Innsbruck: Aqua Dome and an Austrian Alpine Escape

Whether it’s a snowy winter wonderland or a summer mountain retreat, Innsbruck and Aqua Dome deliver the perfect mix of adventure and relaxation. In this episode of The Getawayz Podcast, we’re sharing our favorite things to do in Innsbruck, from skiing and cable cars to charming Old Town strolls. Then, we’re diving into Austria’s Aqua Dome, where steaming thermal pools meet jaw-dropping alpine views.

Whether you're planning a cozy winter getaway or a summer escape, we’ve got you covered!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello and welcome back. I'm Lisa and I'm Aaron. And this is the Getaways Podcast. So we have just had our uh ski week and um and we went to Austria.

SPEAKER_01 0:14

I love Austria.

SPEAKER_00 0:15

All right. So Austria has a lot of similarities to Germany, right? In terms of food and language, but it's it's got its own like cool aspects too.

SPEAKER_01 0:27

Well, especially Tyra, which is where we went for ski week, I feel very drawn to it because it also has a lot of like um, it feels a lot like northern Italy to me. Feels a lot of like Dolomiti-ish to me.

SPEAKER_00 0:39

Well, and almost a hint of Switzerland too, because nature is so extraordinarily beautiful there.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

So for me, the it's the best of both worlds because you get the the nature and you get the cool Switzerland aspect, but then you get the German food, which I know you're not a big fan of.

SPEAKER_00 0:52

I am not. Some things I like, some things I don't. Um, but let's dive in. So can we start off talking about my personal favorite thing in Austria?

SPEAKER_01 1:02

Is this uh what made us go to Austria for the very first time?

SPEAKER_00 1:06

Yes. And it was an Instagram post, right? Isn't that how we learned about it?

SPEAKER_01 1:09

We we yes, and we stocked it for months, and then we were on summer vacation in Elba Island in Italy.

SPEAKER_00 1:15

Is that the first time we went?

SPEAKER_01 1:16

Yeah, and and we were like, oh, we don't want to go home yet, and school doesn't start for a few weeks. Let's go to two more countries. We do that a lot, by the way.

SPEAKER_00 1:25

So what what is the place, Lisa? Aqua dome. So, for those of you who don't know, Aqua Dome is a thermal spa that has a big outdoor area and then an indoor area, which includes water slides, a kids' area, a full spa. Um, it's heaven.

SPEAKER_01 1:43

It's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 1:44

And it is completely surrounded by mountain beauty. I mean, it's just it's really amazing. And so there's a hotel. You can stay at the hotel, and if you do that, you get half boards. You get breakfast and dinner included, which it's it's a splurge. It is definitely a splurge. The food is it's fine. Yeah, I mean, I'm super sensitive. So it's like it's fun because it's all these buffets, and especially for the kids, there's a kids' buffet, and you know, it's you can get whatever you want, and it's fun. I don't always feel so fantastic after I eat it, but but it is the whole experience, and and that's kind of cool.

SPEAKER_01 2:22

And then yeah, it's cool because you get dressed at nighttime and you go and you have your reserve table that's your reserve table for breakfast in the morning and dinner, and they all know your name and they saved your wine bottle from the night before. So it's it you feel taken care of.

SPEAKER_00 2:36

It's special. Um, and then when you go, when you stay at the hotel, you get your little robes, slippers, and bag, and then you kind of go in this underground tunnel that has a sensory walk and all of these make cool pictures on the wall, like electron, I don't even know what they're called on the walls, but you walk through this tunnel and then you go to the spa. And there's also a gym over there, and it's it's just it's everything you could hope for in a thermal spa.

SPEAKER_01 3:00

So we've typically on the two times that we've stayed there, we stayed two nights. So we had a half day, a full day, and then a half day, and two dinners and two breakfasts. Um, this last time we didn't stay there, we bought a day pass.

SPEAKER_00 3:16

Which was fine. It's always better to stay there because it's just fun, but um, also expensive. But um, you also get like a itinerary or a newsletter every night at dinner that tells you all the events that are coming the next day. And so sometimes there's like a cooking class or we found a hike. The alpaca hike was on there. That's how we found it.

SPEAKER_01 3:37

Oh, yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:38

So that kind of gives you a rundown of activity. So so very, very family friendly, you know, it's it's a resort.

