Bergisel Ski Jump: What to See at Innsbruck's Olympic Tower

A ski jump that doubles as a viewpoint

Bergisel is the hill on the southern edge of Innsbruck where an oversized, curving white tower rises out of the trees and points itself straight at the Nordkette across the valley. It looks like a piece of stage architecture, and in a sense it is: it is an actual competition ski jump, one that still hosts elite athletes every January, but it is also built to be climbed by visitors who have never held a pair of skis. That double identity is the reason to come here even outside the ski jumping season.

The tower standing today opened in 2002, designed by the architect Zaha Hadid, and it replaced an older, more purely functional jump structure. A café and an observation deck sit near the top of the in-run — the steep chute the jumpers launch from — giving visitors a view that stretches over the roofs of Innsbruck, along the Inn valley, and up to the ridge of the Nordkette on the far side of the city.

At the foot of the hill, in a separate building, is Das Tirol Panorama, a museum built around a giant circular painting of the 1809 Battle of Bergisel. This guide covers the ski jump tower itself and what it is like to visit; the panorama museum’s actual content is covered in its own guide, and a longer walk that ties Bergisel into Innsbruck’s wider Olympic story is covered separately too.

Two Olympics, not one

The single fact worth carrying into a Bergisel visit is that this hill is a two-time Winter Olympic venue. Innsbruck hosted the Winter Olympics in 1964 and again in 1976, and both times the ski jumping events took place here at Bergisel. It also staged events at the 2012 Winter Youth Olympic Games. It is an easy detail to flatten into “the Olympic ski jump,” as if one Games had happened here once — the honest version is that this hill did the job twice, twelve years apart, under two different sets of rings, and the tower you climb today postdates both of those Olympic years by decades.

That two-Olympics fact sits alongside a third, ongoing role: Bergisel is not a retired venue kept for its history. It stages a leg of the Four Hills Tournament every January, one of four fixed stops on the international ski jumping World Cup circuit alongside Oberstdorf, Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Bischofshofen. On competition day the hill fills with spectators, flags and noise in a way that has nothing to do with a museum visit — it is worth knowing the date in advance if a quiet look at the tower is what you actually want, since access for casual visitors can be limited while an event is under way.

Year	Event	Bergisel’s role
1809	Battle of Bergisel	Site of Andreas Hofer’s Tyrolean uprising against Bavarian and French forces
1964	Winter Olympics	Ski jumping venue
1976	Winter Olympics	Ski jumping venue, second Innsbruck Games
2002	Tower rebuilt	Zaha Hadid design opens, replacing the older structure
2012	Winter Youth Olympic Games	Ski jumping venue
Every January	Four Hills Tournament	Active World Cup ski jumping leg

The Zaha Hadid tower, close up

What makes the current tower worth a dedicated visit, rather than just a photograph from the old town, is how deliberately it is built as two things at once: a working piece of sports infrastructure and a piece of architecture meant to be walked through. The concrete pillar twists as it rises, and the café and viewing platform are cantilevered out from the top of it, overlooking the in-run below. Visitors reach the platform by lift, then can walk out along the gantry that follows the line the jumpers use to launch, with a glass barrier between the public walkway and the actual competition track.

The same architect designed the Hungerburgbahn funicular stations lower down in the city, opened in 2007, which means the two most recognisable pieces of contemporary architecture in Innsbruck — one at the foot of the mountains, one on top of this hill — share a single designer.

Visitors who enjoy that kind of detail sometimes plan a day that takes in both: the funicular stations on the way up toward the Hungerburg, and the Bergisel tower on the way back down, since both sit within reasonable reach of the old town on public transport. The same Hungerburgbahn line also climbs on to the Alpenzoo, Europe’s highest-altitude zoo, for anyone stretching the day into Alpine wildlife as well as architecture.

The view from the platform is the practical payoff. On a clear day it takes in the rooftops of Innsbruck old town, the spire of the Cathedral of St James, and the wall of the Nordkette directly across the valley — a compact way to understand how tightly the city sits between its two mountain ranges, the Nordkette to the north and the Patscherkofel side, where Bergisel itself sits, to the south.

What visiting the tower actually involves

A visit to the tower on its own is short. Buy a ticket at the base, take the lift up, spend time on the platform and in the café, then come back down — the whole thing typically takes 45 minutes to an hour if that is all a visitor does. Most people extend it, because Das Tirol Panorama sits right at the base of the hill and several tickets are sold to cover both sites together. That museum’s actual content — the circular painting of the 1809 battle, and the adjoining Kaiserjäger regimental museum — is described in full in its own guide rather than here, but it is worth knowing before arriving that a Bergisel visit and a Tirol Panorama visit are usually done back to back on the same trip up the hill.

a standard entry ticket to the Bergisel Olympia ski jump arena covers the tower, the platform and the café, and is the straightforward option for a visitor who wants the view and the Olympic history without a guide. For a deeper look at how the venue works — the technical side of ski jumping, the 1964 and 1976 story, and the Four Hills Tournament build-up — a private guided tour of the ski jump with tickets included adds narrated context that a self-guided visit does not.

