Places to visit - sightseeing around Brunico

The fully furnished, very well maintained Castello di Tures/Burg Taufers is one of the largest and most beautiful castles in the whole of the Tyrol region. About two dozen of the 64 rooms of the castle are panelled. The frescoes from Friedrich Pacher's school in the castle chapel are of outstanding value. The princely rooms, large library, courtroom, so-called ghost room, dungeon, armoury and the many tiled stoves are particularly worth seeing.

The mineral museum in San Giovanni/St. Johann is the result of the Valle Aurina/Ahrntal collector Artur Kirchler’s decades of passion: he painstakingly collected around 950 individual exhibits from the Zillertal Alps and the Hohe Tauern. Today it is one of the most rewarding excursion destinations in Val Pusteria/Pustertal.

Copper was mined in Predoi/Prettau for 500 years until the mine was closed down in 1893. St. Ignaz gallery was developed into a show gallery in the 1990s. The old mine railway was renovated so that today visitors can enter the tunnels in wagons for teams of two.

In addition to the show mine, you will also find the Predoi/Prettau climate gallery approx. 1,100 m inside the mountain – a place of peace, relaxation and rest. The microclimate in the abandoned mine gallery alleviates respiratory problems and allergies.

The Riva/Reinbach is a left tributary to the Aurino/Ahrn. Its source is above Riva di Tures/Rein in Taufers and it flows through the Riva/Rein valley and the Tobel gorge with its spectacular Riva/Reinbach Falls. The upper and middle Riva/Reinbach Falls are about 50 m high, the lower ones about 10 to 15 m. The St. Francis Canticle of the Sun path of reflection runs along the Riva/Reinbach waterfalls.

The church was built in 1455 and consecrated by Cardinal Nikolaus Cusanus. It is Italy’s northernmost church and one of the sights that you should not miss in Val Pusteria/Pustertal.

The nature park visitor centre provides information about the nature park’s mountains, paths, refuges, lakes and waterfalls. Fairy tales and legends from the past await children.

The LUMEN museum occupies the building of a former mountain station situated at 2,275m of altitude on the summit of Mt Plan de Corones/Kronplatz, from where it commands a stunning view of the Dolomites. Extending over a surface of 1,800m², the temporary and permanent exhibitions offer unique insights into the history of mountain photography from its origins to the present day – a must-see attraction for mountain enthusiasts and nature lovers. The building also hosts the AlpiNN Food Space & Restaurant of star chef Norbert Niederkofler, which is definitely worth a visit!

Extreme mountaineer Reinhold Messner’s fifth museum is housed at Castello di Brunico/Schloss Bruneck in Val Pusteria/Pustertal, at the gateway to the Dolomites UNESCO World Heritage Site. The MMM project is dedicated to mountain people from all over the world. Reinhold Messner invites visitors to exchange experiences with the local farming community: guests from a different mountain region spend the summer at MMM Ripa every year and talk about their lives, their culture, their religion and their mountains. Exhibits from the everyday culture of various mountain regions and their inhabitants (e.g. Sherpa, Indians, Tibetans, Mongolians, Hunza) are exhibited in the museum’s rooms.

The museum contains parts of an historical art collection with carvings and paintings by the artists Michael and Friedrich Pacher from Brunico/Bruneck. However, the focus is on modern and contemporary graphic art by artists from the surrounding region. In addition, there is the special "Graphics and Literature" section with works by various contemporary artists.

The family-run business has been producing essential oils and herbal products for over 100 years. From May to December you will get a glimpse behind the scenes during the free guided tours through the mountain pine oil distillery and during walks through the herb garden.

Do you love sightseeing, the Dolomites and South Tyrol? At the Dolomythos in San Candido/Innichen, you can see the Dolomites as a living and cultural area in dioramas, reconstructions, three-dimensional models and films. Fossils and minerals show the Dolomites as a rich archive for geological processes: volcanoes, desert landscapes, coral reefs and deep sea basins during the different geological periods as well as the development of flora and fauna are visually represented here. There is an extensive area and the option of a treasure hunt for children.

The Folklore Museum is located in the heart of Val Pusteria/Pustertal and is one of the most important sights in Brunico/Bruneck and the surrounding area. It shows the environment of the everyday life of rural population of the past – from the landed gentry and the self-sustaining peasantry to the day labourer. The centrepiece is the baroque Mair am Hof residence with its stately rooms and ethnological collections. The outdoor area invites you to while away the hours with old original farm houses, workshops, farm gardens and pets.

More than 5,000 years ago, a man climbs to the icy heights of the Val Senales/Schnalstal glacier and dies there. He is found again by chance in 1991 – with all his clothes and equipment, mummified, frozen. An archaeological sensation and a unique snapshot of a Copper Age man.

After several years of research by highly specialised research teams, the mummy and its accompanying finds have been open to the public at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology since March 1998.

The Museum of Nature is housed in Emperor Maximilian I’s former office today. South Tyrol's landscape and natural history is told over two floors with a total area of around 1,000 m².

Plants from all over the world are collected, but typical South Tyrolean landscapes are also presented in the Gardens of Trauttmansdorff Castle. Pathways meander up the slope through water and terrace gardens, lead to the sensory garden or Japanese garden, to the cacti and succulents hill or to the cultivated plants of the south, such as olive trees and vines.

Visitors to the monastery will find interesting historical and art sights: the light-flooded monastery church as a representative of the late Baroque period, the cloister with its Gothic vault and frescoes by various artists, the monastery library with around 92,000 volumes and its large rococo style hall. The monastery also has its own winery.