More information - Neustift - Austria

Neustift is located in the Stubai Valley, approximately 25 km south of Innsbruck, the capital city of the Tyrol. The valley can be reached easily on the motorway A13 or without paying a toll fee on the national road B182 towards Italy - Exit "Stubaital". The Stubai Glacier in Neustift represents one of the most extensive all-year-skiing areas in the Eastern Alps with over 100 km of slopes and off-slope tracks of all grades of difficulty and a 4,5 km high-altitude cross country slope. It guarantees quality snow conditions from autumn right through to spring and it is Austrias biggest all-year-round-skiing-area. In terms of history, as early settlers in the Bronze Age had been concentrating on the more easily accessible parts at the entrance of the Stubai Valley, no pre-historic traces are to be found in Neustift or further up the valley. In the Middle Ages, the area nowadays known as "Neustift" was only used as mountain pasture ground. The name of the village was first been documented in 1387. In 1516, Emperor Maximilian I. donated St. George's chapel to his hunting ground "Neu-stift", which literally means "new-church". In 1780, the Neustift Parish church, built by late baroque architect Franz de Paula Penz, was finished. During the last century, the wealth of Neustift, besides agriculture and small industry plants in Fulpmes, has mainly been based on tourism. With his vision of developing poor mountainous areas by encouraging the construction of paths and mountain huts, Reverend Franz Senn stands among the pioneers of Alpine history. Therefore, local people are still most grateful to the so called "Glacier-priest", one of the founding fathers of the Austrian and German Alpine Club. Franz Senn is buried in Neustift. A monument stone at the rectory building reminds us of his importance. A mountain hut is named after him. In 1891 the Neustift Mountain Guides Association was established. The mountaineering school Stubai Alpinoffers the whole range of Alpine activities. With the construction and steady improvements of the cable cars at the "Stubai Glacier" from 1972 onwards, Neustift has also become a well known wintersport resort. Today the village area covers 249 km², including 12 parts of the village which spread along the last 20 km of the Stubai Valley from the valley-centre to the bottom station of the Stubai Glacier. It is the second largest community in the Tyrol considering by surface area and counts approximately 4,400 inhabitants.