Visitors who want to fold the site into a wider look at the city sometimes book a segway tour of Innsbruck that includes brunch at the Bergisel Schanze, which treats the hill as one stop on a longer city loop rather than a stand-alone destination. Since the ski jump and the battle panorama share one site and one entrance area, a combined entry ticket for Das Tirol Panorama and the Kaiserjäger museum is the efficient choice for anyone planning to see both in one visit.

Way to visit	What it covers	Best for
Standard arena ticket	Tower, platform, café	A self-guided look at the architecture and the view
Private guided tour	Tower plus narrated Olympic and ski jumping history	Visitors who want the story explained on site
Segway tour with brunch	Bergisel as one stop on a longer city loop, plus a meal	Combining the hill with a wider first look at Innsbruck
Combined panorama ticket	Ski jump tower plus Das Tirol Panorama museum entry	Anyone planning both sites on the same visit

Getting there

Bergisel sits on the edge of the built-up city, close enough to the old town to reach on foot. The walk up from the centre, past the Hofkirche and through the Wilten district, takes roughly 25 to 30 minutes and gains noticeable height along the way — comfortable shoes help more than they would for a flat old-town stroll. City bus lines also stop within a short walk of the base of the hill for visitors who would rather save the legs for the platform itself. Visitors with a little more time sometimes pause at the Hofkirche itself to see Maximilian’s empty tomb and its bronze guardians, a short detour on the same walk up.

Because the site sits between the old town and the southern approach to the Patscherkofel side of the valley, it works well as the last stop on a half-day that starts in the Maria-Theresien-Straße and old town area and finishes on the hill with a view back over everything just walked through.

Visitors with a full day free sometimes pair Bergisel with sights further afield: the Hofburg imperial palace in the old town, or Ambras Castle on the eastern edge of the city, both easy additions to the same trip. Bergisel is only one hill within a much larger province, and Tyrol’s valleys further from the capital reward a longer stay for anyone with the time to spare. Further down the Inn valley, Tratzberg Castle and the Schwaz silver mine reward a full day trip beyond what fits into a Bergisel afternoon.

What this page does not cover

Two things sit right next to the ski jump and are easy to fold into the same mental picture, but each has enough of its own material to deserve a separate page. The first is Das Tirol Panorama itself: the circular battle painting, the Kaiserjäger regimental museum alongside it, and what it is actually like to stand inside a 360-degree canvas — that content lives in its own guide rather than here.

The second is the wider Olympic heritage walk through the rest of Innsbruck, tracing the 1964 and 1976 Games beyond this one hill — the Olympic village, the rings, and other venues scattered through the city — which also has its own dedicated page. This guide stays with the tower itself: what it is, why it was built twice over, and what a visit to it involves.

Bergisel ski jump, questions answered

Was Bergisel used for both the 1964 and 1976 Winter Olympics?

Yes. Bergisel hosted the ski jumping events at both the 1964 and the 1976 Winter Olympics, plus events at the 2012 Winter Youth Olympic Games. It is a genuine two-time Olympic venue, not a one-off host, and the current tower dates from a later 2002 rebuild rather than either Olympic year.

Who designed the current Bergisel ski jump tower?

The Anglo-Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid designed the tower that opened in 2002, replacing the older concrete structure. She also designed the Hungerburgbahn funicular stations in the city below, opened in 2007, so the two most photographed pieces of contemporary architecture in Innsbruck share the same architect.

Can I go up the ski jump tower without watching a competition?

Yes. The tower is open to visitors on ordinary days as an attraction in its own right, with a lift up to a viewing platform and café near the top of the in-run. It is only busiest, and partly closed to casual visits, on competition day in January.

Is Das Tirol Panorama included in a Bergisel ski jump ticket?

Some tickets bundle the two sites since they share the same hill and entrance area, but they are separate experiences: the ski jump tower is an architectural viewpoint, while Das Tirol Panorama is a museum built around a 360-degree painted panorama of the 1809 Battle of Bergisel. Check what a given ticket covers before buying.

How do I get to Bergisel from Innsbruck’s old town?

Bergisel sits on the southern edge of the city, an easy uphill walk of around 25 to 30 minutes from the old town, or a short ride on city bus lines that stop near the foot of the hill. It is close enough to combine with a half-day that also includes the old town or the Hofkirche.

When is the Four Hills Tournament event at Bergisel?

Bergisel stages one leg of the Four Hills Tournament every January, alongside Oberstdorf, Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Bischofshofen. It is one of the fixed dates on the international ski jumping calendar and draws a large crowd to the hill for the day.

Is the viewing platform open in winter?

The tower is generally open year-round, weather and maintenance schedules permitting, since the platform and café are enclosed rather than exposed to the open hill. It is worth checking the operator’s current hours before a winter visit, as with any Innsbruck attraction at altitude.

How long does a visit to the ski jump tower take on its own?

Visiting the tower alone, including the lift up, the viewing platform and the café, typically takes 45 minutes to an hour. Most visitors extend that to two or three hours by adding Das Tirol Panorama at the foot of the hill, since the two sit on the same site.