The perfect ski holiday in Innsbruck, Austria's fairytale city
A cobbled history-rich city in the heart of the mountains, Innsbruck kills three birds with one stone – imperial, Alpine and urban – putting it high on the list for a city/ski break.
Snow-covered mountains tower above Innsbruck on all sides, and the lively cosmopolitan city is combined with impeccable winter sports heritage. It hosted the 1964 and 1976 Winter Olympic Games, and the 2012 Youth Olympic Games. Crouched on the edge of the city is the massive 120m Bergisel ski jump, a fixture on the skyline since 1925. It was rebuilt in 2002, to a design by Zaha Hadid.
Stay on track with the essential facts from the resort below, and scroll down for our insider guide to a day on the pistes, expert ratings and advice. For further Innsbruck inspiration, see our guides to the resort's best accommodation, restaurants and après ski.
In this guide:
Inside the resort
Innsbruck's medieval old town is a living Austrian fairytale of colourful 15th-century buildings and narrow streets alongside cutting-edge architecture, dotted with galleries, museums, shops and excellent restaurants and nightlife.
The city is very well suited to non-skiers or anyone who fancies a day or afternoon off the slopes. As well as walking around admiring the old town, cultural attractions include visiting the lavish Hofburg imperial palace, the Court Church, climbing the 133 steps to the viewing platform of the city tower, and the eye-catching Golden Roof, with a museum next door. Further out are the grand halls and museum of Ambras castle. All are covered by the City plus Ski Pass.
Seasonal attractions include a Christmas market from mid-November to early January, and a leg of the Four-Hills Tournament on the ski jump each January.
The short airport transfers to town, along with regular winter flights from London and regional UK airports, also make Innsbruck one of the most convenient hubs for weekend breaks. And for those who like to travel light, it’s possible to hire everything from skis or snowboard to clothing and goggles in town at Die Boerse, open every day.
By day, the Tirolean capital is the launchpad for 13 ski areas within a one-hour radius. The closest, Nordkette, is just 20 minutes from town. Twelve of these resorts (BergerAlm is no longer included) are covered by the Ski plus City Pass and have a total of 269km of runs, all reachable by complimentary ski bus, so there’s no need to hire a car.
This pass, which is relaunching for 2024/25, also covers a variety of attractions and experiences in the city, including museum visits, ski jump stadium visits, ice skating, bike hire and a walking tour. Access to three indoor swimming pools and the Innsbruck Sightseer hop-on, hop-off bus tour are also part of the deal.
On the slopes
Snow covered mountains tower above Innsbruck on all sides, and the city’s City plus Ski Pass gives easy access – along with a free bus – to 12 ski resorts. Four of them, Mutteralm, Serlesbahnen, Hochötz and Rangger Kopfl (where a new lift will be opened in 2024/25), are small, family-oriented places well suited to novices, while Glungezer and Schlick 2000 are best suited to intermediates. The six others – Nordkette, Axamer Lizum, Kühtai, the Stubai glacier, Elferbahnen and Patscherkofel – offer varied runs, as well as off-piste challenges and ski touring for the more experienced.
The closest resort to Innsbruck is Nordkette, 20 minutes from the town centre, a journey made more interesting because it starts on the Hungerburg funicular, with four stations inspired by icebergs designed by renowned architect Zaha Hadid. Nordkette’s 13km of slopes are a strange mix – a flat beginners’ area, plus steep red runs and freeriding. One of Europe’s steepest runs, the Karrinne, starts from the resort high point at Hafelekar, 2,256m, with a pole-plant focusing gradient of 70 per cent. On a powder day, Nordkette is a freeride paradise – as the couloirs are south-facing, they are best accessed early-doors. The popular Skyline terrain park is boosted by an impressive sound system, and there’s a panoramic restaurant popular with non-skiers and sunbathers too.
The long, wide pistes of Axamer Lizum are crowned by the craggy Kalkkögel mountains, and served by T-bars, chairlifts and the Olympiabahn funicular and the ten-seater gondola Hoadlbahn to the Hoald-Haus, which opened 2023/24.. The resort hosted all the 1964 and 1976 Winter Olympic ski races except the men’s downhill, and from the top of the funicular it’s a left turn to descend the Olympics ladies GS, slalom and downhill runs; right for men’s GS and slalom. The slopes overlook Innsbruck and offer spectacular views of the city and up the Inn valley. While there are a couple of steep-ish black runs off the top, most of the 42km of terrain is gloriously intermediate; the majority of pistes are fast, cruisy red runs.
That said, there’s a whole world of challenging off-piste terrain here, among the craggy peaks of the Birgitzköpfl, which is skied out less quickly than Nordkette. It’s also possible to head over to another 13km of runs in Muttereralm, plus the longest terrain park in the region, but there is no piste back. Instead, a tram from the village of Mutters in the valley returns to Innsbruck. In general, Muttereralm is popular with families for its sunny slopes overlooking the Inn and Wipp Valleys, and there’s a dedicated ski-touring track here too.
Bergeralm (which is no longer covered by the city’s City plus Ski Pass) is in the Wipp valley 45 minutes from Innsbruck, with 30km of well-groomed pistes and a big night-skiing operation, with 9km of floodlit runs.
For another whiff of ski-racing history, Patscherkofel, 6.5km south of Innsbruck, was the men’s downhill race venue for Innsbruck Winter Olympics. Austrian star Franz Klammer hammered the 3km course at over 100kmh for the gold medal in 1976. These days most enjoy its 18km of pistes at a more leisurely pace. Patscherkofel is a pleasant half-day outing for all levels, crowned by the chance to ski in the tracks of icons, such as Klammer.
