Innsbruck is full of cultural delights and amazingly beautiful attractions but like most European cities… a holiday here might end up burning a hole in your pocket. A good way of saving money on your trip will be to invest in travel and transport passes that either offer discounts on attraction entry fees and/ or discount on transport systems and cable car networks.
The kind of pass you choose should depend on your travel goals and budget, so you should choose the Innsbruck Stubai Ski City Pass if you are looking for an Innsbruck centred skiing holiday only. Otherwise, the Welcome Card Unlimited works fine if you plan on just visiting the major points across Tirol.
For a purely Innsbruck centred holiday, the Innsbruck Card will work well. Similarly, for transport passes that cover all bus, train and tram networks around the city you should choose an option that best suits the duration of your stay and the area you will cover in your holiday.
Read: Getting around Innsbruck to know about all transport options to easily get around Innsbruck.
Travel Passes
Welcome Card
Most prominent hotels in Innsbruck and its holiday villages offer a Welcome Card with the stay of one night. If the tourist stays for 3 nights then an upgraded version of the card i.e. the Welcome Card Plus is issued.
The Benefits of welcome card/ welcome card plus are that holders get access to free Ice skating, free ski bus rides, 50% discount on cross country skiing at Seefeld Plateau and 50% discount on swimming pools. There are also discounts on family programs, cultural festivals and climbing activities. Holders of these cards get free transport (limited) on selected bus lines. Only Holders of the Welcome Card Plus get free cable car rides on select cable networks.
The Welcome Card summer season is from May to October while the Welcome Card winter season runs from November to April and the card can be used for either entire season once issued. The tourist is required to specify the dates of arrival and departure from Innsbruck and the card will be valid for the entire stay. The card is non-transferable and it bears the first name plus first letter of the surname on it along with arrival and departure dates of the tourist. At various attraction gateways, Welcome Cardholders are asked to furnish Photo ID’s so it’s not possible to transfer the card to some other person.
You can check the list of participating hotels from this page or you can simply call up the hotel in which you intend to stay and then ask if they are a participating partner of the Welcome Card. You don’t have to pay anything to get the Welcome Card or the Welcome Card Plus….just select an accommodation which offers this card!!
The newly launched Welcome Card Unlimited offers great holiday experiences in the Tyrol region. If you are staying for 3 nights or more in Tyrol then you can buy the Welcome Card Unlimited for an added price from a participating hotel. The welcome Card Unlimited offers all the benefits of the welcome Card and in addition some other great benefits.
There is entry to the top 7 highlights of Tyrol that include Aqua Dome (biggest Thermal spa), Stubai Glacier and Ice Grotto, Achensee boat Trip, Area 47 (biggest outdoor leisure park), 007 Elements Solden, Swarovski Crystal World and Tratzberg castle. This card is valid only from 3rd may to 31st October and is priced at 59 euros per adult and 29.5 euros per child (age 4 to 14). The card offers good value to anyone who plans to cover different points across Tirol and not just Innsbruck. If you want to limit your experiences to just core Innsbruck then the Innsbruck Card described below offers better value.
Innsbruck Card
The Innsbruck Card is very convenient money and time-saving facility offered to tourists as it includes free entry to virtually every attraction in Innsbruck. The Innsbruck Card is available in 24/48 and 72-hour formats and is priced at 43 euros, 50 euros and 59 euros respectively. Children between the ages 6 to 15 can get the card at half price and younger kids can get it for free provided they are accompanied by a card holding adult.
There are special group Innsbruck Cards that are issued to groups of 25 or more people and they ensure more savings. There is also an Innsbruck Card Combo on offer and it has the 48 hour Innsbruck card plus coffee and cake at an Austrian café and dinner at a traditional brewery… the combo card is priced at 110 euros.
Remember that the card will be timed from the exact hour you start using it, i.e. for example, it will be valid from 10.00 to 10.00 or 2.00 to 2.00 on different dates depending upon the card version you purchase. Even an hour’s worth of extra use is not permitted.
The Card Benefits are that it gets the holder free entrance (one time only) to all museums and attractions in the Innsbruck region and also free transportation to many of these attractions on the Sightseer bus. One ascent/ descent with all cable cars or the funicular in the Innsbruck region and that includes Nordkette, Patscherkofel, Muttereralm, Axamer Lizum,), and Oberperfuss Rangger Köpfl. Also includes summer only funiculars like Glungezer and Drei-Seen-Bahn in Kühtai. Entrance (plus transport) to the Swarovski Crystal World is included with the card.
Free Public transport by IVB in Innsbruck to Rum Hall and IVB tram transport to the villages of Mutters/ Kreith and Igls is included. Visitors who hold the Innsbruck Card get discounts and a free glass of wine at the Casino Innsbruck and discounts on services like Schubert City Tour, Tyrolean evenings and Audioversum, Golfclub Innsbruck Igls, Golf Mieming. The bicycle rental for 3 hours is also included in the card pack. Innsbruck cardholders also get one free guided city walk per card.
The Innsbruck Card is one of the best value tourist cards in Europe and you should definitely get one. The savings on attractions tickets are in itself massive and if you plan on extensive use of cable cars then there are further savings as some cable rides like the Nordkette line are definitely not cheap!! There is free transport on the sightseer bus and that in itself stops at 18 points around the city (making intra city transport virtually free) and there are audio guides inside to brief you about the attractions.
If you plan on making full use of Innsbruck’s majestic cable rides then just remember that most cable cars close for almost 2 months in spring and autumn so you should check beforehand from the operator website for the updated timings. Even the Nordkettenbahn that’s open for the whole year closes for 3 weeks in November for maintenance.