SPEAKER_01 3:44

Yes. So the first time we went there, it was in summer. And so Lisa, for Dylan's birthday, bought him this alpaca hike experience.

SPEAKER_00 3:53

Which was very big of me because I do not like alpacas.

SPEAKER_01 3:56

Which I'm gonna put pictures up on the website, but you'll notice there's pictures of me with the alpacas, pictures with Dylan and the alpacas. None of Lisa, but I took pictures of us all walking and Dylan's like got his arm around his. I'm petting mine, and Lisa's like four feet away from hers, just on a leash. Um, but so you go up to the alpaca farm and there were probably like 10 of us.

SPEAKER_00 4:16

Yeah, probably.

SPEAKER_01 4:17

And they you get to pick your alpaca, and then you just you hike for about 40 minutes with them and you get to feed them, and it I thought it was really cool.

SPEAKER_00 4:26

And Dylan loved it.

SPEAKER_01 4:27

And Dylan loved it. And you're it was during the like height of fortnight for him. So llamas and alpacas were like his favorite animal. And so, but it it's beautiful because you're you're hiking in the mountains in the Alps and you're with alpacas. So, like, what else could you want?

SPEAKER_00 4:43

Yeah, definitely a unique and really cool experience, even if you're not the biggest fan of the alpaca.

SPEAKER_01 4:49

But if you're not a fan of alpacas, there's other beautiful hikes in there.

SPEAKER_00 4:52

Incredible hikes. My well, I have a lot of favorites there, but every we had cash then when we stayed there the the two times. Um, and I would get up in the morning and get him, and there's right behind the hotel, there's this river. And we would just walk and walk and walk along the river, and it was so beautiful and so quiet. And there's bikers, but it's they're usually a bit away, so you don't have to worry about the dog. You can kind of just meander along the trails. It's just beautiful, and and that's definitely one of my favorite hikes.

SPEAKER_01 5:23

There's another hike that we did across the street from Aquedome that leads to a very long and a very high suspension bridge. I'm deathly afraid of heights. I did it, but it was scary.

SPEAKER_00 5:38

Yeah, and Dylan and I love stuff like that. And again, we had cash up there. And the my favorite thing about the suspension bridge is that there's a dog path. So, you know, because it's planks for humans so that you walk across, but their little paws would fall through. So they made a metal, you know, little, little doggy bridge on the suspension bridge, which um, you know, he did great. And it was like just cool up there because it was a total trust walk, right? Because I don't know what he felt or knew, but he did not even hesitate. And cash, Dylan and I just like jetted across the suspension bridge and thought it was fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 6:13

And I went very slowly, but I made it.

SPEAKER_00 6:16

You did. Um, but yeah, definitely, and then now there's all this rope climbing stuff too up there.

SPEAKER_01 6:21

So that's since we had like an adventure ropes course, basically.

SPEAKER_00 6:25

Yeah, so definitely, you know, maybe not for the faint of heart, but definitely amazing views and really good hikes all in that area.

SPEAKER_01 6:33

Three of the time, no, two of the times that we went to Aqua Dome were in the summer, not cold. Like cool, but not cold, right? Not snow. And then this last time was winter, right? So there's three ski resorts. We have only been to one of them, and it was during the summer season that has like this great alpine coaster. The one with the alpine coaster, the one we went to was Ho Chotes, Ho Coats. I'll put it on the website. I my German's terrible, non-existent. But there's three. There's Solden, um, and then the Hoats, and then another one over Google.

SPEAKER_00 7:09

Gurgle, Hosh Gurgle. That was a perfect pronunciation, I'm certain.

SPEAKER_01 7:13

There are three, and the Solden one is very famous for really good ski runs and stuff. We were gonna try to go there when we were there, but the weather wasn't cooperating because it was like 60 degrees.

SPEAKER_00 7:26

Um, but I will say that Aquedome is one of those places that I could go back and back and back to. I know you felt a little differently this time, but I just think it's the coolest thing ever. And the the three pools are all different um heights. And then the top, is it the top one that has the salt? It's the middle one. Okay, so it has the salt water and it has music playing. And so we went up there one night that we were staying there, and it was just the three of us in the pool, and we floated on our backs in the pitch dark with the most amazing stars out and you know, underwater music and just floating around. Like it was magic.

