16 Days Europe Vacation Package Day 6 Salzburg – Innsbruck – Vaduz – Lucerne

16 Days Europe Tour – White Christmas Day 6 Salzburg – Innsbruck – Vaduz – Lucerne

With an early morning start, we left Arena City Hotel in Salzburg at 0745 hrs in the morning. It was still snowing and the area was so beautiful.

Grounds of Arena City Hotel Salzburg

Our tour manager, Ricky Tiang, called it a transfer day where we would be transferring to Innsbruck, then to Vaduz and finally end the day in Lucerne. As it was snowing, our journey took a longer time than usual.

Innsbruck has a stunning Alpine backdrop and, as we understood from Ricky, our tour manager from Chan Brothers Travel, got its name due to it being the bridge that crosses the Inn River; thus Innsbruck.


We arrived in Innsbruck and some of the things to do in Innsbruck, Austria, as we discovered was to spend some time walking the streets to get to know Innsbruck better as well as shop in Swarovski Crystal Museum.

Innsbruck Cathedral - Dom zu St. Jakob

 Ricky, our Chan Brothers tour manager, brought us around and showed us the medieval buildings around St Jacob’s Church which is itself in baroque style. We then headed on to the famed Golden roof where King Maximilian, the first king of Austria, used to sit with the Queen at the balcony and watch the Festival Street.

Goldenes Dachl, better known as the Golden Roof

Swarovski Crystal Museum - Winter Wonderland Exhibition

We ended our time in Innsbruck at the Swarovski Crystal Museum and bought some souvenirs.

Winter wonderland, a wintery-poetic landscape made of crystal with countless images and symbols of the journey takes you into a world of myths, oscillating between dream and reality.

Next stop was at Rosenberger Restaurant, a food establishment which has been voted as the best autogrill in Austria where we had lunch on our own expense.

Holiday Travel Tips:-
Meals in Europe do not come cheap at all. Be prepared to spend approximately Euro 20 (USD28.80) or more per person for a simple meal.

After lunch, we continued our journey to Vaduz, the capital of Leichsteinten. We learn that Vaduz - Leichsteinten is a tax free principality. A very small area, we passed by the town hall and spent some time shopping for watches and souvenirs.

Vaduz Rathaus or Cityhall

Castle Vaduz

We finally arrived at our accommodation for the night, Hotel Astoria Lucerne, Switzerland, after 1900 hrs.

Hotel Astoria, Lucerne Switzerland

As dinner is not included, Ricky showed us a few places where we could get a decent meal and we finally decided on NY Foods where we had a family sized salami pizza for Chf 31 (USD35). Although it was a simple dinner, we enjoyed it.

Yummy salami pizza...  

Where we had dinner

Shops and hotels within walking distance of Hotel Astoria Lucerne

Hotel Monopol Lucerne

As we walked the streets close to the hotel, we came across a few eating places and even a COOP supermarket where we bought some fresh fruits and chocolates.

After dinner and shopping, we returned to Hotel Astoria Lucerne, Switzerland, to take an early rest.  So far, we have found it to be a very interesting Europe vacation package and we are indeed fortunate to have an especially interesting tour manager in Ricky Tiang.



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Things To Do In Innsbruck, Austria

Whilst on our 16 days Europe vacation package, Innsbruck Austria was on the list of destinations that we were supposed to visit.

Christmas nativity scene in Innsbruck Austria

We discovered that in order to get to know Innsbruck better in the short time that we had, it is best to do a walking tour.  Since we had our Chan Brothers tour manager, Ricky Tiang, with us, the tour was educational as well as meaningful as Ricky shared his vast knowledge with us.

Some of the things to do in Innsbruck, Austria:-

Visit the Innsbruck Cathedral


The Dom zu St. Jakob, also known as the Cathedral of St. James, is the main cathedral in Innsbruck Austria.  Built in the 18th century, this Baroque cathedral's interior has a beautifully decorated Baroque style interior.

Dom zu St. Jakob interior

Dom zu St. Jakob

Interior of the dome 

Organ

Innsbruck Cathedral interior

Interior

Interior design

At one of the altars

Close up view

More altars

Another altar

The dome

Beautifully decorated

Main altar

Interior

At one of the altars

Design on the one of the dome interior

Striking with its window filled exterior, you can see the two tall bell towers.

Facade of the Innsbruck Cathedral, Dom zu St. Jakob

Goldenes Dachl (Golden Roof)

Innsbruck is also known as the city with the golden roof.  Mention 'golden roof' and immediately for those who are familiar with this landmark built in 1500, a mental image of this balcony with 2657 fire-gilded copper tiles will appear.

The Golden Roof, or Goldenes Dachl as it is called in German, is a 3-storey building with a balcony located in the heart of the Old Town and was built for Emperor Maximilian so that he could sit in the royal box to enjoy the parades and tournaments in the grounds below.

The famed Golden Roof

Golden Roof up close

A closer look at the balcony will bring up reliefs of coats of arms, symbols and other figures in the life of Maximilian I, the Holy Emperor.

The grounds in front of the Golden Roof where King Maximilian can watch the parade and tournament

No visit to Innsbruck is complete without visiting the famed Golden Roof.  However, do not be disappointed as it is just a plain and simple roof to some, but do take the time to admire the beauty and architecture of it.

View of the Golden Roof and the background scenery

Along the way on our walking tour of Innsbruck Austria, we saw some interesting sights as well.

Building dressed up as a Christmas present

You can tell what type of shop the building houses by the pictures on the outside

Dwarfed...

Another company signboard

Beautiful architecture next to a Christmas tree

After our sightseeing tour of Innsbruck, Austria, we made a shopping stop at Swarovski, the well-known brand for precisely-cut crystal and related luxury products that is produced by Swarovski AG of Wattens, Austria.

Swarovski, Innsbruck

Beautiful and colourful key chains

Decor

Luxury items

Part of the Winter Wonderland display

Winter Wonderland display

Interior of Swarovski

Part of the display

Sparkling Winter Wonderland display

Now what does that look like?

 Swarovski now deals in fashion accessories, crystal-based ornaments, jewelry, handbags, gemstones and even chandeliers.

The name associated with luxury

It was overall an interesting discovery and we managed to cover some the things to do in Innsbruck, Austria though not all.

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