A fresh look: Innsbruck in cross section

Innsbruck is the perfect size for exploring on foot. We walked from Bergisel to Hungerburg and took in all the sights, big and small, that the city has to offer on this route.

You can do a lot with a free hour on a beautiful Sunday morning. For example, you could take another leisurely turn in bed or start a passionate discussion at the breakfast table about whether whole caraway seeds in bread are a blessing or an outrage (team outrage, definitely). Or you can just cross the whole city, at least on its short side - in keeping with the local sports enthusiasm, of course, including makeshift measurements of altitude, time and distance. As a local, I suffer from the blindness of habituation when walking through Innsbruck, so I grabbed a curious family member and set off on a miniature expedition with the intention of taking a fresh look at the city.

We chose the Bergisel in the south of the city as our starting point, which is easily accessible both by public transport and by car. You could easily spend the whole day in this area alone. Not only because of the Sill Gorge, which begins behind the parking lot, but also because of the exhibitions in the Kaiserjägermuseum and Tirol Panorama. The latter has been home to the legendary giant circular painting since 2011, which depicts the third battle of Bergisel with some artistic freedom.

We escape Andreas Hofer's gaze and walk under pleasantly cool trees down the slope to Brennerstraße. It leads us swiftly between the Wilten Basilica and Wilten Abbey, the latter being particularly striking with its red and yellow color. According to legend, it was founded by the giant Haymon, who is also commemorated by the nearby Haymongasse. At the Grassmayr crossroads is the traditional Grassmayr bell foundry, and Brennerstraße has become Leopoldstraße. We follow it with a small detour via Tschamlerstraße to Wiltener Platzl, where we are drawn to the smaller side streets for the time being.

After Wiltener Platzl, which is always worth a detour with its small cafés and stores, we are drawn to the shade of Mentlgasse. In many places, we unknowingly chose cooler paths and came across lots of greenery away from the larger streets. Via Edith-Stein-Weg and Ilse-Brüll-Gasse, we reach Heiliggeiststraße, where we are rewarded with one of Innsbruck's towering examples of street art. We only discovered one of them in Wilten on the way back - it's worth taking an occasional look over your shoulder.

We continue along Maria-Ducia-Straße to Salurner Straße, where even more street art adorns the wall of a small building (see above). You could almost miss the art, as the Triumphpforte is already rising to the left. From here, we stay on Maria-Theresien-Straße all the way down to Stiftgasse, which invites us to go on a second detail hunt.

On our walk through Maria-Theresien-Straße, we took another detour, this time to the inner courtyard of Hotel Stage 12. I can only recommend exploring Innsbruck's courtyards and arcades that are open to the public. You can often find pubs and lesser-known facets of the city here.

The Nordkette is getting closer and closer, at the end of Herzog-Friedrich-Straße the Golden Roof is already shining in the morning sun. Contrary to custom, we turn right into Stiftgasse, where the sky above us becomes a narrow strip. We walk through Riesengasse to Franziskanerplatz and from there on to Rennweg, where there is plenty to see between the Hofburg, Haus der Musik and Landestheater. On the way to the Löwenhaus, where the Hungerburgbahn stops, we take a detour to the Hofgarten and try to decipher the names on the castles hanging on the railings of the Emile Béthouart footbridge. On the Hans-Psenner footbridge, they might be granted a longer life, as the city regularly has to remove them from the overly delicate netting.

With perfect timing, we reach the Löwenhaus station of the Hungerburgbahn. Of course, there are beautiful hiking trails up to the Hungerburg, but the cable car is always a visual and technical highlight that we don't want to miss. Alternatively, you can get on at Congress Innsbruck, where it's easier to find a seat by the window when there are lots of passengers. If you want, you can then take the Nordkettenbahn to explore the Seegrube and Hafelekar, but we'll leave it at the Hungerburg for today.

We made it. After a good hour of walking, seven kilometers and 316 meters in altitude, we have reached our destination. We stay on the Hungerburg for a while and enjoy the view over Innsbruck, the Patscherkofel and the Serles.

Photos: © Theresa Kirchmair