Innsbruck City Guide

Public transport

Operator. The Innsbruck public transport company (IVB) operates 23 bus and tram lines within the city as well as the Hungerburgbahn funicular railway. For trips beyond the city limits, for example to Igls, Hall in Tirol or the wider surrounding area, the VVT (Verkehrsverbund Tirol) fare association applies, which bundles tickets for IVB and the regional buses.

Network. Trams and buses, plus Zaha Hadid's Hungerburgbahn up to the Nordkette.

Modes of transport. Bus · Tram · Funicular railway (Hungerburgbahn)

Operating hours. Innsbruck starts early. On a normal weekday, the first tram leaves the main station around 4.40 am, followed shortly by lines 2 and 3, with the city buses starting roughly between 4.30 am and 5.30 am. During the day, the network runs at a dense frequency, with a vehicle arriving every few minutes on tram lines 2, 3 and 5 in the city center. In the evening it tapers off in stages. City buses usually stop between 10.30 pm and 10.45 pm, while the trams keep running longer, with the last services from the main station departing shortly before midnight. Anyone traveling later switches to the Nightliner or calls the shared-ride night taxi, which operates across the entire city area between 11 pm and 6 am. The exact first and last trips vary by line and direction, so it's worth checking the IVB timetable information before heading back.

Night service. The Nightliner is the nighttime backbone of the IVB network, and all regular IVB tickets (single ticket, 24-hour pass, weekly and monthly pass) are valid on it too. The IVB website doesn't state the exact route, departure times and operating days directly, referring instead to VVT's timetable information. In addition, a shared-ride night taxi runs in Hötting and St. Nikolaus from 8 pm to 6 am, and in the rest of the city area from 11 pm to 6 am. A women's night taxi runs from 10 pm to 4 am.

Buying tickets. Single tickets and passes are available at the ticket machine at many stops, at parking ticket machines bearing the IVB logo, in the online ticket shop at tickets.ivb.at, in the IVB Tickets and wegfinder apps, at pre-sale outlets, and at the IVB customer center (Mon-Fri 7:30 am-6:00 pm, tel. +43 512 53 07-500). Whether a purchase is possible directly from the driver isn't listed in IVB's official channel overview.

App and payment. Two apps cover ticket purchase, IVB Tickets for the city network and wegfinder as a regional route planner with a ticketing function for VVT-wide trips. Both sell tickets for immediate activation on your smartphone. Card payment is possible at the ticket machines and in the online ticket shop, though whether the machines support contactless payment by card or smartphone wasn't individually confirmed on the official website.

Which ticket. The single ticket costs 3.30 Euro, reduced 2.20 Euro (children from age 6, teenagers up to 20, students, apprentices, people with disabilities, people 65 and over), valid for 45 minutes as a paper ticket or 90 minutes in the app. The 24-hour pass costs 7.30 Euro, reduced 5.10 Euro, and a family day pass for 2 adults and 3 children costs 10.80 Euro. The 24-hour pass therefore costs about the same as 2.2 single tickets. The 8-ticket bundle costs 19.10 Euro, reduced 15.40 Euro, is transferable and can be split among several people, bringing a single trip down to as little as 2.39 Euro. For longer stays there's the Innsbruck weekly ticket for 28.40 Euro. All prices listed apply to the Innsbruck city fare zone.

Fare zones. For the city center and the usual routes within Innsbruck, the Innsbruck-Stadt zone is sufficient. Only for trips into the surrounding area, for example to Igls or Hall in Tirol, do you need a Tirol-wide VVT ticket such as the Tirol weekly ticket.

Tip. The Hungerburgbahn starts in the middle of town and is at two thousand metres in twenty minutes.

Links

• IVB Tickets & Fares
• IVB Line Overview
• IVB Timetable Information
• VVT Verkehrsverbund Tirol
• Network map

Getting there

Main station

Location. East of the centre, ten minutes' walk to Maria-Theresien-Straße.

Long-distance trains. The main station is the long-distance rail hub of western Austria. Railjet and Railjet Xpress services run hourly eastbound to Salzburg, Linz, Vienna main station and Vienna Airport, with individual services continuing to Budapest or Bratislava. In the opposite direction they run via the Arlberg to Feldkirch, Bregenz and on to Zurich. To Germany there are several daily Railjet connections to Munich as well as an ICE to Berlin, and the private Westbahn also serves the route to Vienna Westbahnhof. Southbound, the Brenner railway starts at the main station with trains to Bolzano, Verona, Venice, Bologna and Ancona. At night, Nightjet and EuroNight services stop here, among others to Hamburg, Amsterdam, Vienna, Graz, Budapest, Zagreb and Zurich. The whole is rounded out by REX and Cityjet Xpress trains into the Inn and Wipp valleys.

Opening hours. The waiting area at Innsbruck main station is open around the clock, with Nightjets passing through at night anyway. The ticket counters operate daily from 6.30 am to 8.30 pm, the info point from 7 am Monday to Saturday and from 8 am on Sundays. The first long-distance trains leave around 4.35 am, the last Railjet shortly after 10 pm.

Airports

Local quirks

• The mountains are public transport. From the old town to the summit of the Nordkette takes less than half an hour. Bring a jacket.
• The Hungerburgbahn costs extra. A ride on the Hungerburgbahn is not automatically included in regular IVB city tickets. According to operator Nordkettenbahnen, a one-way ride costs 8.40 Euro, a return trip 14 Euro, and continuing on with the Seegrubenbahn costs extra on top.
• Rental bikes reach all the way to the airport. The Stadtrad bike rental system, with over 500 bikes at around 50 stations, extends all the way to the airport, with one station right at car park P1. Unlocked via the nextbike app.

Good to know

Currency

EUR €

Emergency number

112

Plug type

C · F

Time zone

Europe/Vienna

Driving

right

Speed limits. built-up areas 50 km/h, outside towns 100 km/h, motorway 130 km/h

Unlike in Germany, motorways have a fixed 130 km/h limit throughout, there are no unrestricted stretches. The 100 km/h rural limit is among the highest in the EU, only Germany and a few Irish roads allow the same.

Tipping. Five to ten percent, rounded up when paying.

Tolls. Motorways and expressways require a vignette, digital or as a sticker. Individual tunnels and passes carry an extra toll.

Access restrictions. Individual sections and cities have bans by emission class, signposted as IG-L routes.