WTB How to Take a Day Trip from Munich to Innsbruck
Day trips are one of the best parts of travel – especially around cities with robust public transit.
Innsbruck is easily one of my top three favorite European day trips of all time. It’s no secret that Austria is absolutely gorgeous. But for some reason, the Austrian Alps weren’t on my radar in the same way the Swiss or French Alps were.
I can admit when I’m wrong.
In the middle of my 2017 Western Europe backpacking trip, my friend met up with me. I was lucky enough to spend nearly two months in Europe during this trip. However, my friend was only joining me for a week and a half and wanted to make the most of the trip. We had a few days in Munich with only one committed to Oktoberfest, so we looked up day trips and discovered Innsbruck.
While we knew it would make a good day trip, we didn’t know exactly what to do there. Luckily, I had a friend who spent awhile in Austria and gave me some good tips.
Getting to Innsbruck
Getting from Munich to Austria was a mostly painless experience. A bus goes directly from Munich to Austria in 2-3 hours for about $20 USD round-trip. I took several buses and trains around Europe, and this bus was the only one where officials boarded our bus and checked our passports. Because Western Europe is mostly in the Schengen Zone, you don’t have your passports checked between countries. Therefore, officials do not typically board your bus/train – in my experience – when going between countries.
In this case, the men came on board, looked at everyone’s passports and allowed the bus to move on. As I said, a painless experience, but having your passport scrutinized at any time is mildly nerve-wracking.
Once you get off the bus in Innsbruck, the views all around you are absolutely breathtaking. The Alps are one of the most gorgeous mountain ranges I have personally seen. The Austrian Alps were my favorite section. Additionally, the architecture in Innsbruck makes you almost feel like you were transported back in time.
Our biggest priority in Innsbruck was getting up into the mountains and my friend had advised me to check out Hafelekarspitze. Ordinarily, I like to hike as much as possible. But given our limited time in the city, we took the Nordkette cable car then walked the half-mile or so up to the peak. This was the right choice because we did not start early enough to hike up the mountain.
We chose to walk from the bus station to the cable car station. This walk was slightly hilly, but one of my favorite parts of traveling is walking through new cities. I also love to walk and enjoy hills (another controversial opinion), so this was the perfect way for me to see the city.
Purchasing Nordkette Tickets
Finding the office to buy the Nordkette cable car tickets wasn’t too difficult. Innsbruck is fairly small, and the bus station was right next to downtown. Make sure to purchase the tickets to the top of Innsbruck. They are a little pricey (nearly 40 Euro), but definitely worth it. This is coming from someone who is very cheap.
During the cable car ride, you will be tempted to stop at the ski lodge, but take it all the way up. It typically runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. typically, but I don’t think they let anyone get trapped up there. You still get gorgeous views of the Alps in the cable car, but just miss out on the exercise and extra time with the fresh mountain air that hiking gives you.
I wasn’t there to ski, so being in the Alps in mid-September was the perfect time for me. The mountains had a touch of snow, but were otherwise easy to traverse and a comfortable temperature even at high altitude. Additionally, while Switzerland is gorgeous and charming in its own way, my experience in the Alps in both countries made me unequivocally promote the Austrian Alps for anyone torn between the two countries.
Exploring the City
After spending a couple hours taking in in awe over Hafelekarspitze, we rode the cable car back down to explore the city. Exploration consisted of more walking around the city – one of my favorite ways to get a feel for any city – and food. Innsbruck is part of the Tyrol region, a historical region of the Alps that is now Northern Italy and Western Austria. So we were in search of Tyrolean food. At my friend’s recommendation, we were specifically looking for anything that ended in -knoedl as it signified Austrian dumplings. I love all dumplings.
Given our limited time in Austria, we also ate at the restaurant my friend recommended for Tyrolean food – Siftskeller. Despite being a popular restaurant, we nabbed a spot outside, allowing us continue to soak in as much of Austrian culture as we could for the remainder of our trip. We had an Austrian beer and some Tyrolean dishes. While the dishes were a little too cheesy for a cheese hater like myself, they were still pretty tasty. Plus the atmosphere brought the restaurant up to an easy 8.5/10.
After we finished our meal, we made our way back to the bus. We had an impromptu “photoshoot” here during our wait. Pictures from which I will definitely not be sharing extensively.
Other recommendations that we did not get to experience were:
- The Hofburg: A former Hapsburg palace currently containing five themed museum sections. Supposedly built for Maria Theresa.
- The Hofgarten: A protected park in the Old Town of Austria. Originally laid out on the site of a river meadow by Archduke Ferdinand II.
- Schloss Ambras: A Renaissance castle perched in the hills overlooking Innsbruck. Also closely connected to Archduke Ferdinand II.
- Swarovski Crystal Worlds Innsbruck: An experience dedicated to Swarovski crystals.
All of these attractions take more than a day trip, so you have to be selective if you only have a day. For us, the mountains and food were our priorities. We returned to Munich absolutely gushing about our trip to Innsbruck.
However, I do wish I’d spend more time in the city and in Austria as general. I hope to one day return to experience more of Innsbruck, as well as other Austrian cities (Vienna waits for me).
During my backpacking trip, I spent three full days in Switzerland and only took a day trip to Austria. While Switzerland has a special charm of its own, I would do it the other way around.