SPEAKER_01 8:04

It was magic. What is not magic is how cold it is getting in and out of those. Because all the ones down below, you can walk from the inside to the outside in the water, but you have to get out to walk up the stairs, which is fine in the building. But once you get out of the building to get into the big basins, it is freezing.

SPEAKER_00 8:25

Yeah, it is it is definitely not for the leisurely walk. It is, it is get out and run as fast as you can without falling.

SPEAKER_01 8:33

So if you're going through Austria or anywhere near Austria, uh even stop for a day. It's it's magical. The kids love it, it's so fun.

SPEAKER_00 8:41

I should say that there's also at the hotel, and I'm sure around that area there's bike rentals. So um, you could go on the trails that I was talking about with bikes if you wanted to do that.

SPEAKER_01 8:50

Because down at the base, that's pretty flat.

SPEAKER_00 8:52

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:52

And there's adorable towns surrounding Aquadome.

SPEAKER_00 8:55

Yeah, and cute restaurants.

SPEAKER_01 8:56

Amazing.

SPEAKER_00 8:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:58

And also on this last ski week visit, we stayed in Innsbruck. Well, we stayed outside of Innsbruck.

SPEAKER_00 9:03

Right. So we found a really cute, really affordable Airbnb um that would have that did suit us very nicely, except for one little problem.

SPEAKER_01 9:14

Yeah. It was it's in a town called Calsathburg, which is it was about 20 minutes outside of Innsbruck, straight up. And straight up about three quarters of the way, not a problem. You know, you're high, you're kind of going around some cliff mountain roads. But the last what, 10 minutes of the drive, five minutes, it felt like an hour, but yeah, was a single-lane dirt mountain road that was just big enough for my car. And then it's two ways.

SPEAKER_00 9:45

Well, and also because it's dirt and because it's a very weather-hit area, right? I mean, it is pothole-y and there was snow when we got there, and so it was melting. So then it was just like gooey, muddy mess and slippery.

SPEAKER_01 10:03

The house was great.

SPEAKER_00 10:04

Yeah, the house was was perfectly fine.

SPEAKER_01 10:06

The views were great.

SPEAKER_00 10:08

Yeah, yeah. And um, but even walking Rex down the road to let him go to the bathroom. I mean, I was nervous because it was slippery.

SPEAKER_01 10:19

Yeah, yeah. It was it was definitely not for the faint of heart, like Lisa said. But so we had two nights there. Uh, we were gonna stay a we were supposed to be there a total of four nights. Then we checked the weather and we realized that Wednesday night it was supposed to snow. So we booked a hotel closer to Aqua Dome for Wednesday night.

SPEAKER_00 10:40

Yeah, so we just, you know, go with the flow, right? So we we didn't want to put ourselves in a situation of being stuck or having to drive down. Plus, the grocery store was a bit of a trek. So we didn't even have food if for some reason we couldn't get in or out.

SPEAKER_01 10:55

So which which I would like to just point out. I know I've pointed it out before for France, and I'm gonna point and for Germany, and now I'm gonna point it out for Austria. Nothing is open on Sundays. Grocery stores are not open on Sundays in Switzerland, France, Germany, Austria. So we got there on a Sunday night and we didn't realize how treacherous the road was, and we got up to the top, and we had to then drive 45 minutes going back down and into Innsbruck to find one grocery store at the train station that was open to get food because we had nothing.

SPEAKER_00 11:27

Right. Not even, yeah, nothing.

SPEAKER_01 11:29

So plan, plan. If you arrive on Sundays, bring food with you.

SPEAKER_00 11:32

And we know that, and we still didn't plan properly. But anyway, live and learn. Okay, so Innsbruck, let's talk about the fun things we did there. I love Innsbruck. It's a really cute town. And and even just walking along the river that goes through is called the Inn. I guess that's why it's called Innsbruck. Innsbruck, yeah. Um, but even just like strolling down the sidewalk on either side of the river, like that's where all the colorful houses are. It's you know, you've got the huge m Alps in the backdrop, like it's pretty stunning.

SPEAKER_01 12:03

Yeah, it's it's really it's a small town. You can see it all in one day. We did see it all the first time we went.

SPEAKER_00 12:10

Old town. I think the the town itself is not tiny, but old town is quite small.

