Austria Guide
Tyrol
Innsbruck
Sprawling beneath the Nordkette mountain ridge, INNSBRUCK is Austria's only major urban centre with high Alps on its doorstep. If you want to visit museums in the morning, walk up mountains in the afternoon and bar-hop into the early hours, you'd be hard pushed to find a more convenient place. Skiing is big news here – and hosting the winter Olympics in 1964 and 1976 provided the city with a wealth of sporting and tourist facilities. But for those who just want a taste of history, Innsbruck's compact centre – a classic Austrian hybrid of the Gothic and Baroque – invites aimless strolling.
Innsbruck activities
The tourist office produces an excellent map detailing the many cycling and mountain-bike routes accessible from central Innsbruck. For rentals try Sport Neuner, Salurnerstr 5 
0512/561501.
The tourist office has good free hiking maps and suggestions, but also runs an extensive programme of guided walks – including sunrise and night-time hikes – from June to September. They're free to anyone in possession of an Innsbruck Club Card. For more heavyweight hiking information and maps for the Innsbruck area and beyond, visit the the Österreichischer Alpenverein, at Wilhelm-Griel-Str 15, (Austrian Alpine Club; 0512/59547, 
www.oeav.at ).
The town's most stylish spa facility is the Salurner Sauna, Salurner Str 6 ( 0512/5025695), a 1927 building that includes a Finnish sauna, steam room and solarium.
Good municipal pools can be found indoors at Amraserstr 3 ( 0512/342585); and outdoors at the Tivoli sports centre, Purtschellerstr 1 (May– Oct; 0512/342344).
Many ski areas are within easy day-trip distance of Innsbruck, with the Nordpark even accessible from the city centre, thanks to a recent extension of the Hungerburgbahn. The main winter-sports centre in the city is Olympiaworld ( 0512/33838-221; www.olympiaworld.at ), a complex of buildings where you can ice skate indoors (all year round) and out (Nov– Feb) and experience a bobsleigh ride – pounding a 1220-metre-long track at speeds over 100kmph as the passenger of an experienced pilot (from €30 per person).
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