Innsbruck, Austria

Innsbruck, the capital of the Austrian Tyrol, lies just over the Brenner Pass from South Tyrol and makes a rewarding cross-border day trip, about 120 kilometres from Bolzano. The train up the Brenner line takes around two hours and is scenic and stress-free, avoiding the Austrian motorway vignette and the Brenner toll that a car incurs, while driving takes around 90 minutes. The historic relationship between the two Tyrols, divided only after the First World War, means the trip feels less like leaving the region than completing it. Innsbruck packs an extraordinary amount into a compact, walkable centre ringed by towering peaks. The medieval old town centres on the Goldenes Dachl, the Golden Roof, an oriel balcony tiled with over 2,600 gilded copper shingles built for Emperor Maximilian I, now fronting a small museum. Nearby stand the imperial Hofburg palace, the Hofkirche with its bronze tomb figures, and the grand Maria-Theresien-Strasse, lined with baroque facades and framed by the snow-capped Nordkette range. The city's signature experience is the Nordkette cable car, a striking funicular and gondola system designed by Zaha Hadid that climbs from the very centre of town to alpine viewpoints above 2,000 metres in well under an hour, putting hiking trails and panoramas within reach of a city break; the return trip costs around 39 euro. Just outside town, the Swarovski Crystal Worlds at Wattens offers a surreal art and crystal attraction for those with extra time. Innsbruck's coffee houses, beer gardens and Tyrolean restaurants make for easy meals, and the city is rewarding year-round: summer for hiking and clear mountain views, and December for its atmospheric Christmas markets clustered beneath the Golden Roof. Non-EU visitors should carry a passport for the border, though crossings within the Schengen area are normally seamless, and the euro is used on both sides. Comfortable shoes suit the walkable centre, and warm layers are needed if riding the Nordkette to the cool heights above the city.