Innsbruck tickets, reviewed
Six listings, reviewed one at a time. The first of them is the thing this site is named after: Schloss Ambras sells its own admission through the platform, at the same figure its own shop asks and two euros under the price at the door. The second, the Innsbruck Card, carries an Ambras admission of its own, so a visitor who buys both pays for the castle twice. The other four — the cable car, the crystal museum at Wattens, the hour on foot in the old town and the ski jump — are what the rest of an Innsbruck day tends to be made of, and none of them takes you into the castle. Each page below says which it is before it says anything else.
Going out to Amras?The castle's own admission is on the platform at the same figure its own shop asks and two euros under the door, it cancels free up to 24 hours before, and under-19s go in free either way.
Check ticket availabilityWhich one to read first
Start from the shape of the day rather than from the star figure. If the castle is the day, read the Schloss Ambras ticket review, which is the only page here about an admission to Ambras and the only one that works through what the ticket buys in December as against what it buys in June. If the castle is one stop among several, read the Innsbruck Card review next and do the sum in it before you buy anything. If you want the mountain, the Nordkette cable car review rests on much the deepest base on this site, 4.8 from more than 1140 ratings, and carries the one complaint that keeps recurring. If you are going out to Wattens, the Swarovski Crystal Worlds review is mostly about the shuttle, because that is what the written notes are mostly about. And the two short ones, the old town walk review and the Bergisel ski jump review, are written from their own inclusion lists and their averages, because neither had usable written notes to read.
The six, side by side
The castle itselfCastle admissionInnsbruck: Tickets for Schloss Ambras
Includes AmbrasAmbras includedInnsbruck: City Card Including Public Transport
2,256 mTop of Innsbruck: Roundtrip Cable Car Ticket
Shuttle includedInnsbruck: Swarovski Crystal Worlds Ticket and Transfer
One hour, guidedInnsbruck: “Welcome Tour” Guided City Walk
On the same bus lineInnsbruck: Bergisel Olympic Ski Jump Arena Ticket
What the ratings actually agree on
At the castle, the recommendation is the audio guide. It is sold on site rather than included in the ticket, and it is the thing reviewers keep mentioning: Nicolas, United Kingdom, came in winter, calls it a very nice castle, and says the audio guide is worth taking. The castle’s own public guided tours run in German, which is the practical reason the audio guide keeps coming up in English-language notes. AP, Germany, calls it a castle worth seeing, with an impressive painting gallery, and Katja, Germany, describes it as very beautiful and very spacious, with a lot to see, both in June, when the Upper Castle and its portrait gallery were open. What the ticket covers.
On the card, the reviewers do arithmetic. Not one of the written notes is about the card as an object; they are all sums. Leslie, United States, reckons the cable car ride on its own pays for the card. Sita, Germany, had recouped the full price on the first day. Fabrizio, Italy, counts the cable car and the zoo together and comes out ahead. That is the honest frame for it, and it cuts both ways: a day with a mountain or a museum excursion in it repays the card, and a day whose only museum is Ambras does not. The sum, set out in full.
On the excursions, the transport is the story. Nicola, United Kingdom, says the buses from Innsbruck run like clockwork, and on the same listing Mariana, Mexico, had to stand the whole way back on the return shuttle, while Manish, Germany, found the shuttle easy to use and air-conditioned. For the cable car, Mateja, Slovenia, found it exactly on schedule, comfortable, and quick to the summit, and Per, Sweden, came back talking about the walking paths at the top. Both pages carry the complaints as well as the praise, because on a shared shuttle the return leg is the part people remember. All six listings, compared.
The three most people choose between
| The castle itselfInnsbruck: Tickets for Schloss Ambras | Innsbruck: City Card Including Public Transport | Top of Innsbruck: Roundtrip Cable Car Ticket | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | The castle’s own admission ticket | A 24, 48 or 72 hour city card | A return ride on the cable car |
| Valid for | One day, until 17:00 | 24, 48 or 72 hours from first use | One day |
| Where it takes you | Schlossstrasse 20, at Amras | The IVB network and the Sightseer route | Hungerburg, Seegrube and 2,256 m |
| Rating | 4.6 / 5 | 4.7 / 5 | 4.8 / 5 |
| Ratings behind it | 240+ | 550+ | 1140+ |
| From (per person) | ~€16 | ~€69 | ~€56 |
| Free cancellation | ✓ Up to 24 h before | ✓ Up to 24 h before | ✓ Up to 24 h before |
| Book this → | View → | View → |
The six reviews
Innsbruck: Tickets for Schloss Ambras
The castle’s own admission, sold at the castle’s own online figure. What it buys in summer and what it buys in December.
around sixteen eurosRead the review ›Innsbruck: City Card Including Public Transport
The card the reviewers treat as a sum to be done rather than a souvenir, and where the sum stops working.
around sixty-nine eurosRead the review ›Top of Innsbruck: Roundtrip Cable Car Ticket
Three stages from the river to 2,256 m, and the one complaint that keeps coming back about the price of it.
around fifty-six eurosRead the review ›Innsbruck: Swarovski Crystal Worlds Ticket and Transfer
Wattens and the shared shuttle, including the part where the shuttle home fills up.
around thirty-four eurosRead the review ›Innsbruck: “Welcome Tour” Guided City Walk
An hour on foot with a licensed guide, and the thinnest rating base on this site by a long way.
around nineteen eurosRead the review ›Innsbruck: Bergisel Olympic Ski Jump Arena Ticket
The ski jump above the city, on the same Sightseer route that passes the castle gate.
around eleven eurosRead the review ›Before you pick one
Two things decide more Ambras visits than any rating does. The castle shuts for the whole of November, and from 1 November to 31 March the Habsburg Portrait Gallery is shut while the rest of the castle is open, so a winter ticket buys a smaller castle at the same counter. And the castle is about three kilometres out of the old town, which means a bus, a tram or a car every time. The hours and the November closure, and the lines that go out to Amras.
Frequently asked questions
Which Innsbruck listing has the best reviews?
The old town walk has the highest average, 4.9 from 67 ratings, and that is precisely why the page says the number of ratings out loud: it is the thinnest base here. The cable car rates 4.8 from more than 1140 ratings, which is a far heavier claim.
Do any of these include entry to Schloss Ambras?
Two of them. One is the castle’s own admission, reviewed on the Schloss Ambras ticket review, and the other is the city card, reviewed on the Innsbruck Card review, which carries one Ambras admission among everything else it carries. Buying both means paying for the castle twice.
Why print the number of ratings beside the stars?
Because 4.6 from more than 240 ratings and 4.9 from sixty-seven are different claims about different amounts of evidence. Two listings here rest on small bases, and both the old town walk and the ski jump say so in their opening paragraph instead of leading with the average.
Is booking ahead a way to avoid a queue at the castle?
No, and this site will not pretend otherwise: Ambras does not have the queues of a big-city museum. What buying ahead does is save the two euros between the online figure and the door figure, and it cancels free up to 24 hours before. The castle’s own published rates are printed in full so you can see both.