Top of Innsbruck: an unforgettable experience at 2,300 meters

No visit to Innsbruck would be complete without an experience that literally stands above everything else: A visit to the Top of Innsbruck. The highest point of the Nordketten adventure area is at an altitude of 2,300 meters. This is where breathtaking views, impressive nature and the magic of the Alps come together.

The way to the top: The experience begins

The way to the Top of Innsbruck is an adventure in itself. From Innsbruck city center, it should only take about 20 minutes to reach the summit of the Nordkette. Of course we didn’t want to miss out on that!

Of course, you can’t reach the summit on foot in 20 minutes, but you can take various cable cars. The starting point is just a few meters away from the famous Golden Roof. You can reach the valley station of the Hungerburgbahn cable car in about 10 minutes on foot.

Ride on the Hungerburgbahn

The Hungerburgbahn is a modern funicular railroad that connects the city center with the Hungerburg, a district at an altitude of 868 meters. It is part of the Innsbruck Nordkettenbahnen, which takes visitors in several stages from the city center up to the Nordkette and the Top of Innsbruck, a popular mountain massif.

The Hungerburgbahn takes passengers from Innsbruck’s old town to the Hungerburg in just eight minutes. It covers a height difference of 287 meters over a distance of 839 meters. The maximum gradient is 48.7%, making it one of the steepest funicular railroads. The modern cabins are designed as panoramic cars and offer space for up to 92 passengers.

The station at the valley station is underground, so the funicular first travels through a tunnel. After just a few meters, a bridge leads over the Inn. Even though the view can only be enjoyed for a short time, I really liked this view.

The cable car stations by Zaha Hadid in Innsbruck

The commission to design the four new stations of the Hungerburgbahn – Congress, Löwenhaus, Alpenzoo and Hungerburg – was awarded to Zaha Hadid, who was already considered one of the world’s leading architects at the time.

Zaha Hadid was known for her avant-garde, flowing designs, which were often inspired by natural forms. We have already been able to admire some of her buildings, for example in Wolfsburg, Antwerp, London and Zaragoza. She also designed the Bergisel ski jump in Innsbruck. We were already impressed by her design language in these buildings.

Hadid also drew on the design language for the cable car stations in Innsbruck. The roofs and structures of the stations are intended to be reminiscent of “gliding masses of snow, icicles or smooth glacier formations”. By choosing curved lines and reflective surfaces, she integrated the buildings into the alpine landscape and at the same time created a futuristic aesthetic. The roofs of the stations are made of a special glass-fiber reinforced plastic construction, which was new at the time. The material makes it possible to create complex and curved shapes.

The stations

1. Congress Station
The Congress Station in the city center is the starting point of the Hungerburgbahn. Its design is deliberately open and inviting. This is intended to create a contrast to the dense urban development.

When we saw pictures of the station on the internet, we were thrilled. The building is really impressive in reality, but much smaller than we had imagined.

A staircase leads up to a rather sober-looking station of the Hungerburgbahn valley station. Concrete walls dominate here. There is a ticket counter and of course this is the starting point for our trip to the Top of Innsbruck.

2. Löwenhaus Station
This station is located in a green environment and shows how Hadid embedded the architecture harmoniously into the landscape. The curved forms of the station reflect the surrounding nature and create a connection between technology and the environment.

3. Alpine Zoo Station
The station near the Alpine Zoo is located on a slope and impresses with its organic shape, which is reminiscent of a glacier. It offers not only a functional transition point, but also an aesthetic eye-catcher.

4. Hungerburg station
The terminus of the cable car on the Hungerburg is a design highlight. With its location high above Innsbruck, it not only offers a breathtaking view, but also a perfect symbiosis between modern architecture and alpine scenery.

If you step out of the mountain station of the Hungerburg cable car, you should definitely enjoy the view over the city before continuing up the mountain. Even here I found the view impressive.

Please change

Once you arrive at the Hungerburg station, you change to the Seegrubenbahn.

