Innsbruck, Tirol – The Heart of Europe!

– Guest post by Tsvete, travel and lifestyle blogger at Lilla Green – 

Welcome to my “home city” by choice! Located in the heart of Europe, the city of Innsbruck is not only famous for being the capital of the federal state of Tirol, but also for being the capital of the Alps. During the last couple of decades, Innsbruck has become a main touristic attraction in Austria and favourite place among winter athletes from all over the World!

Since 2007 I’m one of 730.000 inhabitants in Tirol and 120.000 in Innsbruck! An interesting fact is that Innsbruck is a home of 30.000 students, which means that every 4^th person studies at one of the 8 Universities in the city! So did I.

Seefeld, Tirol/Photo: Lilla Green

Indeed, Innsbruck is an International Student City and a multi-culti scene for various activities. You can highly experience this international vibe, most of all during the winter time, when people from around the World come together for snowboarding or skiing!

Granting all these, Innsbruck and the people from Tirol are much attached to the roots and I would even say that many of them are very traditional. When visiting Tirol for the first time, you will definitely notice two things.

Innsbruck and the Nortkette Alps, Old Town RIver Inn/Photo: Lilla Green

First, there are many Tyroleans who wear some traditional Austrian clothing (e.g. leather trousers and dirndl dresses) which looks very similar to the most common “Oktoberfest” clothes. And second, even if you have learned some German language, you won’t be able to understand the spoken language in Tirol.

Yes! The struggle of all struggles – the Tyrolean Dialect! The Mother of all dialects! You definitely need some hard core language skills if you want to live and work here. And this will happen for sure … but after several years of living in Tirol.

What you should also know about Innsbruck? The city of Innsbruck was selected three times for the Winter Olympics: in 1964, 1976 and the last time in 2012 for the Winter Youth Olympics. There is no doubt that the city is all about sport activities! Skiing, snowboarding, hiking, climbing, mountain-biking, jogging – there is nothing you cannot do under the Tyrolean sky!

Lech, Tirol/Photo: Lilla Green

Innsbruck – the heart of Europe

But to be honest, let’s talk about my favourite part! Innsbruck is the Heart of Europe! When you travel by car you can reach 6 countries within 6 hours of drive:

• Munich, Germany 1.45 h;
• Liechtenstein 2.00h;
• Verona, Italy 3.00 h;
• Zurich, Switzerland 3.00h;
• Bologna, Italy 4.00 h;
• Bern, Switzerland 4.30h;
• Vienna, Italy 4.30h;
• Venice, Italy 4.00h;
• Milano, Italy 4.30h;
• Ljubljana, Slovenia 4.30h;
• Prague, Czech Republic 5.00h;
• Bratislava, Slovakia 5.15h;
• Poreč, Croatia 6.15h).

The Tyrolean food…

And secondly – the Tyrolean traditional cuisine and its spring water! Make sure you try the Tyrolean bacon, the best dumplings (including “Speckknödel” and “Spinatknödel”), and of course – the apple strudel with vanilla sauce … You will fall in love with Tirol immediately!

I hope you have learned something new about this beautiful European region! If you are planning a trip to Tirol and you need some tips for your stay here, please feel free to contact me!

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Author: Tsvete is a travel and lifestyle blogger, based in Innsbruck, Austria. She is a passionate self-taught photographer, full-time dreamer, half-time traveller and a “new-born” minimalist. Tsvete loves travelling to exotic places, exploring new cultures and blogging about all these adventures in her blog – LillaGreen.at. Follow her Facebook page and Instagram for daily travel inspiration!