Our 2-day Family Holiday in Innsbruck, Austria
Dear readers, the article below is about our family holiday in Innsbruck. If you want to read a more precise article on the 5 Best places to visit and experience in Innsbruck, click here.
Innsbruck is a beautiful city in Tirol state in Austria. Famous for its culture, traditions, and natural beauty, it is located on the lap of the Alps and is a significant tourist attraction. Its proximity to some of Germany’s southern towns makes it a wonderful day trip from Munich, Garmish Partenkirchen, and nearby cities and towns.
However, since we live in Darmstadt, Innsbruck was not a day trip. It was part of our ten-day summer vacation trip to Austria, during which we visited Vienna, Salzburg, and Innsbruck. The last two days of our holiday were in Innsbruck, and indeed, they were very memorable.
You can read about the first leg of our holiday in Vienna and the second leg of the holiday in Salzburg.
So, here was the Itinerary we followed in Innsbruck:
Itinerary for a 2-Day Holiday in Innsbruck
Day 1: Maria-Theresien-Straße , Goldene Dachl and Audioversum
Day 2: Swarovski Kristallwelten, Nordkette, and Alpine Zoo
Reaching Innsbruck
Innsbruck was a part of our ten-day trip to Austria. As part of that trip, we visited Vienna and Salzburg. We travelled to Innsbruck using the ÖBB (Österreichische Bundesbahn) from Salzburg. It took approximately 2 hours. So, we checked out from our hotel in Salzburg in the morning, and by the afternoon, we were in Innsbruck.
The tickets for ÖBB trains can be bought on their official website:
https://www.oebb.at/en/ or on Omio.
Alternatively, you can use Omio to compare train options and book the one that best suits your needs.
Accommodation in Innsbruck
Since we are a family with kids already in their teens, having enough space for each of us is essential. Hotel rooms are not spacious, and everyone is restricted to a small room. So, off late, we have started booking homestays. We usually reserve a flat or house, preferably with an equipped kitchen and a minimum of two bedrooms, so that each of us has our own space and there is always an option of cooking something.
We, as a family, like having a good breakfast and starting our day, and homestays allow us to make simple meals at home. Also, we like exploring the local supermarkets, finding what’s new, and trying out foods and drinks that are locally available. Homestays are an excellent option for all the people who want to add this to their holiday experience.
You can make your accommodation booking on their city website or with Booking.com
Travelling within Innsbruck
In Innsbruck, we bought the 48-hour City card from the railway station after we alighted.
The Innsbruck card includes all public transport and free entry to many important sights within the city. One can buy a 24-hour, 48-hour, or 72-hour ticket. Since we planned to stay in Innsbruck for nearly 2 days, we purchased the 48-hour card for our family.
The travel card can also be bought online using these links:
Now, I’ll take you through the places we visited in Innsbruck:
Day 1: Maria-Theresien-Straße , Goldene Dachl and Audioversum
After keeping our stuff in our room, we freshened up and reached Maria-Theresien-Straße.
About Maria-Theresien-Straße:
Maria-Theresien-Straße is a 700-year-old street, today famous for its shops and cafes. It is ideal for taking a stroll, enjoying music by local musicians who play on the streets, or shopping. You can buy Innsbruck souvenirs from this street as well. There are plenty of shops, and you will be spoilt for choices. The street is adorned with magnificent baroque buildings, and one can enjoy the city panorama.
We spent time walking and exploring the city and this street.
Here, I would suggest taking a 1-Hour walking tour with a local. This tour will help you understand more about the city, its history, its people and its important landmarks.
We had lunch at one of the restaurants and then reached Goldene Dachl.
About Goldene Dachl:
Goldene Dachl is a dungeon built around the 1500s. It is decorated with gilded copper shingles and has rich fresco and relief decorations. It is one of the main attractions on the Maria-Theresien-Straße and must not be missed. It also houses a museum where centuries-old exhibits are put on display. There are stations and a riddle rally for children too.
The next place on our plan was to visit Audioversum.
