Innsbruck is a special place to visit during the festive season says SUE FREEMAN who took full advantage of the shopping and skiing on offer
The Swarovski tree at the Christmas market in Innsbruck
TODAY we were ladies who lunch. Later we would be ladies who shopped in the Christmas markets. The next day we would be ladies who ski. Not a bad programme for a pre-season trip to the magical Tirolean city of Innsbruck, bound on all sides by snow-covered slopes looking very glittery and festive.
Our itinerary had been carefully planned. Unlike that of the over-enthusiastic snowboarders who turned up at the city station of the funicular up to the ski area of Nordkette, overlooking the city.
We were taking the train up to enjoy lunch at a restaurant with spectacular views over the city and enjoy the atmosphere of a village Christmas market. We knew the ski slopes weren’t open for another couple of days. The boarders, however, hadn’t checked the schedules and were drawing puzzled looks from other passengers at the funicular station – which looks extraordinarily like a London Underground station.
But as long as you get your itinerary right, Innsbruck is the perfect choice for a pre-Christmas visit to mix sightseeing, festive shopping at marvellously atmospheric Christmas markets – and a spot of skiing.
One great advantage is you waste no time getting to the city centre from the airport – about 20 minutes, by bus or taxi.
Few other cities feel more as one with the mountains around them – from any point in this historic city you can look up to see snowy peaks, forested slopes and ski runs.
On our first day we had checked in at Adlers Hotel, with magnificent views across the city as well as of the mountainscape – and immediately set out on a sightseeing excursion. We walked through the old town, past the famous Golden Roof, then had an extremely informative and interesting guided tour of the Imperial Palace and Court Church.
But the Christmas markets were calling – the ancients streets of the old town were packed as far as the eye could see with stalls selling everything from angels to zithers. And the air was full of the heady holiday time smells of gluhwein, hot punch, wafts of cinnamon and cloves, hot food of sausages, frites, Stollen and kaiserschmarr’n. The short journey from the airport via the hotel had brought us in record time into the middle of Christmas it seemed! That evening we ate at Adlers Hotel in the 14th floor restaurant, with a fabulous night-time vista of the city.
The city Christmas market by night
Next morning we took the Swarovski shuttle bus to Crystal Worlds at Wattens and a little light shopping in the glitter and glass of the exhibition shop. Later that day we had our encounter with the confused boarders on the Nordkette funicular. At the mid-station at Hungerburg we visited a village Christmas market with an olde worlde feel. Handmade crafts and schnapps made to secret recipes filled the stalls.
At the market here, we glimpsed the two boarders wandering around the stalls too, trying to casually appear as if they always carried their snowboards to Christmas markets even though the ski lifts were closed.
Dinner that evening was at Weisses Rossl in the old Town, where I’ve dined before – and the warmth and welcome was exactly as I remembered. The walk back to Adlers was a serious mission as we shopped with purpose at the markets and bought trinkets, presents and a few little treats for ourselves. Well, you have to don’t you?
Six markets fill the city centre – and there’s a Swarovski Christmas tree, of course – and the stalls and lights carry on right through to 6 January (they open mid-November), making it the longest-ever Christmas shopping experience!
We hurried through breakfast, anxious to catch the free ski bus up to Kuhtai to make the most of the first day of the ski season. We were not the only ones to have carefully planned our trip as eager skiers and snowboarders got on the bus at virtually every stop. Kuhtai’s slopes dazzled in untouched white carpets of snow and we enjoyed the thrill of making our first tracks on the groomed runs.
Sue Freeman relaxes on the piste
We were also rather delighted to take a breather on sunshaded, blanket covered deckchairs and congratulate ourselves on how much we had achieved in just a few days.
But next day it was time to pack, carefully stow our treasured Christmas purchases and head back to Innsbruck Airport. There’s something very special about flying into and out of an airport surrounded by snow-covered Alpine peaks – you feel as if you’re entering a secret world, guarded by the mountains.
USEFUL WEBSITES:
Beautiful mountains overlook the city
Categories: Austria