Trauttmansdorff Castle

From a holiday residence of empress Sissi to the Touriseum

At the eastern end of Merano towers Trauttmansdorff Castle, with its powerful walls and the oh-so popular botanic garden.

In 1300 there was only a small castle with the name Neuburg standing in this place. In 1846, however, count Joseph von Trauttmansdorff visited the town and fell in love with the building. He renovated it and made it a neo-Gothic castle. It gained popularity when in 1870 the Austrian empress Sissi chose Trauttmansdorff Castle as her new holiday residence and even would have liked to buy it.

Nowadays, Trauttmansdorff Castle houses the South Tyrolean Museum of Tourism, also known as Touriseum. Here you are introduced to the historical development of tourism in this region in a truly stimulating and entertaining manner. Tourists and travellers will see themselves in the museum, together with their motives for travel, behaviour, illusions, and expectations.

Afterwards you might pay a visit to the near-by botanic garden…

Opening hours of the Touriseum:
> April 1 - October 31, 2011
from 9 am to 7 pm (last admission 6 pm)
> November 1 - November 15, 2011
from 9 am to 5 pm (last admission 4 pm)
> Every Friday in June, July and August
from 9 am to 11 pm
> Open all week

Further information:
Trauttmansdorff Castle - Touriseum
Via San Valentino, 51a - Merano
Tel.: +39 0473 270172
info@touriseum.it