The Seegrubenbahn is a cable car that runs from the Hungerburg at 868 m to the Seegrube at 1,905 meters. It is the second stage of the Innsbruck Nordkettenbahnen.

The cable car overcomes the difference in altitude of around 1,037 meters in around 8 minutes. The gondolas fit around 50 people and the staff make the most of the capacity. I was happy to be one of the first people to board. I was able to get a window seat and look out during the ride. Other passengers stood in the middle of the gondola and couldn’t see anything.

I think they missed out on something. The view was unique. Innsbruck became smaller and smaller, the mountains seemed more and more imposing and the view of the valley seemed to change constantly.

For me, the ride could have gone on for a while longer. We arrived at the Seegrube mountain station far too quickly. The passengers quickly poured out of the train with the aim of immediately catching the connecting train, which departs from the same building. We dawdled a little and that turned out to be a very good thing for us.

The connecting cable car, the Hafelkarbahn, departs at a time that makes it easy to change trains. However, about 10 people less fit into the cable car cabin. We didn’t “fit” in, waited for the next ride and so I was able to enjoy a window seat again!

The cable car covers an altitude difference of around 395 meters and takes around 4 minutes to reach the Hafelekar, which at 2,300 meters above sea level is the highest excursion destination in Innsbruck.

At the summit – on the Top of Innsbruck

Once at the top, we leave the small mountain station. A moment ago we were still wearing T-shirts, but here at 2300 m it is much cooler. We’re not the only ones reaching into our backpacks and pulling out our jackets. The sun cream is also immediately needed in the bright sunshine. Due to the wind, you don’t notice how intense the sun is here. Without sun cream, sunburn is inevitable.

We had taken one of the first cable car rides to the summit that day and I was amazed at how many visitors there were. A path winds its way from the mountain station to the summit cross and people of all ages were out and about. Some were equipped with really good footwear, others were lightly clad and wearing shoes that are not really suitable for this terrain. Not really the right clothing for a mountain tour.

We made our way to the summit cross. The path is good, steep and I quickly realize that the air is a little thinner at altitude. But the panorama that we experience here amazes me. What a view of the city of Innsbruck deep in the valley, the Inn Valley and the surrounding mountain peaks. On a clear day, the view extends as far as the Zugspitze in Germany and the impressive peaks of the Stubai Alps to the south. I can understand why visitors are drawn there.

If you don’t just want to enjoy the view, you can also follow hiking trails up there. The famous Goetheweg leads along the ridge and offers spectacular views of the Karwendel mountains. For adventurers, there are more challenging routes that lead deep into the Karwendel. I have read that, with a bit of luck, you can also spot ibex, marmots or even golden eagles up there. But to do this, you have to move a little away from the visitors.

After many photos and a constant “it’s beautiful!”, we got back on the cable car after a while and went back to the Seegrube.

Hiking at an altitude of 1900m

It’s amazing what a difference 400 meters of altitude can make. Back at the Seegrube station, it was much warmer and our jackets disappeared back into our backpacks.

After looking at the hiking map, we decide to hike the Nordketten Perspektivweg. This trail is laid out as a circular route and starts directly at the cable car station. I don’t know whether we really followed the exact route. But you can follow our route very well on our map.

The route is quite easy and you only have to climb a few meters in altitude, but the path is not particularly wide and you sometimes walk close to the slope. The view from a small viewing platform/skywalk is particularly beautiful and offers a very special perspective of the mountain world.

We really enjoyed the trail and have decided to drive back up to the Innsbruck Nordkette and then hike a slightly longer route up there. The nature is simply beautiful and maybe I’ll see a marmot after all.

After the short hike, you can stop off at the Seegrube restaurant. The sun terrace is the perfect place to take a break and perhaps enjoy something to eat and drink.

For us, the morning ended on the Nordkette and we took the cable car and inclined railroad back down into the valley to Innsbruck. It was an excursion that has stayed with me for a long time and increased my longing for the mountains.

Good to know

The visit took place as part of a press trip.