GENERAL

The capital of Austria's Tyrol region, Innsbruck is a city of fairy-tale beauty, hemmed in on all sides by the majestic reaches of the frosty Alps. For a memorable Alpine ski holiday, Innsbruck takes some beating. The city has twice hosted the Winter Olympics and in 2012 hosted the inaugural Winter Youth Olympics. What sets it apart from other ski resorts, however, is that it is a major city with all the accompanying benefits, such as hundreds of shops, bars and restaurants, plus rail links and an airport, whilst countless entertainment options and attractions make it a popular year-round destination.

Innsbruck has sought to strike a fine balance between the urban and the outdoors, and it has had exceptional success in this respect. Innsbruck holidays will appeal to a broad range of holidaymakers including winter sports enthusiasts, active summer sports fans, families, clubbers and cultural city breakers.

At heart, this is an attractive, sophisticated Alpine city with at least a quarter-century of museums, some of which are genuinely world-class, as well as theatres, galleries, a zoo, many fashionable nightclubs and more! The medieval Old Town is wonderful, especially when covered in snow during winter when it takes on a storybook air. Imperial palaces left over Hapsburg dynasties coexist with dramatic gothic edifices and ancient castles, churches and cobblestone streets.

If you plan on hitting the slopes on your holiday in Innsbruck, you'll find around 100 runs of varying difficulty, ranging from the sedate to the adrenaline-fuelled, spread across nine ski areas and totalling 300km. Boarders and freestylers are well provided for with two terrain parks and two pipes. Other winter sports you can enjoy in the resort include bobsleighing, ski jumping and tobogganing.

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Check out the other leading ski destination of Chamonix and Kitzbuhel , or enjoy a memorable city break in Austria's beautiful capital Vienna