We stayed in Innsbruck in Austria for two full days but to be honest on the first day we stayed in and had a restful morning, we probably did some washing and schoolwork , if I remember correctly .
We did however go for a walk in the afternoon and found the most incredible playground ever! It was full of mentally and physically challenging obstacles and equipment. The kids loved it and there were even a few obstacles that challenged Braino and I. I wish I had taken photos but it was called the MotorikPark next to the Baggersee Rossau Lake for future reference.
Innsbruck is a really charming, picturesque town, surrounded by the Nordette Mountains. We were staying a little out of the main town but on the second day we headed into the central area and wandered around, visiting a bookshop and indulging in some delicious bakery treats before heading to the Congress lift station in the city centre to catch the Nordkettenbahnen lifts all the way to the top of Innsbruck.
The first leg of the journey is the Hungarburgbahn funicular which takes visitors to the Hungerburg Station when you can then catch the Seegrubahn cable car to Seegrube, 2,000 metres above sea level.
It is even possible to take another lift from there up to the Hafelekar, which is located over 2,200 metres above sea level. While is was a lovely cool autumn temperatures down in the town, up here at the Hafelekar Station, it was so cold and windy! We were very unprepared for the extreme temps and it was too cold to hang around long up there. But if we had been more equipped we could have done a short hikes across the mountain tops. the view was spectacular and there were plenty of people hiking.
Back at the Seegrube level, we found a patch of snow which was hidden from the sun light in a small valley. The girls were over the moon to get their first glimpse of snow. Many snowballs were thrown - mainly by Braino or at Braino.
In the winter this area is used as a ski resort with a number of small chair lifts dotted the hill. There was also a large restaurant which people can enjoy any time the year and even a playground. Braino and I have snowboarded a number of time is the last but we haven’t made any plans to ski or snowboard with the girls on this trip. However, Innsbruck would be such a unique place to ski, being so close to the town. Locals must just be able to come up on the weekends in winter.
The below photo was a view from the balcony of our apartment. So stunning, it would look amazing in winter as well. Overall we had a great time in Innsbruck, the trip up the mountain in the chairlifts was such a fun experience for the girls and the mountainous scenery was unreal! However, two day was fine for us. Austria was fairly pricey compared to Slovenia and Greece.
