Inn Valley Attractions Inntal

On a hillside 3km/2mi to the west of Jenbach stands Schloss Tratzberg, a building with four wings which was reconstructed in the 16th C. following a fire at the end of the 15th C. It contains a mural painting 46m/150ft long, depicting 148 members of the Habsburg family (conducted tours; view of Inn valley).

10km/6mi east of Hopfgarten is Brixen im Thale (794m/2,605ft), with its church dating from 1795. There is good walking country all around, as well as the winter sports resort of Hochbrixen.
Brixen im Thale is the ideal location for nature enthusiasts and hikers.

The summer and winter resort of Brixlegg (524m/1,719ft; pop. 2,600), charmingly situated by the Inn, is surrounded by seven castles and forts (including that of Lichtenwerth, 13th century).

Near Brixlegg is the Matzen nature park. This old mining town, with its Late Gothic parish church (16th century) is a good base for walks in the lower Inn valley.

A scenic road, accompanied by the railroad, winds southwestwards from Wörgl to Kitzbühel (30km/19mi). 10km/6mi from Wörgl lies the little holiday resort of Hopfgarten, with a handsome twin towered Roccoco church (1758-64). From here a chairlift (three sections) ascends to the Hohe Salva (1,829m/6,000ft; skiing; 17th C. chapel and an inn).

Jenbach (531m/1,742ft; pop. 6,000), a trim little resort on the northern bank of the lower Inn, is a starting out point for trips to the Achensee (cog railroad) and the Zillertal (4km/2.5mi eastwards on the southern edge of Strass, where the road into the Zillertal branches off), as well as being the center of a skiing region.

Opposite Rattenberg, on the northern bank of the Inn (bridge), lies the summer resort of Kramsach (519m/1,703ft), with the 17th C. castle of the Counts of Taxis and a glass working school. To the northeast are the Buchsee, the Krummsee and the Reintaler See. From Mariatal there is a chairlift up the Rosskogel (1,940m/6,367ft). There is a rewarding walk (six hours) northwards from Kramsach through the gorge-like Brandenberger Tal to the Erzherzog-Johann-Klause (defile 824m/2,704ft).

8km/5mi north of Wörgl we come to the beautiful pilgrimage village of Mariastein (563m/1,847ft), with its 14th C. castle. In the pentagonal high tower will be found a Knights' Hall with a coffered ceiling (museum) and, on the top floor, two chapels one above the other. In the upper chapel is a painting of the Mother of God, and it was because of this chapel that the castle became a place of pilgrimage in the 16th C.

13km/8mi northeast of Imst, in a wider part of the valley at the foot of the Mieminger chain of mountains, lies the summer and winter sports resort of Nassereith (843m/2,766ft), where every three years the "Schellerlaufen", a carnival procession in which old masks are worn, is held on the Sunday before Shrovetide. A well-engineered panoramic road crosses the Mieming plateau to Telfs, and to the north the road continues over the Fernpass (1,209m/3,967ft) to Ehrwald and Garmisch- Partenkirchen in Germany.

To the south of the Finstermünz (1,006m/3,301ft), a narrow defile by the Inn with ruins of the old customs fort of Hoch-Finstermünz and near the Swiss border, lies Nauders (1,400m/4,595ft; pop. 1,400), a popular health and winter sports resort (ski slopes at Bergkastel, 2,600m/8,533ft, and Tscheyeck, 2,700m/8,860ft; ski lifts). The Late Gothic church possesses two fine carved altars of the 15th-16th C., and the Romanesque St Leonard's Chapel has Late Gothic wall-paintings. Schloss Naudersberg (panoramic views) stands above the village.

Telfs (630m/2,068ft) is a little market town of some 9,300 inhabitants, beautifully situated in woodland countryside at the foot of the Miemingergebirge. To the north rises the Hohe Munde (2,661m/8,731ft). The "Schleicherlaufen", an old Shrovetide custom, takes place here every five years. Telfs is a good base for mountain walks.

South of Wörgl lie the high valley and Alpine meadows of Wildschönau, a popular skiing area, together with the scattered commune of the same name. There are chairlifts and ski tows up to the surrounding heights. In Oberau is a small local museum. 15km/9mi farther up the valley the road reaches Auffach (875m/2,871ft) with a chairlift up the Schatzberg (1,900m/6,236ft).

Wörgl (511m/1,677ft; pop. 8,500), nestling charmingly in the broad lower Inn valley, at the point where the Brixenthaler Ache flows into the Inn from the southeast, is an important road and rail junction some 15km/9mi southwest of Kufstein. In the parish church can be seen Baroque figures and a Late Gothic Madonna (c. 1500).
The town dates back to the Iron and Bronze Ages and also includes a beautiful 12th century center.

The trail leads beneath the ice. Most parts of the cave are rather narrow, looking like a widened fissure. An ice filled hall and fossile dripstones can bee seen.