Kühtai (which means cow valley in local slang) is a 45-minute bus ride from Innsbruck, and is Austria’s highest ski village at 2,020m. The high-Alpine tree-free terrain makes it a good place to come on a sunny day and has a great snow record. There are 85km of pistes covering the south- and north-facing sides of the Sellrain Valley, with some challenging steeper gradients as well as wide cruising runs. In addition, there’s the large K-Park terrain park and ample off-piste and touring possibilities. For a quieter time, the sunny, family-friendly 39km Hochötz ski area is a few kilometres away, with great views from the 2,200m high point of Brunnenkopf.
Austria’s biggest glacier area – the Stubai with slopes up to 3,212m – is open from October to June with runs totalling 108km and an impressive 26 lifts. These include the Eisgratbahn access gondola, with 32-person cabins capable of transporting 3,014 people an hour. Stubai is the furthest resort from Innsbruck centre (50 minutes), but worth the effort, especially on an early- or late-season trip. At the summit, a viewing platform offers stunning vistas over some 100 of the Alps’ 3,000m peaks. Stubai Zoo here ranks among Europe’s top terrain parks and there are some great off-piste itineraries, particularly the 10km Wilde Grub’n piste all the way back down to the base station.
Serlesbahnen, Elferbahnen and Schlick 2000 are on the road up to Stubai and served by the same bus. Schlick 2000 has 22km of pistes, and is also popular for cross-country skiing, tobogganing and winter walking. It has the Stubai Valley’s longest valley descent, a scenic piste of 3km, and a short route of 2km offers a gentle introduction to ski touring. Serlesbahnen has 5.7km of easy-going gentle slopes, plus winter hiking and night tobogganing, and while Elferbahnen only has a couple of short red pistes adding up to 1.5km, it has long off-piste ski routes, a viewing platform shaped like a sundial affording spectacular views of the valley, and an 8km toboggan run that is floodlit for night riding.
Who should go?
Thanks to its multi-facetted appeal Innsbruck is a great choice for non-skiers or those who like to have an afternoon or two off the slopes. Its city attractions, all covered by the City plus Ski Pass, are enough to keep culture vultures entertained over a long weekend. The convenience of regular flights to Innsbruck airport, just a 15-minutes bus ride out of the city, makes it a good choice for a weekend ski trip. The 12 different ski areas have a varying appeal, from family-focussed Mutteralm to intermediate-friendly Glungezer and the off-piste and touring thrills of Kühtai.
Where to stay
Innsbruck has a huge choice of good value city accommodation and for those booking a short break, finding a hotel that will take bookings of less than a week is easy – which is unusual in the Alps. The Innsbruck tourist office offers City plus Ski half-board or bed-and-breakfast packages, which includes a lift pass covering the 12 ski resorts near the city and the ski bus. Hotel choices range from comfortable three-stars to high-end places. For more information see ski-plus-city.com.
How to get there
One of the few specialist ski tour operators offering holidays to Innsbruck is Crystal Ski (crystalski.co.uk) which focuses its b&b stays on one hotel, the four-star Stage 12, and includes airport transfers and a City plus Ski Pass in the package price. A variety of ski specialist agents can tailor-make trips including Iglu Ski (igluski.com) and Sno (sno.co.uk) while British Airways (ba.com) and easyJet (easyjet.com) offer city breaks here and Jet2 (jet2.com) operates winter flights from five UK airports. Transfers from the airport to the city centre takes 20 minutes by Bus Line F.
When to go
2024 opening date: All resorts open from December 13 (individual resorts open earlier, the first are Kuhtai and Axamer Lizum on November 30 but the pass is valid from December 13)
2025 closing date: April 21
Innsbruck's fairytale old town of medieval buildings and narrow streets is a beguiling place to visit over the Advent period, with festive illuminations and six Christmas markets from mid-November to early January. Events also include concerts, theatrical performances and parades. The city’s annual Bergisel Ski Jump, part of the Four Hills Tournament, takes place each January, on either the 3rd or 4th.
Know before you go
Essential information
British Embassy Vienna: (00 43 1 713 1575; gov.uk), Jauresgasse 12, 1030 Vienna
Emergency services: Dial 112
Tourist office: See innsbruck.info, the website of the Innsbruck Tourist Board, for weather reports, lift status, traffic details and local event listings plus details on the city's best restaurants and shopping. Pick up maps, leaflets and other information from the office just off the main town square.
The basics
Currency: Euro
Telephone code: Dial 00 43
Time difference: +1 hour
Local laws & etiquette
Formal greetings are the norm when meeting someone, and you'll hear 'Grüss Gott' (greeting the almighty), or the more worldly 'Guten Morgen/Tag/Abend', just about everywhere you go, and it's customary to return the salutation. Locals love their titles, so if you are meeting someone who has a university degree, not only are you expected to know this fact, but you're expected to use the title whilst shaking hands e.g 'Grüß Gott Herr Doktor' in cafés and restaurants the waiter will expect to hear a 'Herr Ober' (Mr. waiter) from guests seeking attention.
Tips are not included, nor is it usual to leave them on the table. After the waiter has given you the bill add roughly 10 per cent and ask for it to be added to the total.
A simple thank you is 'Danke'; 'Bitte' means both 'please' and 'you're welcome'.
