Apres Ski in Innsbruck

For apres-ski, Innsbruck offers heritage, culture, bars, restaurant, shops and lots of other activities. Old Tyrolean beer cellars contrast with ultra-modern chic cocktail bars and lively café-bars. Dining choices are from haute-cuisine and classical Tyrolean cooking to modern Italian, as well as steaks and high-end burgers.

The City of Innsbruck

Innsbruck is an outstanding city in every sense. A truly great city to see and ski, and so easy to get to. A sightseer’s paradise, and easy to walk around, it’s an absolute must-see and ski. Also, more affordable than renowned ski resorts.

Innsbruck is a vibrant city with 125,000 inhabitants, everything you need for a great City Ski break and plenty more to surprise you. Considerably bigger than your average ski resort, Innsbruck is packed full of interesting things to see and do.

While rich in history and steeped in tradition, the city is home to three universities (over 25,000 students), so there’s lots to entertain younger age groups too. It’s also affordable, so whether you need to keep your hands in your pocket or can afford to splash the cash, you can easily have a good time without breaking the bank. 

A modern thriving university city with great bars, restaurants, hotels and shopping and surrounding it with winter and summer sports activities of just about every description, Innsbruck creates a heady cocktail for the modern day tourist. And this is all offered at, by modern alpine standards, quite reasonably affordable rates, so Innsbruck is good value for money as well. They say ‘Culture meets Nature’ here but there is even more than that and so difficult to capture in a single catchphrase.

For architecture and culture fiends, Innsbruck is an historical masterclass of late Gothic meets Renaissance. Some unmissable places amid the glorious streets and alleys (‘Gassen’) of Innsbruck’s historic old town, include the Imperial Palace, the Cathedral (Dom St. Jakob), the City Tower (‘Stadtturm’), the Hofkirche built as a memorial to Kaiser Maximilian 1 in the 16^th century, and, of course, the rightly famous ‘Goldenes Dachl’ (the house with the golden roof.

Frankly walking the whole length of Marie Theresien Strasse and up into Herzog-Friedrich and finishing at the Goldenes Dachl before circling left or right around the Altstadt’s ancient alleys is a good way to start off in order to soak in this city’s amazing offering. And loads of museums to visit like the contemporary Tirol Panorama Museum and the traditional Tyrolean Folk Art museum.

But Innsbruck really is vibrant as well, not just a museum city. The pleasing contrasts between some of its most modern architecture. For example the avant-garde glass and steel Hungerburgbahn lift station, designed by the late, renowned architect, Zaha Hadid, the Bergisel Olympic ski jump, and Innsbruck’s outstanding medieval heritage, combine extremely well.

Together with the winter sports arena and the modern football stadium also, they serve to remind that Innsbruck is still a thriving living city offering an extensive selection of hotels, bars and restaurants and the shopping to suit all tastes. 

Innsbruck Bars & Nightlife

Indulge yourself in traditional Innsbruck Bierkellers, such as the popular Stiftskeller (Stiftgasse 1/7) in the Altstadt, which is loaded with old-fashioned Gemütlichkeit, or for traditional beer with a modern twist, the Bierfabrik beer factory under the railway arches (Viaduktbögen 25) is a great choice.

Tribaun (Museumstraße 5) has 15 taps serving local and Austrian beers as well as craft beers from Belgium and Holland. For even livelier fun, the sometimes student dominated Café Moustache (Herzog-Otto-Straße 8), is open until 02:00.  Fuchs & Hase (Domplatz 3), a new bar since October 2022, is another great venue for drinks and friendly ambience.

Also in the arches under the viaduct, Bar Plateau (Viaduktbögen 51) is a lively bar with party atmosphere until dawn, and Babalon (Viaduktbögen 22) is a  vibrant café-bar with unique interior decor, good music and offering a wide selection of drinks until 03:00.

Elferhaus (Herzog-Friedrich Strasse 11), a cosy, relaxed bar in the heart of the Altstadt, which offers an impressive selection of beers (and meals throughout the day). The Dom-Café (Pfarrgasse 3) is another popular venue featuring a smart bar with comfortable seating and a terrace in the heart of the city, and a good choice of beers and wines. 