About Audioversum
The Audioversum is a contemporary science museum with incredible, interactive displays exploring the world of sound. It has a unique collection of interactive, ears-on exhibits that let visitors investigate their perception of sound. It is unique and most certainly very interesting. You must visit this museum if you or your children find science fascinating.
The tickets can be booked using the following link: https://www.audioversum.at/, OR using your Innsbruck City Card (I have already mentioned about it in the article).
We spent about an hour or two in the museum and then headed home.
Day 2: Swarovski Kristallwelten, Nordkette, and Alpine Zoo
The first stop for today was the Swarovski Kristallwelten.
About Swarovski Kristallwelten:
Swarovski Kristallwelten is a vast campus about 20 km from Innsbruck’s city centre. It houses the Swarowski museum, a park, a big souvenir shop, and restaurants.
This museum is unique and one-of-a-kind. It has many exhibits, and everything is made of crystals. Many internationally and nationally recognized artists, designers, and architects who have interpreted crystal in their own ways have displayed their works; each is a treat for the eyes.
During our visit, there were also some performances by artists, which we could enjoy as a part of our visit.
If you already have an Innsbruck City Pass (already discussed above), then a visit to the Swarovski Museum and a shuttle bus to the museum are included. If you don’t have a city pass, then you can buy the tickets here:
We took a shuttle bus from Innsbruck Hauptbahnhof and reached there in about 40 minutes. After our visit, we took the same bus back to the city centre. It took us about half a day, and we were back in Innsbruck around lunchtime.
We had lunch at one of the restaurants in Maria-Theresien-Straße and then headed to Congress Station to take the funicular to Nordkette.
About Nordkette:
The Nordkette is a range of mountains in Austria’s largest nature park, the Karwendel Nature Park. From the top, it offers fantastic views of Italy and Germany and is a not-to-miss experience in Innsbruck.
It can be reached directly from the Innsbruck city centre in just a few minutes using the Hungerburg funicular. The journey is broken into four stages.
Stage 1: Take the funicular from Congress Station in Innsbruck to Hungerburg. The funicular goes via Alpenzoo. You can get down at Hungerburg, visit the zoo, and then continue the journey up the mountain.
Stage 2: From Hungerburg, take the cable car to reach Seegrube. Here, you can visit the Cable Railway Museum and Theresien Church and continue the journey.
Stage 3: From Seegrube, take another cable car to Hafelekar. From here, you can enjoy lovely panoramic views.
Stage 4: The next part is a hike of about 80 meters to Hafelekarspitze, the summit. It takes about 15 minutes to get there.
About Alpen Zoo:
Located at 750 meters, The Alpenzoo is one of the highest zoos in Europe. Covering an area of around 5 hectares, this themed zoo has a unique collection of around 150 animal species with 2,000 animals from the entire Alpine region.
Photo by Dušan veverkolog on Unsplash
If you want to see everything in Nordkette, your visit can last an entire day. The cable car/funicular ticket includes entry to the railway museum and Alpen Zoo.
We visited the Alpen Zoo, completed the cable car ride, and hiked to the summit. This took us about half a day.
All the details about Nordkette can be found on their official website:
https://nordkette.com/en/home.html
The cable car ride and museum visits are included if you have the Innsbruck City Pass. If you do not have a city pass, you can buy the tickets here:
Alpenzoo & Top of Innsbruck Combination Ticket
If you are not interested in visiting the zoo, just buy the roundtrip cable car ticket.
Alternatively, if you just want to go to Hungerberg, visit the zoo, and return, you can buy the Alpine Zoo and Hungerburg ticket.
With this, we ended our 2nd day in Innsbruck. There are plenty of more experiences that one can get as a tourist in Innsbruck, but these are some of the few we could enjoy in our short two-day visit. I hope my readers enjoyed reading this article and find it useful while planning their holiday in Innsbruck.
As I mentioned earlier, Innsbruck was the 3rd leg of our family holiday in Austria. Read about the 1st leg of the journey-Vienna here and the 2nd leg of the holiday- Salzburg here.
Check out some more pictures of Innsbruck here, and don’t forget to check out my gallery page for more pictures from other holiday destinations.
To read about our other family vacations, click here.
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