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00 Innichen
Stemma di Innichen

Trentino-South Tyrol · Bolzano

Innichen

An Alta Pusteria town at 1,175 metres on the Austrian border, built around a Romanesque church and facing the Dolomites to the south.

Best time
Jun–Sep, Dec–Mar
By car
1 h 41 min from Bolzano
By train
Station in the comune
Population
3,384

Known for

  • ROMANESQUE COLLEGIATA

    Begun in 1143 on the site of the 769 Benedictine foundation, considered the most important Romanesque building in Tyrol and the Eastern Alps.

  • DREI ZINNEN GATEWAY

    Road, rail and trail base for the Sesto Dolomites and the Tre Cime di Lavaredo, the most photographed silhouette in the Dolomites.

  • DRAVA CYCLE PATH

    Forty-four-kilometre family cycle route east from Innichen to Lienz, almost entirely separated from the road and one of the busiest in the eastern Alps.

When to visit

Best · Jun–Sep, Dec–Mar

  • J2°
  • F5°
  • M6°
  • A9°
  • M15°
  • J21°
  • J23°
  • A22°
  • S18°
  • O14°
  • N8°
  • D3°
  • Best
  • Hot or crowded
  • Quiet
  • Mostly closed

Daytime averages, 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.

The festa: San Candido, 24 August

Why come

San Candido, Innichen in German, sits at 1,175 metres in the Alta Pusteria valley near the Austrian border, twenty-six kilometres west of Lienz and the headwaters of the Drava river. The town was founded as a Benedictine monastery in 769 by Duke Tassilo III of Bavaria, charged with the Christianisation of the Slavic populations of the eastern Alps. The monastery was turned into a college of canons in 1143, which is the founding date of the collegiate church that still stands at the centre of the town today. The town is bilingual, German first and Italian second; the Italian name San Candido was applied after 1918 by the Tolomei programme that renamed every place in South Tyrol.

The old town, laid out along the Pusteria road with its squares and burgher houses, sits at the foot of the slope that rises directly into the Monte Baranci ski area, so the built centre and the mountain terrain meet with almost no transition. To the south the Drei Zinnen, the Tre Cime di Lavaredo, mark the most photographed silhouette in the Dolomites, with Innichen serving as the road, rail and trailhead base for reaching them through Sesto and Auronzo. East, the valley opens toward the Drava river and Austria, followed for its whole length by the cycle path to Lienz. The town works because of this arrangement: a monastic and Romanesque core, a wall of Dolomite peaks to the south, and open riverine access to Austria to the east, three directions of identity meeting at a single, small, bilingual place.

The Sunday letter

Innichen is on our list. Its letter is still to come.

We are writing about all 1,000 of these towns, one at a time, in a free letter every Sunday: the photo, the food, the festa. That is our mission. Sign up and you will be there when Innichen comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Pietrasanta.

Read on

Innichen in our articles

How to get there

From Venice (TSF), about 2h 17m by car.

Verona (VRN) is about 3h 20m away.

By car from the centre of Bolzano 1h 41m, Trento 2h 13m or Udine 2h 24m.

There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive without a car.

Coming from Venice?

Innichen, photo 1
Innichen, photo 2

What to see

  • Stiftskirche / Collegiata di San Candido

    Extended around 1280 with a Creation cupola that is the largest surviving fresco of its kind, the interior carrying the weight of the building's Romanesque reputation in stone and paint.

  • Stiftsmuseum

    Chapter museum next to the church, holding thirteenth-century sculpture, manuscripts and liturgical objects that trace the life of the foundation across its centuries as monastery and college.

  • Historic centre

    Pedestrianised core around the church, with Tyrolean burgher houses, painted facades and the Pflegplatz and Atoplatz squares laid out along the old Pusteria road.

  • Drei Zinnen / Tre Cime di Lavaredo

    Three vertical limestone summits in the Sesto Dolomites, reached through Sesto and Auronzo from the Innichen base.

  • Monte Baranci / Haunold

    Family ski area on the slope rising directly from the village, part of the wider Drei Zinnen Dolomites circuit with around 93 kilometres of pistes.

  • Drava cycle path

    The route follows the Drava river out of town toward Lienz in Austria, level and shaded, suited to families riding the full distance or a short stretch of it.

The slow-trip planner

Building a trip? Find where Innichen fits in a slow Italy circuit.

Answer five questions. We will shape a geographically coherent slow trip from the 1,000 Italian towns most travelers skip. Yours to save and share.

Plan your trip

We recommend

Where to stay

Not our picks, but places the guides put their name to: a Michelin star, a Gambero Rosso fork, a Slow Food snail, a Michelin Key for the hotels. Worth a table, a counter, or a night when you pass through.

Through the year

What happens here

Feasts and festivals that come back year after year. We give the month rather than the date, because the date moves and the month rarely does. Check with the source before you plan a journey around one.

Living here

  • Population 3,384
  • Very remotei
  • Pharmacy in town
  • High school within a 30-minute drive
  • Train station in the comune
  • Nearest airport Venice, 2 h 17 min drive
  • Regional capital Bolzano, 1 h 41 min drive

Common questions

What is Innichen known for?
Innichen is an Alta Pusteria town at 1,175 metres on the Austrian border, built around a Romanesque church and facing the Dolomites to the south.
Where is Innichen?
Innichen is a comune in the province of Bolzano, in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, at 1175 meters above sea level.
What is the nearest airport to Innichen?
Venice (TSF), about 2h 17m by car.
Can you get to Innichen without a car?
Yes. There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive by train.
How long is the drive from Bolzano to Innichen?
About 1h 41m by car.
When is the best time to visit Innichen?
Best in Jun–Sep, Dec–Mar. July is the warmest month, averaging 23 degrees, and June the wettest, with about 21 rain days.
Is there a sagra or a festival in Innichen?
Yes. Platzl Fest / Festa in piazza at the Senfter's Platzl. August is when the first of them falls.
Which other towns are like Innichen?
Toblach, Cortina d'Ampezzo and Bormio.
How many people live in Innichen?
3,384 at the 2023 count.
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources

Recognised as

The numbers

  • Elevation: 1175 m
  • Population: 3,384
  • Surface area: 79.85 km²

These figures were compiled from public directories: ISTAT, OpenStreetMap and Wikidata, and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.

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