Seefeld's Olympic Nordic Heritage: 1964, 1976 and 2019

A plateau built for nordic skiing

Most visitors arriving in Innsbruck hear about the 1964 and 1976 Winter Olympics through the Bergisel ski jump, the dramatic Zaha Hadid tower that dominates the skyline south of the old town. That is only half the story. The Bergisel hosted ski jumping — nothing else. The other half of the nordic programme, cross-country skiing, Nordic combined and biathlon, was staged about half an hour away, on a completely different piece of terrain: the plateau of Seefeld.

Seefeld sits at roughly 1,180 m, north-west of Innsbruck across a low pass, on a broad, sunlit shelf of meadow and forest that is unusual in a region defined by narrow valleys and steep walls. Innsbruck’s own valley floor is at about 574 m, hemmed in tightly by the Nordkette and the Patscherkofel; Seefeld, by contrast, opens out. That openness — flat enough for long cross-country loops, high enough to hold snow reliably, and cold enough in winter to keep it — is exactly what nordic skiing needs and what the city centre cannot offer. It is also why Seefeld, rather than anywhere closer to Innsbruck, became the Olympic nordic venue not once but twice, and why it was trusted again decades later with a full World Championships.

This page stays deliberately narrow. It does not retell the Bergisel’s ski-jumping story, and it does not attempt the full sweep of Innsbruck’s Olympic history — both have their own dedicated pages, linked below. What follows is Seefeld’s specific role: the plateau, the events it hosted, what from that era still stands, and how to see it for yourself.

1964: the first Innsbruck Games

When Innsbruck hosted the Winter Olympics for the first time in 1964, the organisers split the programme geographically in a way that still shapes how the region is visited today. Alpine skiing and the opening and closing ceremonies stayed close to the city; ski jumping went to the Bergisel; and the nordic disciplines — cross-country skiing, Nordic combined and biathlon — went to Seefeld.

The choice was pragmatic rather than sentimental. Cross-country racing needs long, rolling, snow-holding terrain that a cramped Alpine valley floor simply does not have. Seefeld’s plateau provided exactly that: open ground at altitude, away from the warmer, wetter air that can affect the valley below. A stadium and a network of trails were built out on the plateau specifically for the Games, and Seefeld’s transformation from a quiet Tyrolean village into a recognised nordic sports venue effectively began here.

1976: the Games return, and so does Seefeld

Twelve years later, Innsbruck was asked to step in as host again — famously at short notice, after Denver withdrew from the 1976 Games — and the same geographic logic held. Ski jumping stayed at the Bergisel; the nordic events returned to Seefeld. The plateau’s venues, by then already an established fixture of Tyrolean winter sport, were used and refined rather than built from nothing, and Seefeld’s identity as the region’s nordic skiing base was cemented by a second Olympic cycle in barely a decade.

It’s worth being precise here, because the two Innsbruck Games are easy to conflate with the two venues: Innsbruck city itself was never the nordic venue, and Seefeld was never the jumping venue. The city hosted the Alpine and jumping events across both Olympics; Seefeld hosted the nordic events across both Olympics. Keeping that split straight is the easiest way to understand why the region’s Olympic legacy is spread across two very different landscapes half an hour apart.

2019: the World Championships come back

Seefeld’s Olympic-era infrastructure did not stay frozen in the 1970s. Over the following decades the plateau kept hosting nordic World Cup races, and in 2019 it was awarded the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships — a twelve-day event in late February and early March covering cross-country skiing, Nordic combined and, this time, ski jumping too.

That last point is the detail most visitors get wrong. Seefeld has its own jumping hills, the Toni-Seelos-Olympiaschanzen, named after the Tyrolean ski pioneer Toni Seelos. They were not part of the 1964 or 1976 Olympics — jumping for those Games stayed at the Bergisel, in Innsbruck — but they were built up over the following decades and were very much in use for the 2019 World Championships, hosting both individual ski jumping and the jumping portion of Nordic combined. So Seefeld today does have a jumping hill of its own; it simply wasn’t the Olympic one.