You can buy the Innsbruck Card online and the card can even be couriered to your home address. This will ensure that you can immediately begin using the card as soon as you arrive in Innsbruck. Otherwise you can submit valid ID, fill up a form and get the card from the Innsbruck Information Centre on Berggraben road or the Tourist Information Centre at the main station in Innsbruck (Südtiroler Platz 7, 6020 Innsbruck). You can also call/ email to know more details about the card (Phone: +43 512 53 56; Email: [email protected]).
Besides this, the Innsbruck Card is also sold from ticket offices of cable cars (Nordkette route) and ticket offices of other participating attractions listed in the card. Some prominent hotels also sell the card at their reception and there is a special counter at the airport (Trafik shop) who sells these cards… even the Innsbruck train station has the Press and Books shop that sells the Innsbruck card so it’s pretty much widely available.
Ski Plus City Pass
If you are primarily focusing on skiing in your holiday then the SKI plus CITY pass (offered in partnership with Wintersport Tirol AG & CO Stubaier Bergbahnen KG) will come in handy. This card will give you the option of exploring 13 ski resorts around Innsbruck and along Stubai valley plus access to approximately 111 cable cars and grand lifts. This Tyrol Ski pass is good for anyone interested in snowboarding, skiing, winter cultural experiences and snow adventures.
The card benefits include 2 nights to 7 nights of stay in a famous holiday apartment/ resort like Patscherkofel, STUBAI Glacier Resort, Axamer Lizum resorts (list given with pass) and 22 cultural/ lifestyle experiences in and around Innsbruck. Entry to famous attractions like Imperial Palace, Golden Roof Museum, Swarovski Crystal World, Hofkirche Court Church, Ski Jump Tower, and Ambras Castle etc. is free with the Ski Plus City pass.
There is 25% discount on night time trips organised with mountain operators. Holders have unlimited access to all 13 ski regions around Innsbruck including Kuhtai that’s Austria’s highest ski region but there are plenty of family-friendly gentle slopes too.
The SKI plus City Pass Packages are bookable from October to May and the charges start 175 euros per person depending upon the duration (2 to 7 days). The pass can be booked from Sky Plus City Pass site.
You can also buy the pass at the offices of all 13 participating cable car operators including Nordkette, Patscherkofel, Muttereralm, Axamer Lizum, Oberperfuss Rangger Köpfl, Glungezer and Drei-Seen-Bahn in Kühtai). Innsbruck tourism offices and participating hotels also sell this pass.
Transport Passes
Travelling via Innsbruck’s public transport system means that you would mostly be using buses and trams. It’s a bit confusing to buy a ticket here or locate the right transport pass as 3 different transport authorities are present and you will keep coming across 3 categories of tickets. There is IVB Innsbrucker Verkehrsbetriebe meaning Transport Authority for Innsbruck, OB / Austrian Federal Railways meaning the National Rail Company and VVT (Verkehrsverbund Tirol).
Read: Getting around Innsbruck in budget for more details.
In case your travel plans include stops all over the Tirol state, a VVT pass/ ticket would work better while if your holiday is centred only on Innsbruck then an IVB pass will work better. IVB tickets are valid on all bus and tram networks in and around the city including major attractions around the city like Igls village and Bergisel Tirol Panorama. IVB also has its own bike rental system known as Stadtrad on which you can register for free and then rent a bike for nominal charge… most public transport systems in Innsbruck will transport the bike for free too.
You can buy a 24-hour ticket (adult ticket 5.60 euros) that allow unlimited rides through the Kernzone of the city and the ticket can be brought from IVB customer centres, ticket machines or even online. If you plan on staying in Innsbruck for 6 days or more the Weekly ticket that costs 22.20 euros (approx.) is a good deal. Apart from unlimited transport across the city, there is free entry to Tyrolean Provincial Museum.
If you plan on spending the week exploring Innsbruck and some other adjacent region then the weekly ticket will cost 25 euros and if you plan on exploring the whole of Tyrol then the ticket price is 45 euros. For understanding different regions and the way they are represented in the transport system, go through the VVT Zone Plan.
If you are in a group then you can reap maximum advantages out of the tickets as they are transferable provided not bought online. For groups who are planning on extensive travel across the Tyrol region, the 2 Plus daily ticket may come in handy. This can be used by 2 adults and up to 3 kids (age 6 to 15) or 5 member children group or a single adult with up to 4 kids. Remember that this is the VVT ticket that’s valid for the whole Tirol region and not just for core Innsbruck. The 2 plus daily VVT ticket will cost around 34 euros and you can buy it online here.
If you just need a single journey or an 8 journey ticket then pick them up from your Innsbruck city bus driver. All other types of tickets need to be brought from select tobacconists, OB travel centres and booking counters of train stations. The VVT and IVB customer centres also sell these tickets and so do ticket machines at train stations (there are 4 VVT ticket machines at Innsbruck main station). Alternatively, you can download the IVB ticket shop app and book tickets from there… tickets will be cheaper but they will be non-transferable!!
For any further help on transport passes and tickets, you should directly contact the VVT customer centre in Tirol. Contact details are given below:
Customer centre at Innsbruck Main Station
Sterzinger Straße 3, A-6020 Innsbruck
Phone. +43 (0)512 56 16 16; Email: [email protected]
The centre is open from Monday to Friday; 7.30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Note: Like most European cities, Innsbruck offers good discounts for children (till age 15), senior citizens and people with mobility issues especially on day tickets, 8 journey tickets etc. Check with the ticket seller for knowing the detailed discount list.
Read: Europe Tourism Secrets if you are planning a Europe trip that includes Austria… there are Travel Passes that help saves money all across Europe travels such as Eurorail and Euroline bus passes.
A travel addict. Still celebrating the day when he quit his high-profile corporate job to pursue his passion for travel writing.