M+M Cocktailbar (Innstrasse 45) is a popular cocktail bar with chic ambiance and an extensive selection of cocktails, long drinks and spirits, open from 6 pm until 1 am, and Happy Hour 7-9pm. Pfiffbar in the Schwarzer Adler Hotel (Kaiserjägerstraße 2) is another stylish bar with a good choice of spirits and cocktails.

The Orangerie (Maria-Theresienstraße 10), with a spacious terrace, is another popular haunt open from 10 am until midnight, and Dinzler (Kaiserjägerstraße 1), a lively bar, popular with students is open until 1 am.

Innsbruck Restaurants

Innsbruck restaurants range from traditional Tyrolean to cosmopolitan and contemporary evolved wining and dining. For all this, you will generally want to be in or around the Altstadt (Old Town) in the heart of the city (Innenstadt).

In addition to the bars above, many of which also serve good food, here are some suggestions for dining in Innsbruck city centre:

Restaurant Sailer (Hotel Sailer, Adamgasse 8) is recommended for traditional Tyrolean fare with a choice of traditional style dining rooms — the traditional farmers parlour, the cozy Wetterstein parlour and the Sailerstube (Tel: +43 512 53 63). 

Das Schindler (in Kaufhaus Tyrol, Maria-Teresien Strasse) is an award-winning restaurant serving modern Austrian cuisine (Tel: +43 512 566 969); and Sitzwohl (Gilmstraße 4) is an outstanding contemporary restaurant producing stylish Tyrolean and Mediterranean dishes. (Tel: +43 512 562 888).

Sensei Sushi Bar (Maria-Theresien-Straße 11) is a smart Asian restaurant in the heart of old Innsbruck, which does excellent sushi and a wide variety of Asian dishes (Tel: +43 512 562 730); and L’Osteria (Erlerstraße 17) is a modern Italian restaurant for delicious pizza and pasta dishes, with authentic Italian flair (Tel: +43 512 580 144 10.) 

Ludwig’s (Museumstrasse 3) a stylish, modern and friendly burger restaurant, serving home-made burgers made from locally sourced organic meat with great fries and salads (Tel: +43 512 319 222); and at the Woodfire Steak & More (Universitätsstraße 5-7) contemporary restaurant in the Hotel “Grauer Bär”, you can watch the chefs preparing made to order first-class steaks. (Tel: +43 512 59 24 757). 

Innsbruck Other Activities

Innsbruck offers a huge range of activities for skiers and non-skiers alike. Apart from skiing and snowboarding, other activities and events include bob-sleigh, ski jumping, Christmas markets, sightseeing tours, historic buildings, museums, great shopping and lots more. 

Christmas Markets in Innsbruck

Christmas time in Innsbruck is quite special and you can taste Christmas cakes, mulled wine, delicacies such as Kiachln and Spatzln at one of four Christmas Markets. Best known and probably the most traditional of these is the Christmas Market in the historic city: just below Golden Roof of Innsbruck. 

The market in MariaTheresien Strasse is beautiful at Christmas with lots of lights and crystals and at Marktplatz there are market stalls full of Christmas presents, bakery products and local delicacies; also a petting-zoo for children. Also worth visiting if time permits, the market at Hungerburg Castle is reached via the Nordkettenbahn.

Sightseeing Tours of Innsbruck

Explore Innsbruck with an Authorized Tourist Guide (Tel. +43 512 56 20 00) and discover the history and sights of Innsbruck on foot. Sightseer Bus Tours Innsbruck (Tel. +43 512 53 07) are included with an Innsbruck Card and allow you to hop on and off as you wish. For a more stylish and romantic experience, Fiaker Gritscher Carriages (Tel. +43 676 33 43 17) will guide you around the city horse-drawn carriage, or phone for an Innsbruck Bike-Taxi (Tel. +43 512 280469).

Ambras Castle

Just 3.5 km southeast from the city centre, Ambras Castle — the home of Archduke Ferdinand II in the 16th Century — is a magnificent testament to renaissance art and history. This stunning cultural gem, attracting visitors from across the world, is easily accessible by bus and open daily from 10.00 to 17:00. 

Swarovski Crystal World

The Swarovski Crystal World in Wattens is one of Austria’s most famous tourist attractions, enchanting millions of visitors each year featuring the Giant, the Labryrinth, the Gardens and the magical underground Chambers of Wonder. Not far from Innsbruck centre and reachable by the Swarovski tour buses, Swarovski Crystal World is well-worth visiting. Address: Swarovski Kristallwelten, Kristallweltenstrasse 1, A-6112 Wattens. Tel. +43 5224 51080. 

