Holiday ideas: a foodie tour in Italy, Austria and Slovenia; second stop: Innsbruck, Austria.

We travelled up and down the Brennero road so many times but we never stopped in Innsbruck until last year.

We stayed just a couple of nights because it’s not a big city, anyway it worths a visit because of the famous Goldenes Dachl ( a roof made with copper flat tiles) and because of the lovely houses on the river Inn.

Innsbruck is packed with good hotels, b&b and rooms for rent, you can find something good for you and your wallet, we stayed at the Sailer Hotel, right in the centre of the city, equipped with a parking lot, a well known restaurant with Tyrol dishes and a good international breakfast.

It’s a family runned hotel and it’s very cozy.

On the opposite side of the river Inn, for the joy of my son, you can visit the hausstehtkopf or Upsidedown house, a funny and unusual experience for all the family!

In this house everything, from the forniture in the rooms to the car in the garage are upside down; lot of laughts!

If you are still near the river you can pay a visit to the Markthalle: vegetables, cheeses, cold cuts and meats all from local farmers.

Right outside the market you can find some foodtrucks and some stalls with various things.

If sweets and desserts are your passion or children really need a pause Innsbruck, like all the other cities of Austria, is a confectionery paradise; if you want a pause to remember Café Sacher is a real deal: luxury, silver forks, immaculate tablecloths and the most famous chocolate cake in the world.

Another confectionery that worth a visit is Café- Konditorei Valier: their cakes are so many you cannot try only one!

If you want to try a WOW experience you can have a trip on the Nordkettenbahn, the cableway starts from the city centre and reach the top of Hafelekar in less than 30 minutes.

If you are lucky you can spot ibex up there!

( We didn’t take the trip. I am scared of cableways to death but don’t tell anyone please! 🙁 )

If your children want some more fun you can visit the Alpenzoo, a zoo where there are all the animals from the Alpine ecosystem.

Going back to the city centre you can visit the Audioversum : a museum dedicated to the sound and hearing; it’s packed with games and guessing games.

The top is the screaming room: do your best to reach the elephant’s power!

Let’s return to the food: where can you eat well?

I want to start with a real gourmet place: restaurant Sitzwohl.

It’s not cheap and I think one of the degustation menus would be affordable; they offer European cuisine, from meat to fish. I mention them because they also have a great cocktail bar from 5 p.m. and, when the season is good, they have a beautiful terrace which overview the Stadtforumplatz.

Another place that worth a mention for food and cocktails is Gang & Gebe, in the city centre near the Triumphpforte: the specialty of the place are the small food portion, sort of smal tastings, so you can try more than one dish from the menu ( from three to six, depend on how much you are hungry).

If you are a group you can easily taste almost everything from the kitchen, the cuisine surfs from the Tyrol’s dishes to Asian fusion.

We are in Austria and I still didn’t talk about beer… Shame on me!

Let’s start from the Theresienbräu, the biggest brewery of Innsbruck and of all the Tyrol; once again I bring you a place in the heart of the city, it’s also a restaurant and, of course, you can taste all the beers from their production ( not only pils! 🙂 ), booking in advance you can have a tour of the brewery.

If you want to drink beers but not only Austrian ones you definetely have to go to Tribaun, the paradise of the craft beers.

You can see what’s on tap and even the kegs’ situation real time on their site!

You can eat pizza, sandwiches and pub food, on reservation you can attend beer tasting courses.

I think I have written enough, now I wait for your suggestions and your reportages! 😉