Awestruck in Austria

Location: Innsbruck, Austria

Introduction:

It’s always interesting to visit places that have hosted an Olympics. That said, it’s been almost 50 years since Innsbruck hosted the 1976 Winter games for the second time with 1964 being the first. The mountains are rugged and numerous and you can easily see why this area is popular for Winter sports. Fortunate for us with it was late Spring and the weather was quite comfortable making for some enjoyable outdoor activities. We were back on the Euro too. Innsbruck itself has a cool youthful vibe to it and we liked what we saw.

Sights Visted:

We went to Serlesbahnen Mieders where we rode a cable car up the mountain to an area of fun activities for kids including two playgrounds and various water activities. Then we got to choose whether to return down by riding the cable car, hiking or riding the summer toboggan. We chose the latter and were surprised that they let six-year-old Adelaide take her own toboggan. It was a thrilling descent.

Swarovski’s headquarters are in Innsbruck and they have a Crystal Worlds visitors center for which there is an admission charge. It was very kid friendly with both an indoor and outdoor play area that included some marble runs. There’s a carousel, museum and a large store (of course). It was worth a visit as our daughter really enjoyed the play areas.

Play:

We broke up the drive to Austria with a stop in St Anton an Amberg, a ski resort, with a modest sized playground that was good enough. Klaus Auele nature activity park was about half an hour from where we stayed. It was located in a beautiful setting with a nice assortment of playground equipment and some water activities.

Accommodation:

We used Booking.com to reserve a three-bedroom apartment in Kreith, a suburb that sits above Innsbruck. The property is named Sattlerhof. It was impressively built in a traditional Austrian style. There was a playground, above-ground pool and farm animals on the property making it an ideal place for our daughter. It was like having her own petting zoo. The hosts were friendly and helpful. They even encouraged Adelaide to pick eggs from the quail and chicken pens, which she did. The only downside was that there was some construction underway to build a new barn resulting in some undesirable noise at times.

Food & Drink

We sampled some local cuisine and now that we’re pretty close to Italy, we got a tasty Italian food fix. The wine that Austria is known for is Gruner Veltliner and its refreshing. The imported German beer on tap was thirst quenching.

Transportation System:

It was a three-and-a-half-hour drive in our leased car from Switzerland. The route took us through the small country of Liechtenstein and plenty of tunnels. We were pleased to see that the cost of gasoline was down to about six dollars per gallon. We had read that Austria requires an International Driver’s license so Rich got one before leaving just to be safe. What we didn’t know is that Austria requires a pre-paid toll sticker to use its major roadways even though we incurred tolls on several of their roads. We found out when a 120€ fine arrived in the mail. So, if you’re heading to Austria in a car please do yourself a favor and visit the ASFINAG toll shop to pre-purchase a toll sticker.

There’s an active tram system in the area with a stop just atop of the property we stayed at and guests can and do take mass transportation to get there.

Shout-Out:

It’s hard to believe how ubiquitous Apple Pay has become as we’ve been able to use our iPhones to pay wherever credit cards are accepted throughout our trip. Nice work Apple. That said, Austria is the first country on this extended trip where multiple establishments have been cash-only including our accommodations requiring multiple visits to an ATM.

For Your Amusement:

We thought this was going to be the best zip-line yet but watch what happens.

We were pleased to find a rest area on the Autobahn but not so pleased when we went to use the restrooms and had to pay a toll. We missed a turn on the way to Serlesbahnen and it cost us €22 as it led us to a tollbooth with a toll of €11. We turned around at the first exit and, you guessed it, we had to pay another €11 to get off.

Highlight:

We liked Innsbruck so much that we tried to extend our stay. We guess you could say that we were awestruck in Austria. Unfortunate for us. We’re not the only ones and our place of stay was all booked up. So, it was time to move on.