Innsbruck tourist information

Innsbruck is located along the A12/A13 corridor, providing freeway access to Verona, Italy, and Munich, Germany. The A12 and A13 converge near Innsbruck, at which point the A13 terminates.

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Innsbruck's main station is one of the most frequented railway stations in Austria. The Austrian east-west railway crosses the south-west route through the Brenner pass, connecting northern Italy and southern Germany.

Innsbruck Airport provides service to Frankfurt, London, and Vienna, among others.

The town's tram-network consists of two city-lines and two lines in the surrounding area - to Igls and into the Stubaital. The network will be enlarged during the coming years to Hall in Tirol in the east and Völs in the west. There are several bus lines as well. The trolleybus service will be abandoned due to the enlargement of the tram network.

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The first documented mention of Innsbruck dates back to 1187 ("Insprucke"). It served as an important crossing point over the river Inn. The city's seal and coat of arms show a bird's-eye view of the Inn bridge, a design used since 1267. The route over the Brenner Pass was then a major transport and communications link between the north and the south, and the easiest route across the Alps. The revenues generated by serving as a transit station caused the city to flourish.

A large and famous district in Innsbruck - 'Wilten' - got its name from an old Roman settlement 'Veldidena'.

Innsbruck became the capital of all Tirol in 1429 and later in 15th century the city became a centre of European politics and culture as emperor Maximilian I moved the imperial court to Innsbruck in the 1490s.

During the Napoleonic wars Tyrol was ceded to Bavaria, ally of France. Andreas Hofer led a Tyrolean peasant army in the victory on the Berg Isel against combined Bavarian and French forces, proceeded to make Innsbruck the centre of his administration. The combined army later overran the Tyrolean militia army and Innsbruck was until 1814 part of Bavaria. After the Vienna Congress Austrian rule returned. The Tyrolean hero Andreas Hofer was executed in Mantua and his remains were returned to Innsbruck in 1823 and interred in the Franciscan church.

In 1938 Austria was annexed by Hitler's Germany. From 1943 until April,1945, Innsbruck experienced 21 bomb attacks and suffered heavy damage.