Description

This is a lovely, easy hike which makes good use of Innsbruck's lifts and buses.

Start the day by riding either the Hungerburgbahn train or the W line bus from Innsbruck city centre to reach the famous Alpenzoo.

The zoo is home to all sorts of animals, including a brown bear (!) so taking a look around is well advised. Once you get walking head east on the Schillerweg track - a jeep track that winds through the forests above the Innsbruck suburb of Mühlau.

The track undulates but there's no significant inclines and it eventually deposits you on a road next to a solar power station. Follow the road to a junction and continue east on Josef-Schraffl Strasse.

Stay on this road as it climbs up briefly to reach another junction.

Go right at the junction onto Finkenbergweg and follow this for 50 metres to reach a gate. Go around the gate and onto a track and follow this around a small wood to an open field which enjoys a spectacular view of eastern Innsbruck and the multi coloured Olympisches Dorf - the Olympic village from when Innsbruck hosted 2 Winter Olympic Games in the 1960's and 1970's.

The field is also home to a model aeroplane club whose members can often be seen flying their models. Cross the field and descend down and right from the far side of it all the way down into Mühlau.

Follow Kirchgasse street down into the village centre and catch the bus back into Innsbruck.