Top 10 things to do in Salzburg, Austria

Salzburg is full of Austrian charm, with the Hohensalzburg fortress towering over the town and mountain peaks framing the view. It’s a city of music and culture, birthplace of Mozart, not to mention a location for the film Sound of Music. Here are some of the top things to do in Salzburg that we enjoyed on our visit.

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1. The Hohensalzburg Fortress

The Hohensalzburg Fortress looms over the town, built in the 11th century by the Prince Archbishops who ruled over Salzburg. Their wealth was founded on the salt that was mined in the mountains around the city and brought down the river Salzach into the city.

Rather than walk up to the top of the hill, we took the funicular up the rock face with views over the rooftops and church spires of Salzburg. Beyond the thick defensive walls and courtyards, are richly panelled apartment rooms, although the rulers of Salzburg mainly lived in the comfort of the Residenz in the town below.

The museum rooms, with medieval furniture, household objects and armour are available to visit on an audio-tour, after which you can wander through the different courtyards.

You can read more about everything we enjoyed on our visit to the Hohensalzburg fortress in Salzburg

2. Mirabell Gardens in Salzburg

Crossing the river to the pretty Mirabell Gardens, we found it in full flower with springtime tulips and pansies. With pretty fountains, classical statuary and flower filled parterres, it was easy to see why this is such a popular spot for wedding photos.

The Mirabell Gardens are also one of the film locations that you’ll spot in the Sound of Music. Close your eyes and you can imagine Julie Andrews skipping through the Mirabell Gardens with the Von Trapp children, or sitting on the stone steps to sing Do-Re-Me.

These were originally the gardens of the Mirabell Palace, built in 1606 by the Prince Archbishop Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau for his mistress who bore him 15 children. The baroque gardens were redesigned in their present form in 1690 and later opened to the public by Emperor Franz Joseph in 1854.

We spotted the same stone unicorn where I’d had my picture taken with my sisters as children when we were here with my parents and took the same shot with my son, just to recreate the moment.

Read more about visiting the Mirabell Gardens in this article and about our memories of riding the stone unicorns in the gardens.

3. Visit the Sound of Music film locations

For the film buffs and lovers of singing nuns, Salzburg was used as a location for The Sound Of Music, which apparently plays non stop in many of the hostels in Salzburg.

Sound of Music film locations in Salzburg include:

Mirabell Gardens – the children sing ‘Do-Re-Me’ on the stone steps

Residenzplatz square in the old town – where Maria splashes in the fountain and sings ‘I have confidence’

Schloss Leopoldskron just outside the old town – doubles as the exterior of the Von Trapp family home.

Scloss Hellbrunn – just outside Salzburg houses the gazebo, where Liesel sings ‘I am 16 going on 17’ and Captain Von Trapp proposes to Maria.

Nonnberg Abbey – on the hill below the Hohenzsalzburg Castle is the abbey where Maria lives before becoming a governess.

The cheesy but fun thing to do is to take a Sound of Music tour, although you can visit many of the film locations independently.

4. The Mozart connection in Salzburg

The composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg and the museum of Mozart’s Birthplace can be visited in the house where he was born and his family lived.

The family apartment was quite small with only one bedroom where Mozart was born. However, the Mozart birthplace museum stretches over other rooms and contains family portraits and information about Mozart’s life.

The rooms were quite bare so you couldn’t get much sense of what the house was like when Mozart lived there.

To celebrate the Mozart connection, you must taste the chocolate Mozart balls or Mozartkugeln that seem to be sold in every gift shop. Many chocolate shops sell the Mozartkugeln singly so you can taste them before buying a whole box.

The most ubiquitous are the Mirabell brand, which are sold wherever you see the cut out Mozart boards. But if you’re a chocolate connoisseur, I’d recommend the Fürst brand which are made with high quality chocolate and marzipan.

5. The trick fountains at Hellbrunn

Driving out of Salzburg we stopped at Schloss Hellbrunn, built by the Archbishop of Salzburg, Markus Sittikus in 1613. The park is free to enter and there is a country house to look around, but Schloss Hellbrunn is best known for the trick fountains.

The archbishop was brought up in Italy and had visited Italian villas with similar fountains which he had made as an amusement for his guests. The trick is that when turned on, the fountains spout water from unexpected places and directions to soak the unwary passer by.

At a stone dining table the unwelcome guest is in danger of being squirted by jets of water from the table and seats. A grotto houses a fountain, topped with a golden crown that moves up and down on the jet of water, to represent the rise and fall of power.

We also passed by a water theatre with small models which turn around, all powered by the flow of water.

6. Kaffee and kuchen in Salzburg

A typically Salzburg way to pass the time is to sit in an elegant cafe with a coffee and slice of cake, watching the world go by.

The place that everyone talks about for Kaffee und Kuchen is the Sacher Hotel where you can sit on the terrace overlooking the river to eat your Sacher Torte. This cake, which was supposedly invented at the hotel, is made of layers of light chocolate sponge, sandwiched with apricot jam. But we didn’t try the Sacher Hotel, as it just seemed full of tourists and a little bit of a cliche.

