With 12,648 sq. km and 675,000 inhabitants, Tirol is Austria´s third largest province. Only 13 % of the entire country are habitable. About 20 % of Tirol´s landscape was declared nature preserve. Provincial capital is Innsbruck.
Tirol shares borders with Germany (Bavaria), Italy (South Tirol) and Switzerland as well as the provinces of Vorarlberg, Salzburg and Carinthia. When South Tirol was ceded to Italy in 1919, East Tirol was isolated from the rest of Tirol and is now only accessible via Salzburg (Felbertauern tunnel) or Italy (Pustertal valley).
Großglockner, with 3,797 m Austria´s highest mountain, is shared between East Tirol, Carinthia and Salzburg. Wildspitze (3770 m) is North Tirol´s highest mountain. Gepatschferner is Tirol´s largest glacier covering 17 km2 . With 1,370 m the Brenner is the Alps lowest pass, making Tirol one of the most important transit routes for goods transport and passenger traffic.
