Tratzberg Castle: Unforgettable Audio Drama Adventure

We found the castle to be well-worth the drive from Innsbruck. September is the shoulder-season, so we didn't have to wait long for a tour. We paid about 8 Euros extra for the VR headset show, which gives a bit of history for the castle. The tour group consisted of four German-speakers and the two of us (native English speakers). Yes, the guide did have us listen to the audio handsets for the English, but he spoke pretty good English and answered questions and chatted with us if we engaged him. The interior courtyard is beautifully decorated, as are several of the rooms. There are some very exceptional furnishings, with incredibly detailed carving or inlay, etc. The train ride up the hill is only 2 Euros per person (if I recall correctly), and I think 3 Euros for a round trip. The walk down the road used by the train took us 20 minutes, so I think going up would take 10 minutes more. The footpath goes much more directly to the castle. It could be a bit slippery due to the pea gravel we saw on it, but we would try that approach were we to visit again (and we are older travelers). We did not see bad management, language difficulties, or rude staff as mentioned in a review below from April 2022, and we cannot agree that the 'exposition is poor'. This is worth a drive from Innsbruck.

We got the bus from Jenbach (601 bus hourly) Walked up hill- quite steep but perfectly manageable. Tour guide (Peter) was good. Handheld guide devices worked fine. Went to 9 rooms. Plenty to look at. Got very wet waiting for bus! A shelter would be great.

The Tratzberg castle is a very beautiful medieval castle with plenty of original furniture. You can really imagine how they were living in the castle 500 years ago. After travelling in Austria for 25 years and living in Tyrol for four years, I never imagined there would be such a beautiful, well-renovated castle in Tyrol! It could be a huge tourist destination, but maybe the owners don't want bus loads of tourists because they live in the castle. We went early in a Sunday morning, walked up the 20-minute asphalt road (no cars allowed) to the castle. It was an easy hike. If I had been alone, I could have walked it much quicker although I'm not in a great shape. There is also a steeper 10-minute hiking path to the castle. We got immediately in, and the tour was nicely organised. We got audio guides (available in several languages), and the friendly guide explained some more. Photography was allowed during the tour.

The castle itself is nice and definitely worth the hike up the mountain. You have the option to hike up on a path, faster but steeper, on the road, longer, or with the train, but it does not come too often, only one train doing loops. However, the tour can use a lot of improvement. Long wait for the "guide" which is just a person pushing you around making sure you are not left behind. You will wait for this "guide a while, good thing there are seats, then, when she comes, the group gets divided in 2 groups, German Speaking and Englich speaking. The German speaking group gets a 3D VR tour, the English people only a short oral presentation. This felt very "unwelcome" to say the least. From there the tour is self-guided, audio. But with so many people you don't get to see everything, just listen, before the "guide" will show you the door to the next room. In short, yes, the castle is nice but the administration is lacking efficiency. On the back we took the train, it was raining. 3 Euros. Parking is also 3 Euros. It adds up to the entrace fee, not cheap at all.

This Castle is situated in the Inntal to the east of Innsbruck. We had a bit of spare time and decided to add it to our itinerary. What an amazing place! The oldest part of the castle was build in 1500 and much of the furnishing and room decorations goes back to the 17th century. We would have happily spent longer looking in more details at many of the priceless items on display. We were guided round by an expert tour guide who spoke good English, supplementing the very good audio guide available in various languages. There is plenty of parking but this is further down the valley. We had a pleasant 10 minute walk up quite a steep path to reach the castle, but there is a little train for those not able to negotiate the path. The route the train takes can also be walked and is a gentler 20 minutes climb to the castle on foot.

What a beautiful castle with friendly guides. We were the only English people on the tour and our guide went out of her way to make our visit enjoyable. The road train driver was also friendly. We are so glad we visited.

Visited as part of a package tour. It is a well preserved schloss with many interesting artifacts, especially the furniture. The family tree fresco was very interesting. The audio presentation brings the place to life. The guides were very knowledgeable. It would appear that due to its location, you can only photograph the whole of the schloss from the motorway.

We just made this tour inside the castle. Even if we came on a rainny day, we parked the car take the mini train (by the way the driver of the train Mr. Gigi is a very polite person and helpfull for any questions that you may have, all respect) go up to the castle and listen the story of this castle.

The Schloss is a remarkable building. Been lucky enough to visit twice recently, first was last September and secondly this July. In September the tour group was about 20+ with a young female guide who supplemented the audio tour with additional information and there was time for question and answer sessions. In July, however, we stood around waiting an hour from ticket purchase to the start of the tour. There were several school trips going on in addition to tourists. The young male guide had a very large group 50+ to give handsets and headphones to as well as helping the virtual reality tour group. There was a lot of waiting around. We would have liked to spend longer in each room and have an expert description of the furniture and art than the audio provided. The audio tour is aimed at a young audience. The furniture is beautifully preserved, much is of international importance, and yet is mostly on open display. A wonderful place to visit but the visitor experience needs improvement.

I visited Schloss Tratzberg with my grandparents on a European vacation. We chose to do the regular guided tour without the virtual reality headset. We were pleasantly surprised at the condition of the castle, as well as the astounding amount of original furnishings. We used an audio guide that translated into English and found it to be very informative and easy to control, and our guide to the castle was able to speak fluent English. The tour was the perfect amount of time. Not too long, but enough to look around, ask questions, take pictures, and really take in the history. The staff was friendly and knowledgeable. Schloss Tratzberg was also fairly easy to get to from our hotel via taxi. I would recommend anyone interested in history come visit this marvelous time capsule.