The 2019 Championships left the plateau with an upgraded stadium, trail network and jumping facilities that are still what you see if you walk out to the venues today — a working nordic sports centre rather than a preserved historical site.

What is actually there to see today

Seefeld’s Olympic venues are not museum pieces behind glass; they are functioning sports infrastructure that happens to carry Olympic and World Championship history. There is no dedicated Olympic museum on the plateau itself — visitors expecting an exhibition hall with medals and torches will be looking in the wrong place. What you can see, on foot or by bike, includes:

• The cross-country stadium and trail network on the plateau, still used for training, club racing and public cross-country skiing in winter.
• The Toni-Seelos-Olympiaschanzen jumping hills, visible from the village and from several of the surrounding trails, dating to the World Championships era of use rather than the original 1964/1976 Games.
• The general layout of the plateau — the flat, open meadow terrain that explains, at a glance, why this and not the Innsbruck valley floor was chosen for nordic skiing in the first place.

Because none of this is walled off as a heritage attraction, the best way to take it in is simply to be out on the plateau — hiking, cycling or riding the local lifts — rather than seeking out a single Olympic sight. A short walk on the Seefeld plateau that loops past the stadium area does more to make the history tangible than reading about it ever will.

Getting up onto the plateau and beyond it

Seefeld’s own lift, the Rosshütte cable car, climbs from the village up onto the higher ground above the plateau, giving views back down over the nordic venues and out toward the Karwendel range — useful context for seeing how the flat plateau sits against the surrounding peaks. A round trip on it is a straightforward way to get the geography of the area, without needing a full day of hiking:

a round-trip ride on the Rosshütte funicular

From the top station, the Rosshütte Gipfelpass links onward by a further funicular section toward the Härmelekopf, extending the view further into the mountains around the plateau:

the Rosshütte Gipfelpass funicular ascent and descent to the Härmelekopf

For a more active look at the terrain, guided outings on and around the Gschwandtkopf, and past the plateau’s lakes, cover ground that overlaps with parts of the old nordic course network:

a guided outing over the Gschwandtkopf a route taking in two lakes and the Brunschkopf

And for visitors who prefer wheels to boots, an e-bike route through the plateau’s lakes and moorland is an easy, low-effort way to see how much open, rolling ground there really is up here — the same quality that made it an Olympic nordic venue in the first place:

a guided e-bike tour among the plateau’s lakes and moors

Seefeld versus the Bergisel: keeping the two straight

Because both places are tied to the same two Olympic Games, it is easy to blur them together. A quick side-by-side is the clearest way to keep the history straight.

	Seefeld plateau	Bergisel, Innsbruck
Altitude	About 1,180 m	About 746 m at the jump
1964 & 1976 Olympic events	Cross-country skiing, Nordic combined, biathlon	Ski jumping
2019 World Championships	Cross-country, Nordic combined, ski jumping (Toni-Seelos hills)	Not part of the 2019 Championships
Distance from Innsbruck centre	About 30-40 minutes by train or road	Inside the city, a short tram or bus ride
What’s there to visit today	Working nordic stadium, trail network, jumping hills, plateau scenery	Zaha Hadid jump tower, viewing platform, Das Tirol Panorama

If a page, a guide or a fellow traveller tells you the Bergisel hosted cross-country skiing, or that Seefeld hosted ski jumping in 1964 or 1976, that’s the mix-up to correct. The dedicated guide to visiting the Bergisel ski jump and the page on the Four Hills Tournament cover that site properly; the wider arc of Innsbruck’s 1964 and 1976 Olympic history ties both venues together if you want the full picture.

Getting from Innsbruck to Seefeld

Seefeld is a genuine day-trip or overnight destination from Innsbruck, not a neighbourhood of it. Regional trains run from Innsbruck’s main station up onto the plateau in around 30-40 minutes, climbing out of the Inn valley through Zirl before levelling out near Telfs and Seefeld itself; driving takes a similar amount of time on the road over the same pass.

