Sparkassenplatz: Innsbruck’s relaxed center

Anyone approaching Sparkassenplatz either slips through the passageway from Maria-Theresien-Straße onto the square or enters it from the "open end" in the west. There, at the edge of the square, is the Café Central - a place where Viennese coffee house culture has charmingly taken root in Innsbruck.

"What do you have to do in a café? Just to be. You can do almost anything, but you don't have to do almost anything. The café is a space of freedom. The mocha is just the entrance fee," once said Hans Weigel, Viennese writer and theater critic. And so the menu of the Café Central menu includes both the small mocha and the classic Viennese melange. If you sit down on the large terrace with a hot drink of your choice (the recommendation is: Melange!), you can watch the hustle and bustle on Sparkassenplatz - in the spirit of contemplative Viennese coffee culture.

It starts at the first stand with fresh, seasonal fruit and vegetables from the Ochsnerhof in Arzl. There is usually a small queue here, but don't worry, it moves quickly. At the other stalls, you can stock up on cheese (Hugsamer Goat's cheese), fresh fish (from the Geroldsmühle fish farm) and meat (Singerhof in Stubai).

Don't forget cash, because even though we are here at Sparkasseplatz, modern payment apps such as Twint in Switzerland or WeChat in China, where you pay with the palm of your hand, are not an issue here. Practical: you can get cash refills at any time at the Sparkasse. The fresh flowers at the Lieselerhofs are simply too tempting not to shell out a few euros for this colorful delight..

If you've done all your shopping and need to get home quickly, hop on your bike or cross the square to the bus and streetcar station Anichstraße, where several lines stop.

For a central location in Innsbruck's old town, Sparkassenplatz is also very well connected by car. There is an underground parking garage that makes even big cities pale in comparison. Who would expect to find an underground parking garage with its own underground traffic circle in such a central location? there are 310 parking spaces on two levels. You just need to have the necessary small change with you. However, you can also pay by card through the barrier.

Once the bulging bags from the market have been stowed away, the actual tour continues across Sparkassenplatz. Incidentally, the square is private land and owned by the Tiroler Sparkasse Bankaktiengesellschaft Innsbruckwhich is clearly visible on the right-hand side. The hanging garden is also striking here - a greening measure that is definitely an eye-catcher! Right next to it is a drinking fountain - ideal for hot days on the concrete square - which is cooled with water mist.

There are various stores, cafés and restaurants between the savings bank building and the next reward café. At lunchtime, the Kostbar is a hot tip at lunchtime, serving food made at Mutters with regional ingredients: to take away in shrink-wrapped plastic plates or to enjoy on site in the sun. At least as popular for lunch and dinner is the restaurant La Trattoria, which owes its reputation to pizzaiolo Luca, who probably makes the best pizza in town. He has since moved on, but his dough recipe remains the same.

We move back to the other side of the square: In the Haymon bookshop there's always a good chance of stumbling across an exciting book. Not least because the sale boxes in front of the store always invite you to stop and browse. But the selection inside the store is also worth seeing - and if you need another coffee right now, you can get one here at the coffee bar.

Beautiful cards and nice little things are available a few steps further in the A LA CARD Store. The small Foto Lamprechter store offers various solutions for photographically capturing time. And for larger niceties (and larger wallets), the Mölk goldsmiths have a few delicacies in store. Delicate silver jewelry, sturdy gold rings and sparkling diamonds sweeten life.

Speaking of sweet: at Nüsse & More you can not only get healthy - and extremely tasty - fats, but also homemade ice cream!

For all chocolate lovers Berger Feinste Confiserie only the best. The first branch in Innsbruck was opened here on Sparkassenplatz in 2023. Franz Berger franz, scion of the Salzburg chocolate manufactory, discovered his passion for Innsbruck during his studies.
"I fell in love with Innsbruck because of the great leisure facilities for sporting activities, the variety of beautiful stores and of course the cool student bars," says Franz in conversation.

In addition to frequency, the visual appearance and proximity to parking areas are also important to the company when choosing a location. Looking at it the other way round, the two giant chocolate bunnies in the display certainly enrich the square itself, and not just in the eyes of children!

Even though Franz now lives in Salzburg again, I can still elicit one tip from him: "For me, every successful day in Innsbruck ends with an espresso in an Italian café on Sparkassenplatz and a scoop of ice cream at Tomaselli."

And that's exactly where we're heading now. Perhaps a quick look at the goods in the music store and then we've earned it: a standing espresso in an Italian café La Cantina. Or maybe it's already time for a Aperol? If the café is full - in the Bellini next door, you also have a good view of the hustle and bustle on the square and are also well supplied with coffee and other drinks.

And if you'd like the Tomaselli ice cream that Franz told you about, go through the Sparkasse passageway past the beautiful light installation 47,16° Nord and keep left until you reach the (usually very long) queue.

Sparkassenplatz actually has its own website! At www.sparkassenplatz.info you can find all the information about the farmers' market, the underground car park and a whole host of FAQs. If you're wondering whether street music is allowed on Sparkassenplatz, you'll find the answer here.

The website Innsbruck remembers, a project of the Stadtarchiv/Stadtmuseum Innsbruck has also already dedicated an interesting article to Sparkassenplatz an interesting article dedicated to Sparkassenplatz. The old photographs documenting the transformation of Sparkassenplatz over the decades are astonishing.