SPEAKER_01 12:15

Um, but yeah, it's it's a small town, but it is really, really charming. And they have they have lots of cute little restaurants to eat at and a cute shopping street. Uh, what's that shopping street called? It's called like uh Maria Fesser. Fesserin Straub. I like to try to, you know, throw those. Throw down the German man. Um, but it's really cute because they have a lot of pastel buildings in Innsbruck, which it doesn't really match with the Alpine scenery. I mean, you don't it's not obvious that that's what you would put with the alpine scenery, but it's it's beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 12:52

Well, the other thing that's not so obvious that everybody loves and everyone wants to go see is the golden roof, which is the um it's the landmark that's got like the gold plated copper tiles that um that was built by Emperor Maximilian I and he did it to prove his wealth um in the time, which you know that's how all people should prove their wealth is building something with a golden roof.

SPEAKER_01 13:15

So other things, uh we did a couple other things while we were in Innsbruck that I thought was uh really fun.

SPEAKER_00 13:20

We went to the Alpine Zoo, which has all of animals that would be at some point local to the region. So, you know, you don't go there for giraffes, you go there for their bears and sort of smaller animals that that are indigenous to that area.

SPEAKER_01 13:36

Yeah. Now, what I can say is we went during ski week, so it's winter. A lot of the alpine animals hibernate for the winter. So we didn't get we didn't get to see the bears.

SPEAKER_00 13:44

But it was fun. I mean, you know, it's it's a nice, I think good for all ages. There's it's pretty steep of a walk, but aside from that, I think it's enjoyable for everybody. It's it's cute. Yeah, I think my favorite thing were the wolves.

SPEAKER_01 13:57

Oh, the wolves were very cool, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:59

Yeah, so there's definitely some bigger animals, great little play areas for the kids. Yeah, worth a stop. And and you know, it's just right up the hill from the old town. So easy to get to.

SPEAKER_01 14:10

And then we did one other thing. We were only there for a few days. We did one other thing. We went to the Swarovzoski, I can't say that well, Crystal Museum, which was like we were on the fence about whether we wanted to go or not, but it was like it was amazing.

SPEAKER_00 14:26

Well, I was sort of expecting it to be a factory, right? With maybe a few places to see like how they do it or whatever. Not at all. It was a complete experience. They had amazing gardens with a labyrinth, with a merry-go-round, with uh a million things to do.

SPEAKER_01 14:45

A crystal cloud walk that was uh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:49

And then inside they had what, probably 12 to 14 different rooms.

SPEAKER_01 14:53

No, it's like 14 rooms, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:54

And um, and each was a different vibe, a different theme. Um, there was one that was it was like negative two in the room. Yes, and it was a winter wonderland based around the crystals.

SPEAKER_01 15:08

So little crystal animals, like little crystal owls and squirrels in the trees, and but they had snow in there. It was it was magical.

SPEAKER_00 15:15

It was very, very well done in another room where just millions of crystals hanging from the ceiling that you felt like you were in a meteor show or something.

SPEAKER_01 15:26

Yeah, and it had light, they had lights in some of them, so they're they'd like dim and get brighter. It was the whole thing was magical. I will say that if it's crowded, I don't know if it would be as fantastic. We managed to be in most of the rooms alone, right? Which made it just like a personal experience.

SPEAKER_00 15:42

But it is, you know, if you're on the fence, don't be because it is so worth going to and so much more interesting than than I had ever expected.

SPEAKER_01 15:53

Well, and your favorite part was where they they had a room full of all the like uh costumes that they had made with crystals, which the Marilyn Monroe dress that Kim Kardashian lost all that weight to fit into, that was there.

SPEAKER_00 16:06

Yeah, no, all kinds of just really fun stuff. So definitely, definitely worth it.

SPEAKER_01 16:11

Totally worth it, especially if you have kids, but even if you don't, it was it's I highly recommend.

SPEAKER_00 16:16

Yeah. So let's let's talk about the other important thing of any city, and that's food. Food. So, like you said earlier, you're much more of a liker of this region of food as opposed to me. So, do you want to say your favorite things were?

SPEAKER_01 16:31

Yeah, I'm uh German food and alpine food is like a lot of potatoes, a lot of fried like schnitzel and stuff. My favorite food is the Wiener Schnitzel, um, which is just it's pork or veal. I like the veal breaded. I'm from Oklahoma. It's kind of like a chicken fried steak, basically. It's different kind of breading. But yeah, so Dylan and I like to get the Wiener Schnitzel everywhere we go. Dylan likes, and we discovered it in Switzerland, was I think in Switzerland it's called toasty, right?

