About a month ago, on a whim we decided to take a road trip to Innsbruck and beyond for the upcoming long weekend. At some point I had to see the rest of Austria. We were doing the Alps tour.

Our first stop was Innsbruck in the west. The trip takes around 5 hours by car, but doesn’t take into account the time you have to wait at the German border. The border was being enforced and police were checking cars for any illegal border crossings by refugees….but after more than 30 minutes waiting, when we crossed the police were looking the other way!!!

 

We spent the night in Innsbruck and let me tell you, it is magnificent. Each direction you look you will see a snow capped mountain. Exceptionally pretty. The old town is filled with beautiful buildings full of character and being a university town, it is a lot more youthful and vibrant than expected.

Waking up to this view.

Busking by night

The next morning we ventured up the Nordkette, about 2200m above sea level. Wow. Just wow. I was sitting on top of the world. Little did I know then what was coming up over the next few days.

And then we went higher. We were lucky and had a beautiful clear morning so we could see the Alps for miles. It was crazy to sit and just stare at them, going for miles and miles.

If you are in this part of the world, I highly recommend a visit.

From Innsbruck we set out through a billion tunnels – up to 13km long – to Vorarlberg, the most western state of Austria. Bregenz is the capital and is situated on a massive lake that straddles 3 countries, Austria, Germany and Switzerland. I wasn’t overly impressed with Bregenz so we headed across the border to Switzerland were we were staying for the night, overlooking the lake.

Next stop Davos, Switzerland.