Shopping in Innsbruck

There is no shortage of quality shops to choose from in the backstreets and courtyards of Innsbruck’s Altstadt, as well as along the central shopping spine – Maria Theresien Strasse. Discover stylish home and antiquities shops, as well many upmarket clothing brands, including flagship shops for top sportswear brands (eg. Peak Performance, Mammut, Schöffel, Kjus, Maloja, Bogner).

Also, the Sportler shop on Maria Theresien has just about every top ski and mountain brand going, and the Tyrol Kaufhaus shopping mall in Maria Theresien Strasse offers shopping on six levels. Not to be missed either across the street are the Rathaus Galerien with its roof terrace as well as the smaller Hörtnagl Passage and Arkadenhof.

Innsbruck Olympia Skiworld Winter Sports 

As you might expect, having hosted the Winter Olympics in 1964 and again in 1976, the Innsbruck Olympia Skiworld offers a wide choice of snow sports. As well as downhill skiing and snowboarding, there’s night-skiing, cross-country skiing, hiking, snowshoeing, tobogganing, ice-skating and curling, in six main ski areas nearby.

For bigger thrills and spills, there’s the Olympic bobsleigh track and the refurbished Bergisel Ski Jump with 47m tower overlooking the city plays host to the annual Four Hills Tournament in January and easily draws a 28,000 capacity crowd.

Night Skiing near Innsbruck

There’s night skiing nearby on the Patscherkofel, also at Raengger Köpfl every Tuesday and Friday from 18.30 to 21.30. Also at Kühtai, where the lights come on Wednesdays and Saturdays between 19.30 and 22:00, with après ski and mulled wine at Zum Kaiser Maximilian on the mountain.

Cross-Country Skiing near innsbruck

In winter around Innsbruck and its ski villages, approximately 120 kilometres of carefully groomed and snow-sure cross-country tracks are prepared along the valleys and in the mountains as well. On Stubai Glacier and in Schlick 2000 cross-country skiers can ski along 4.5km-long and 3.5km-long trails respectively. Various other areas, Rinn, Mutters/Natters and Axams/Birgitz have more than 40km of trails on sunny plateaus round Innsbruck. Some of them use artificial snow to ensure good conditions. There are two new cross-country ski areas known for their reliable snow record: at 1500m around Lüsens in the Sellraintal or higher still at 2000m are the trails around Kühtai.

Winter Hiking & Snowshoeing near Innsbruck

Innsbruck region holiday villages and beautiful winter landscapes features numerous walking trails for hiking and snowshoeing in winter with distances up to about 6km. Examples include Höhenwanderweg – the Altitude Hiking Trail – in good weather conditions from Schutzhaus Patscherkofel to the summit and with lift access via Patscherkofel Bergstation in Igls.

Tobogganing, Ice-skating & Curling near Innsbruck

There’s great tobogganing by day floodlit at night at numerous village locations around Innsbruck and of varying lengths.  Kühtai features the highest toboggan run in Tyrol and the 8 km long toboggan run on Rangger Kopfl is one of the longest toboggan runs in the Innsbruck Region. There’s also ice skating and curling nearby at Igls.

Horse-drawn Sleigh Rides in the Sellrain Valley

Innsbruck offers lots of opportunities for horse-drawn sleigh rides in the middle of the snow-covered landscape. Wrapped in warm blankets, this is a beautiful and romantic way to take in the stunning scenery around the Inn Valley. The Sellrain valley is a great place to try this. Contact: Othmar Jordan. Tel: +43 676 42 76 621.

Innsbruck Olympic Bobsleigh Rides

For a truly stunning and adrenaline filled experience, there’s guided bobsleigh run on the 1270m long Olympic track above Igls where you can expect to reach speeds of 100 km per hour round fourteen banked bends and a diploma after.  Tel: +43 512 33838 221, Web: www.olympiaworld.at

Innsbruck Tourist Information

For more information contact Innsbruck Tourist Office

Innsbruck Tourism
Burggraben 3, 6020 Innsbruck
Tel: +43 512 5356
Web: www.innsbruck.info