on check-in and check-out days. Our hotel in Innsbruck (Schwarzer Adler) was 600 meters from the HBF. It was a gem of a property, very boutique and luxurious. Our room was spacious, the bed super comfortable, and the bathroom quite large with a tub attached. The staff were incredibly friendly, spoke very good English, and even helped us plan our itinerary for the rest of the day because the Nordkette mountain was closed on the day we arrived as they were transitioning from winter season to summer and going through maintenance. We had missed this detail in our planning but, luckily for us, it was re-opening the following day!

We quickly freshened up and left for the nearby bus stop to take the shuttle to Swarovski Crystal Worlds. Note that the City card covers entry to Crystal Worlds including the shuttle transfer. It takes approximately 30 minutes to get to the location and the drive is incredibly beautiful; the landscape all around is picture-perfect.

Once you enter, you are greeted by some outdoor art installations that look nice. You walk past a really beautiful fountain, which is one of the main photo spots here, before entering the Chambers of Wonder. The displays inside and their immersive storytelling were really good. On the way out, you exit through their store which has a lot of very expensive jewels/crystal ornaments on display, and the workmanship on some of them blew our minds, as did the prices! Once outside, the park was quite expansive, with exhibits such as Crystal Cloud and Mirror Pool designed by famous artists. We walked around for a bit, took a few pictures, had lunch at one of their restaurants before returning to take our shuttle ride back to Innsbruck Congress.

After returning to Innsbruck Congress, the Imperial Palace was only a stone’s throw away. The Hofburg Imperial Palace is one of the most important historical buildings in Innsbruck. We had to make our visit fairly quick as we had arrived quite late in the day and it was closing soon. Our walk through the palace was stunning. We did not spend too much time trying to understand the history of each of the exhibits but were in true awe of the grandeur this place had to offer. The tour of the staterooms, furniture from the era, the chandeliers in the main ballroom, the paintings on the walls, and the ceiling are incredibly beautiful! Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take photos while inside.

Exiting the palace, we walked down an alley leading up to the ‘Golden Roof’! Unfortunately, quite a bit of construction work took place in front of the golden roof at the time of our visit. After trying to take some pictures here (unsuccessfully because of the constriction equipment), we proceeded to the City Tower which is a few steps away, and used our city card to enter. You climb exactly 133 spiralling steps to the top of this 51-metre tall tower leading you to a very narrow passage offering sweeping views of the city.

After descending back down from the City Tower, we walked around the old town admiring the beautiful old buildings and took some pictures of the colorful houses lining the Inn River with the majestic Alps in the background. We were quite tired by now and decided to call it a night. We stopped for dinner at an Indian restaurant called, ‘Sahib’ which was less than 100 meters away from the hotel. The food here was really good and the local beer that I had, ‘Stiegl,’ was even better. I was a fan after the first sip!

After a happy meal, we returned to the hotel and retired for the night!