Winter Vacation in Innsbruck! Top-5 Activities + Tips From Locals

Winter is the most beautiful season in Innsbruck, and a short vacation or a weekend trip there is truly a unique experience. With these 5 tips, your time in Innsbruck will be perfectly maximized. Mountain Moments brings you the best tips for tobogganing, skiing, and winter hiking in this charming and active city.

As soon as the first snowfall sets in, the mountains and the Inn Valley are transformed into a magical, white, glitzy landscape. It doesn’t matter whether it’s an action-packed and fast-paced freeriding or a relaxing tour with a delicious visit to the local hut, all options are memorable.

City and mountain in one package? It almost sounds too good to be true. Would you like to experience cultural highlights on a spontaneous ski holiday? It takes 30 minutes in the Alpine metropolis to go from a lecture in the congress center to a steep, high-alpine descent, a children’s ski course, or a delicious cheese dumpling. Sounds pretty unbelievable, but it is a living reality for Innsbruck residents and guests.

#1 The Muttereralm ski area for families and beginners

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This is a family-friendly place with a small number of lifts and slopes where nobody gets lost, and where the price level is fair. The youngsters have ski courses and tobogganing, older nature lovers have pleasurable winter hiking and relaxation on the Natterer See, and more experienced skiers will quickly establish their rhythm, as well.

#2 Freeride skiing at the Axamer Lizum

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With moderately steep slopes and lots of small, natural terrain features, the Axamer Lizum proves to be very versatile and it is our favorite area in Freeride City. Lighter slopes for less experienced freeriders are also available on Innsbruck Dolomites, at the Kalkkögeln, but this is not everything this area offers. With the help of a map, any skier can find locations that are visited less frequently, but are just as exciting.

#3 Easy ski tour in the Sellraintal

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In the Sellraintal, only 35 minutes by car from Innsbruck or 45 minutes by bus, there are a variety of wonderful ski tours for all levels of experience. The lonely and untouched mountain world comes with mesmerizing peace and quiet.

Either a simple piste tour on the ski slope on the Wetterkreuzkogel, the choice is yours. Those who want to learn more can follow the Lampsenspitze ski touring trail in Praxmar, and advanced skiers can try the 3000m-high Zischgeles, or even Linken Fernerkogel.

Whether by car or free ski bus, in less than 1 hour you can get to the tour starting point from the city center and start straight away. Real mountain enthusiasts can do the Sellrainer Hüttenrunde in Sellrain and go from hut to hut on skis.

#4 Tobogganing and winter hiking on the Patscherkofel

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Enjoy the silence of nature, and inhale fresh winter air south of Innsbruck. Patscherkofel and Glungezer starting points are ideal for relaxing winter hikes and snowshoe tours through the southern holiday villages. Winter hikers and toboggan professionals exchange tips and tricks over a warm soup in one of the mountain huts and inns along the way.

Our tip is the winter hiking trail from the Patscherkofelbahn mountain station to the Patscherkofel summit. You can find out when the path is accessible from the Patscherkofelbahn. Allow at least 3-4 hours for this adventure!

What to bring: Good mountain boots, warm clothing

Tip: Night tobogganing has been a fun tradition for centuries and it brings people together. Rent a toboggan, go up the mountain, have a warm drink or two, and toboggan down.

Equipment recommendation for tobogganing: headlamp, helmet, mountain boots, 2-3 pairs of socks, long underwear, and gloves.

#5 A Nordkette sunset in winter

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The Nordkette is the mountain that starts almost directly in the city. On Fridays in the ski season from mid-December to mid-April, the Nordkettenbahn is popular in the evenings – and it is often accompanied by music, either in the igloo right next to the train station, on the sun terrace, or in the restaurant.

Tips:

• You go to the “Gruabn” somewhere on Friday at noon – that’s what the locals call their “Seegrube” (the lift station with the small “pit” on the steep mountain slope).
• In winter, the sun sets around 4-5 p.m. Keep that in mind as you “chill” on one of the deck chairs or sit in the snow.
• Treat yourself to a drink of your choice.
• You can enjoy the last rays of sunshine over the city and on the mountains.
• Now quickly put on warm clothes and follow the party beat to the igloo bar.
• If you get cold, take the train and 40 minutes later you can continue celebrating in the old town.

At this point, the author presses “publish article” and goes for a walk in the snow, motivated by delicious cheese dumplings on an alpine pasture. In the headlamp light, he goes back to the city center by toboggan and a bus.

Your Innsbruck winter holiday will not be boring. That’s a mountaineers’ guarantee.