The regional VVT transport network that covers the wider Innsbruck area extends up here as well, so a single regional ticket or pass typically covers the journey — details worth checking against the general guide to public transport around Innsbruck before you go.

Once on the plateau, Seefeld village itself is small and walkable, with the cross-country stadium, the jumping hills and the Rosshütte valley station all within easy reach of the centre on foot.

Beyond the Olympic story

It’s worth saying plainly: Seefeld’s Olympic and World Championship history explains why the plateau has the infrastructure it does, but it is not the only — or even the main — reason most people visit today. In winter, Seefeld has become one of Tyrol’s best-known cross-country and gentle-winter-sport bases, popular with families and with skiers looking for something less steep than the peaks directly around Innsbruck.

In summer, the same open plateau that suited nordic racing suits easy hiking, e-biking and lake walks, with the nearby Leutasch valley adding gorge walks and quieter trails within easy reach. An itinerary built specifically around this side of the plateau — hiking, wellness and the gentler pace Seefeld is known for — is laid out in the Seefeld nordic and wellness itinerary.

Seasonally, timing matters. Cross-country conditions and any winter events on the plateau depend on snow cover, which varies year to year; summer hiking around the venues is straightforward from late spring through autumn, in line with the general seasonal guide to hiking in Tyrol. Either way, the plateau rewards a slower visit than a quick look at a jumping hill from a car window — which is really the point of its Olympic story in the first place: this was always terrain built for endurance and open ground, not for a single dramatic view.

Seefeld’s Olympic nordic heritage: FAQ

Did Seefeld host Olympic ski jumping?

No. Ski jumping for both the 1964 and 1976 Innsbruck Winter Olympics took place at the Bergisel, inside Innsbruck itself. Seefeld’s Olympic role was the nordic skiing events — cross-country, Nordic combined and biathlon — plus, later, ski jumping of its own at the 2019 World Championships on its purpose-built local hills.

Why was Seefeld chosen for the nordic events?

Seefeld sits on an open plateau at roughly 1,180 m, well above Innsbruck’s valley floor, with wide meadows and a more reliably cold, snow-holding climate than the city below. That combination of altitude, flat usable terrain and snow security made it the natural home for cross-country courses and biathlon ranges.

What are the Toni-Seelos-Olympiaschanzen?

They are Seefeld’s own ski jumping hills, named after the Tyrolean ski pioneer Toni Seelos. They were not used in 1964 or 1976, when jumping stayed at the Bergisel, but they hosted ski jumping and Nordic combined jumping at the 2019 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships.

Can visitors still see the Olympic venues in Seefeld today?

Yes. The cross-country stadium and trail network around Seefeld are still in active use for training, racing and public skiing, and the Toni-Seelos-Olympiaschanzen jumping hills are visible from the village. There is no dedicated Olympic museum in Seefeld itself; the deeper Innsbruck Olympic story, including 1964 and 1976 more broadly, is told elsewhere in the city.

Is Seefeld part of the same ski area as Innsbruck’s Olympia SkiWorld?

No. Seefeld is a separate plateau with its own lift network, cross-country trails and the Rosshütte cable car, distinct from the Olympia SkiWorld Innsbruck pass area that covers Nordkette, Patscherkofel and the other mountains directly around the city. Seefeld is reached from Innsbruck by train or road in around 30-40 minutes.

What happened at the 2019 World Championships in Seefeld?

The 2019 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships ran over twelve days in late February and early March, with cross-country skiing, Nordic combined and ski jumping events held on and around the plateau, using and expanding the venues built up since the 1964 and 1976 Olympics.

Does Seefeld only matter for its Olympic history?

Not at all. Today it is better known as a year-round plateau resort — a hiking and mountain-biking base in summer, a gentler alternative to Innsbruck’s high peaks, and a cross-country and wellness destination in winter. The Olympic history explains why the infrastructure is there; it is not the only reason to visit.