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Merano (Meran)

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Bolzano Cathedral or Duomo di Bolzano aerial panoramic view, located in Bolzano city in South Tyrol, Italy

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Overview

With its leafy boulevards, birdsong, oleanders and cacti, Merano feels like a northern Italian Shangri-La. Long lauded for its sunny microclimate, this poignantly pretty town (and one-time Tyrolean capital) was a Habsburg-era spa and the hot destination of its day, favoured by the Austrian royals plus Freud, Kafka and Pound. The Jugendstil (art nouveau) villas, recuperative walks and grand riverside Kurhaus fan out from its intact medieval core. The city's therapeutic traditions have served it well in the new millennium, with spa hotels drawing a new generation of health-conscious visitors and bolstering the region's booming organics movement. German is spoken more widely than Italian here, sausage and beer stalls dot the streets and an annual open-air play celebrates Napoleonic-era Tyrolean freedom fighter Andreas Hofer. Despite the palm trees, you're closer to Vienna than Rome. Apart from its old-fashioned charms, Merano also makes an attractive urban base for skiing, cycling or hiking nearby.

Attractions

Must-see attractions

  • Schloss Trauttmansdorff Gardens

    Schloss Trauttmansdorff Gardens

    Merano (Meran)

    You could give an entire day to these beautiful botanical gardens a little outside Merano (and they do suggest it). Exotic cacti and palms, fruit trees…

  • Schloss Tirol

    Schloss Tirol

    Merano (Meran)

    Clinging to a steep crag high above the Adige valley, the ancestral seat of the counts of Tyrol houses a dynamically curated museum of Tyrolean history,…

  • Schloss Tirol Bird Care Centre

    Schloss Tirol Bird Care Centre

    Merano (Meran)

    Just below Schloss Tirol's entrance, this wildlife rescue centre rehabilitates injured birds of prey. There is a collection of eagles, vultures, hawks,…

  • Kunst Meran

    Kunst Meran

    Merano (Meran)

    Shows of high-profile international and regional artists are installed in this contemporary gallery, a thoughtful refiguring of a skinny medieval…

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