Instead we took a local recommendation and tried the Steinterrasse on the 7th floor of the Hotel Stein. Here they serve coffee and cake (including Sacher Torte) with a great view over the river and the old town, as well as ice cream sundaes and cocktails as the sun goes down.

Another traditional cake in Salzburg is the Apfelstrudel or the plum variation we tried, topped with fruit and crumble topping. Other famous deserts in Salzburg include the Salzburger Nockerl, a sweet souffle made of eggs and sugar and the Topfenknödel with puffed pastry balls filled with cream cheese.

7. Dine in a brewery restaurant in Salzburg

If you want to dip into Salzburg beer culture accompanied by hearty local dishes, head to the beerhalls, traditional restaurants or biergarten.

One of the best known is Sternbräu restaurant in the old town, which started life as a brewery and boasts 14 different restaurant rooms. Each features a different decor but all serve traditional Austrian dishes and even Mozart apparently enjoyed a meal or two there!

Typical Salzburg dishes to look out for include;

• Tafelspitz – boiled beef with horseradish sauce
• Bierfleisch – a goulash made with beef cooked in a beer sauce
• Roast pork knuckle served with dumplings.
• Bratwurst and Sauerkraut – a typical street food served with beer
• River fish such as trout or char, grilled with butter and served with seasonal vegetables such as asparagus.

Other traditional restaurants you might try in Salzburg, include St Peter Skiftskeller for more formal dining in a series of elegant salon rooms. We also enjoyed dinner at Gasthas Kuglhof, a local pub style restaurant which was near our hotel and has a nice beer garden to sit outside in summer.

Read more in my article about the Delicious food in Salzburg – restaurants and dishes to try

8. Hangar 7 – Fast cars, planes and gourmet food

Hangar-7 was started by Red Bull mega businessman, Dietrich Mateschitz with a few planes in a hangar on the edge of Innsbruck airfield. But his collection outgrew the space and moved to the new Hangar-7 on the edge of Salzburg airfield.

Step inside the glass encased building and there are shiny, brightly coloured Formula One cars, flame red motorbikes, a helicopter there, a restored vintage plane there.

Dominating the collection is the massive twin propeller Douglas DC-6B that once carried Yugoslavia’s Marshall Tito. Other curiosities include the tiny BD-SJ Microjet that starred in the James Bond film Octopussy, or the CH-7 Kompress helicopter that was made from a kit and runs on normal petrol.

All the planes at Hangar-7 get a regular outing as the Flying Bulls team of pilots show off their aeronautical skills at air shows around Europe. Teenagers will love to try out the computer driving games and there’s also an art exhibition.

Hangar-7 also houses the Ikarus restaurant, a top gourmet experience featuring a different international guest chef each month. For something more relaxed, try the Mayday Bar where the food is from the same kitchen and it’s an easy place to lounge around for a drink and an informal meal.

Read the article about our visit: Hangar-7 in Salzburg – cars, planes and fine dining

9. Museum der Moderne in Salzburg

Art lovers will enjoy the Museum der Moderne, Salzburg’s Museum of Modern Art. Although the Museum is set on the top of a cliff, there’s a lift that takes you up from street level. There was a Giacometti exhibition when we visited and I enjoyed the large outdoor sculptures on the wooded terrace outside the main Museum building.

10. Lake Wolfgang near Salzburg

There is some beautiful countryside around Salzburg and we stayed on the shores of Lake Wolfgang in the pretty town of St Wolfgang. Read about our visit to Lake Wolfgang near Salzburg

More places to visit around Salzburg

The Salt Mines at Hallstatt

The salt mines at Hallstatt are among the oldest in Europe and the salt from these mines and others around the city was the foundation of the wealth of Salzburg’s prince archbishops.

Now you can take a guided tour and even slide down deeper into the mine. The pretty lakeside town of Hallstatt is also worth a visit.

The Eisriesenwelt ice caves in Werfen

The Eisriesenwelt ice caves are found at Werfen close to Salzburg and are the largest system of ice caves  in the world. You can take a the cable car up to the caves which are open from May to October.

The Salzburg Card

The Salzburg Card can be good value if you are doing a lot of sightseeing, as it provides free use of public transport, the fortress funicular and entrance to the major sites of Salzburg. The card is available for 24, 48 or 72 hours.

Where to stay in Salzburg

While in Salzburg we stayed in the comfortable Hotel Zur Post, a family run Gasthaus that is a short bus ride from the old centre of Salzburg.

If you are touring the wider region, check out the charming White Horse Inn (Hotel Weissen Rössl ) on Lake Wolfgang where we also stayed.

Read Next

Explore the best things to do in Salzburg and Lake Wolfgang, Austria

More articles about Salzburg

• Delicious food in Salzburg – restaurants and dishes to try
• Hangar-7 in Salzburg – cars, planes, and fine dining
• Riding the Schafburgbahn steam train – St Wolfgang in Austria

My thanks to the the Austrian Tourism Office UK for sponsoring* our trip to Salzburg and Wolfgangsee

* More info on my policies page

Photo Credits: Ice caves by Inspiration Point Studio, Salt mines by Victor Wong

This article is originally published at Heatheronhertravels.com

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