SPEAKER_00 17:01

Roasty.

SPEAKER_01 17:01

Roasty.

SPEAKER_00 17:02

Roasty, yeah. You said toasty. I was like, that's a sandwich.

SPEAKER_01 17:05

A roasty, and it's called a grostel in Austria, but it's virtually like a fried hash brown that has either speck or bacon and onions and sometimes eggs in it. And cheese, too. Yeah, and you can get them at all the grocery stores, but he really likes that. But we pretty much stuck to Wienersnitzel the whole time we were there.

SPEAKER_00 17:24

And I got, I don't even know what they're called, but I got we we stopped for lunch at this hotel restaurant, which you have the name of it on the website, probably, right?

SPEAKER_01 17:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:32

Um, which was a really nice lunch, but but I'm a little picky. And so I got the only thing that I thought was really up my alley were these dumplings and fried cheese. And was there were all different kinds of dumplings. One had spinach in it, one was just bread, and a little on the heavy side for for me, but um, but definitely worth trying too.

SPEAKER_01 17:55

Um, we did go in before we went to the zoo. I don't know why we did it, but we went to a Mexican, like a burrito spot that you found that was really, really good.

SPEAKER_00 18:05

So yeah, so I Googled, you know, I think we've said before that Mexican food in Europe in general is just not that easy to find. So whenever we go somewhere new or different, you know, it's obviously not the first thing we do because we want to eat locally, but we'd see if there is a Mexican place that that will give us a taste of a taste of what we know. And I found this little place and you go in and order, and then they bring it to you, or you fill out this form, and then it's sort of like is that like Chipotle, does it?

SPEAKER_01 18:35

It's like Chipotle, but you don't order at the counter. You sit down.

SPEAKER_00 18:38

And um and it was super hipster in there, which I was feeling a little old, but the food was really, really nice and and totally affordable. Totally affordable, and just a really nice kind of like quick lunch, but hit the spot for sure.

SPEAKER_01 18:52

It was outside the touristy area of Innsbruck, which I think was nice too.

SPEAKER_00 18:56

Yeah, it was definitely a local joint.

SPEAKER_01 18:57

Yeah, it's called machete, and it is it is it was really good. Like if you're around and you like Mexican food, the margaritas were like real margaritas, and they had Micheladas, which has been pretty hard to find in Europe.

SPEAKER_00 19:09

So there was one thing to do that we kind of skipped over because we didn't get to do it because the day that we could do it, it was closed. But the ski jump is supposed to be really cool. Oh, yeah. And you can take the gondola up to the top of the ski jump. And um, and A, apparently, just watching is super cool to see, you know, from people, people going down from the top. There's also supposed to be a restaurant up there that's got a spectacular view, and just sort of walking around up there is supposed to be worth the worth the gondola. But like I said, the the jump wasn't running the day that we could do it.

SPEAKER_01 19:42

It's closed, closed on Monday.

SPEAKER_00 19:44

Yeah. So we ended up skipping it this time, but but definitely on the list for next time.

SPEAKER_01 19:49

So overall, I think Innsbruck is great. It's very outdoorsy. So if you're like a big city person, it's it's you know, it's a four hour day basically. But If you're into like adventure outdoors and mountains and stuff, you can make a few days out of it, I think.

SPEAKER_00 20:05

Yeah, we did take a ri some really nice walks sort of in the hills too with Rex that were lovely. But yeah, I would say if you're going to Innsbruck, I would spend maybe two days in Innsbruck. And then you are 30 minutes from Aquedom. So you could do that all in the matter of three or four days.

SPEAKER_01 20:23

Yes. Agreed. Agreed.

SPEAKER_00 20:25

All right, cool. Well, thanks for joining us, guys. That is our little rundown on those parts of Austria. Hope you guys enjoyed it. Thanks for listening.

SPEAKER_01 20:35

You can also check out our website at www.thegetawayswithaZ.com. Uh, there's lots of stuff on Austria. I've got hotels, restaurants, things to do for Innsbruck.

SPEAKER_00 20:46

And pictures with and lots of pictures. You know, could be a good thing or a bad thing. Well, have a good week and we'll see you next time. Thanks for listening. Bye. Bye.