Innsbruck: Capital of the Alps
- JENNIFER MAHON
- Dec 30, 2025
- 3 min read
Photos taken/written by Jennifer Mahon
Day 14…of 19. So off we go early in the morning (no breakfast, not even a coffee!) leaving Bad Reichenhall, Germany, heading west for 150 km (about 2 hours driving time) to Innsbruck, Austria. Quite confusing, had no idea what country we were in half of the time!
Again, another city not really on my bucket list, but since I had to drive by there, may as well stop and walk around for a bit. After fighting through insane traffic, thanks to a combination of construction and detours and tons of tourists, we finally find parking at the Markthalle garage beside Marketplatz.
Now, my memory is fading quite a bit, we saw so many places on this trip, they’re all sort of melding together. I did keep a notebook, but all I can gather from my scribbles is that it had a cute waterfront, and “aggressive pigeons” in the Old Town Square (I guess that’s what happens when I don’t have coffee in the morning!). I’ll do my best to caption the photos, but you’ll have to forgive my lack of information on this one.
YOU'VE GOTTA SEE...
MARIAHILFSTRABE
Pretty much any picture you will see of Innsbruck shows the same row of colorful houses on the Inn River. These are located on Mariahilfstrabe at the Alt Innbrücke (bridge). Best spot to grab some shots is across the river from Marktplatz where you get a nice shot with the Alps in the background.
Photos: Looking across the Inn River at the houses on Mariahilfstrabe and the Alps (hidden by clouds) in the background
ALTSTADT (Old Town)
Throngs and throngs of people here! The streets are insanely packed with tourists and huge tour groups. The Old Town is kinda small to begin with, so with the amount people puttering along Herzog-Friedrich-Strasse, window shopping inside on this small narrow street – made it quite hard to move.
Photos: Decorative buildings in the Altstadt (Old Town)
GOLDEN DACHL (Golden Roof)
Apparently the Golden Dachl is the most well-known landmark in Innsbruck (I never heard of it before seeing it). In the heart of the old town, this historic 15th century building boasts an actual golden roof – added in 1500 (I think) for Emperor Maximilian so he could us it a “Royal Box” to watch the tournaments and other events going on in the square below.
Photo: Goldenes Dachl (Golden Roof)
STADTTURM (City Tower)
Right by the Golden Roof, you can’t miss the towering Stadtturm. Built in 1450, it stands 51 metres high. You can take the spiral steps up to the viewing platform (31 metres) and check out the rooftops of the city, but I still had no coffee at this point, so there was no way in hell I was climbing some 150 steps.
That’s all I got. The rest of the time was in search of a café with WiFi to finally get some caffeine into my system!
Photos: Stadtturm (City Tower)
Photos: Not sure what the sign says, but I assume it has alcohol (It's 10am, too early for that.....for me anyway!) | Pretty facades in the Old Town | Cute souvenirs in the Old Town
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