Innsbruck for the blind and visually impaired

This page contains information for people who are blind or visually impaired. We have put together some tips on how best to explore Innsbruck and which activities are particularly suitable.

Garden of senses

The Botanical Garden in Innsbruck is home to the only scent and touch garden in Austria designed for visually impaired and other disabled visitors.

Imagine you are standing in a wonderful garden with your eyes closed. You might be thinking that you would be unable to experience the wonder of nature all around you because you can't see it. Not true. You can smell the plants, you can feel the flowers and the leaves. You can experience the plant world in a new and quite possibly even more intense way. Visually impaired visitors cannot simply open their eyes again and look around. For these visitors, and for all those who want to experience the plant world with their sense of touch and smell, an experience garden has been created in the Botanic Garden in Innsbruck and is the only one of its kind in Austria.

Welcome to the scent and touch garden!
Wheelchair users have plenty of space on the 1.5 metre-wide paths that lead around the garden and between the beds. For visually impaired visitors, there is a handrail made of stainless steel for better orientation. Visitors are invited to experience the various plant species growing in the different beds with their hands and nose. For anyone who can't identify the plants based on smell alone, signs provide information both in a conventional font suitable for the visually impaired and in Braille.

Austria's unique experience garden for the visually impaired is free of charge and can be visited daily in summer from 7.30 am to 7 pm. There is no car park at the Botanical Garden but bus A stops directly in front of the main entrance.

Opening times: year round from 7.30 am - 5 pm or from 8 am - 5 pm (in winter), until 6 pm in March and until 7 pm from April-October
Guided tours: registration required
Admission: € 2 for adults, € 1 for children, seniors and students
Parking: no car park, parking spaces are available nearby
Access: bus A or a 15-minute walk from the city centre (important for wheelchair users: the Botanical Garden is located on a hill, the route there includes inclines)

Information trail for the blind and visually impaired

There is a trail for blind people and wheelchair users that runs along the Sill, which is the second river that passes through Innsbruck in addition to the Inn. The sounds and smells of the water, the birds and the trees along the new promenade provide a wonderful backdrop for blind people. The concept and design of the information points are by Univ. Prof. Mag. Dr. Armin Landmann.

Work by the BSVT and the Disability Advisory Board for the city of Innsbruck has led to the creation of a trail along the Sill that the blind can use independently, safely and without an escort. "The various information points also make it possible for us to learn about all the things we can't see" explains Dietmar Graff, who is himself blind. The six information points currently located along the trail are also informative for the sighted and are mounted in such a way that they are accessible to wheelchair users.

The information boards feature tactile images and provide information about nature on the Sill and Inn rivers. For the blind, a free accompanying booklet is available in braille from the TBSV. The information boards are located on the path that runs along the Sill and Inn rivers between the Brückenplatzl square in Pradl and Wohnheim Reichenau care home.