We drove into Innsbruck from the Trins aire. The buildings in the villages were very old with painted frontages.

We were surrounded by the high mountains. The motorway coming from the Brenner pass was a long way above us.

We went to the park and ride carpark – but there was a height barrier to stop larger vehicles. There are no large car parks that accommodate motorhomes. We found a space nearby that allowed us to park there. Disappointing as it clogs up the city.

We got a bus into the centre of Innsbruck and used an online city guide to find the main places to check out. We came across the Central Coffee house that had a nice decking outside and has been operating since 1875 so we decided to try it out. We had a coffee and shared an apple strudel – very Austrian.

We then went down to the Main Street – Marie Theresian Street and saw the Triumphal Arch created by her in 1765 when her son was married. Unfortunately her husband died a few days later so he is celebrated on the arch too. Marie Theresa was the empress in her own right for 40 years from 1740.

There were many old painted buildings. The mountains are always towering in the background.

We went to the golden roof that Maximillian I created to stop the rumours that he had no money . It still looks very expensive!

The old castle is now a hotel.

We then visited the St James Cathedral – very grand with lots of gold. The painting on the altar was from 1530 by Lucas Cranach the Elder.

The Cathedral also holds the canopied tomb of Archduke Maximilion III.

At the end of the central area are the Gardens that had originally been set up by the royals for their own use. There are rumours that Marie Theresa used to garden here herself. There were many impressive old large trees.

This one had grown in strange ways and looked like it had spawned many other trees.

We walked past the huge imperial palace – for a long time it was the home of the ruling Habsburg dynasty in Austria – so I assume very grand inside – but for the next time we visit here.

We caught a bus back to Gus and had a quick van lunch before driving west up the valley.

We saw the Innsbruck ski jump in the way out. It looks scary!

We found one of the last spots in the Activcamp in Imst 50 km away. It was packed! There was a large camping group of French children who were using half the campsite. We didn’t have time to check anything out as it started raining very heavily. It did this for most of the night making it very hard to sleep with it thundering on the roof.