The plan for today was to spend a day at Innsbruck in Austria and add that to my travel map. I wanted to be back in Zurich that night, so I decided to make a day trip. I had booked my tickets in advance on the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB or OEBB) on their website at € 19,00 each way (which was a very good price considering that I paid CHF 16.60 each way only to get to Sargans the previous day when I visited Vaduz. As I had seen before when I returned from Milan by train, generally, booking train tickets on SBB was more expensive than booking on Trenitalia / ÖBB / Deutsche Bahn / where possible, even when, the actual train on which you travel is the same.
The weather had turned drastically today and there was snow on the ground (compared to the beautiful day yesterday), but I decided to go anyway. I left Zurich on the 6:40 AM RailJet. There was hardly anyone else in my compartment.
Someone came by to check my ticket and passport as the frozen Swiss countryside rolled by.We crossed Liechtenstein non-stop into Austria and were soon climbing towards the Arlberg Pass. It was snowing outside and I imagined how nice it must have been in warmer weather, but even now it was a winter wonderland. As we descended towards Innsbruck, we had the Inn River for company on our right all the way until Innsbruck.
There was no snow on the ground at Innsbruck. I got out of the railway station and headed to my first stop, walking towards the Wilten Basilica and Wilten Abbey. From there I could also see the Bergisel Ski Jump.
I then headed towards town and passed through the Triumphal Arch. I saw the Liberation Monument and St. Anne’s Column.
Next was Innsbruck’s most famous icon, the Golden Roof. There was a huge Christmas market there and lots of people around. As the day progressed, it was getting more wet and more cold and I really wondered how much more time I would be able to spend outside.
From there I headed to the riverfront to see the Colourful Houses of Innsbruck, and then walked to see St. Jacob Cathedral and the Tyrolean State Theatre.
I circled back for another look at the colourful houses across the river. It was getting dark by now, and I decided to spend some time walking around in the various stalls at the Christmas markets.
My train back was at 5:48 PM and there was still some time. I had been on my feet since I arrived here, feeling tired now, the cold wet weather was not helping. Instead of sitting around in a cafe somewhere and then walking more, I decided to walk first and sit down at the station.
There wasn’t much to do on the train ride back because it was completely dark outside, but I was thankful to be comfortably seated and warm. Reached Zurich on time and took the tram back to my hotel.
🚆 ÖBB RailJet