5 must-see places in Salzburg + Guide to visiting the city of "The Sound of Music"

Many years ago I traveled for the first time to Salzburg and I loved it.

And on this second visit I have been able to rediscover the city and get to know a part of Salzburg that almost no one visits, which is impressive.

The Austrian city of Salzburg is a city that I find beautiful.

Un baroque style historic center perfectly preserved, Heritage awarded by the UNESCO, medieval fortresses, palaces, gardens, caves, lakes in the surrounding area and an ideal location for nature excursions.

And, of course, the Mozart's house and the place where it was recorded “The Sound of Music", or as this film is known in Spain, "Smiles and tears".

If you're here, it means you're planning a trip to the city, and I want to help you enjoy it as much as we did.

And I warn you that I'm not only going to focus on Salzburg city, because there are several sites in the surrounding area which are awesome.

It's essential that you understand some aspects of trip planning that I think will be helpful for you to know.

Best time to travel to Salzburg

• For me, the months of September and October They are definitely the best, less crowded, pleasant weather and if you're lucky, you can start seeing the autumn colors.

• Another good time, in my opinion, is spring, especially April and MayWinter may not be over yet, and with so much nature, I warn you that you may have allergies, like me, but the temperature is usually pleasant.

• If I give you my honest opinion, avoid July-August if you don't like crowds. It's high season and coincides with the Salzburg Festival  Which makes everything more expensive. If these are the only months you have to travel, don't miss this one; you'll love it.

   

   

• And then there is the issue of traveling to Salzburg in winter. It seems to me that a city like Salzburg has a lot of charm with snowThe good thing is that you have the christmas markets, and the bad thing is that it can be quite cold.

How to get to Salzburg

Depending on your origin, you will have to consider some options or others, and I will explain:

• PlaneSalzburg doesn't have a large airport with great connections and high flight frequencies. Furthermore, they vary greatly depending on the time of year. I'll tell you more, I didn't fly to Salzburg. There was a direct flight from Alicante, but not from Madrid on those days.

• TrainThe train is a very good option for traveling to Salzburg. I used it both on the way there and back. On the way there, I flew to Vienna, then took the train to Salzburg (2:20 minutes), and on the way back, I went to Munich (1:28 minutes).

How to get from Salzburg Airport to the city center

• Hay Local buses (lines 2 and 10) connect the airport to Salzburg Central Station (Hauptbahnhof). The journey takes approximately 20 minutes.

• You can also book a transfer It picks you up at the airport and takes you directly to your hotel without any hassle. A little more expensive but much more convenient, so it's up to you.

Transportation within the city

• The historic center is small and can be explored on foot. But if you need to, Salzburg has a very well-functioning bus and trolleybus network to get you to more remote areas. I walked everywhere and only needed transportation for a few sections.

• There is also the Salzburg Card, which includes transportation. We had it because once you visit two places, it's already worth it, and you also get transportation included.

Origins and history of Salzburg

My goal with this article isn't simply to give you information about Salzburg; any artificial intelligence can do that.

The idea is that by reading this article, you'll understand the city well and thus, when you visit it, you'll be able to enjoy it as I did.

Where does Salzburg come from?

El name of Salzburg begins in the year 696, when the Bishop Rupert of Franconia, which was part of Bavaria today, comes here.

At that time there was a city in ruins, abandoned by the Romans, which was called JobabonThat was the original name of Salzburg.

Entonces Rupert find the ruins of a Roman castle that was called Salzburg and translates that name into German. That's why it's now called Salzburg: “salt” and burg, which means castle or fortress.

The current castle, which I will tell you about in more detail later, dates back to 1077, but the name Salzburg It already existed since 696.

The original castle no longer exists. In its place today is the Nonnberg Abbey, a convent of Benedictine nuns founded in 714.

There, a small Catholic community began to form, gradually gaining more power thanks to the wealth of salt.

Salt, the White Gold of Salzburg

Salt was key to this city, as it has been for many years for many cities around the world.

It's a pattern I see repeated around the world. If someone tells me a city had or mined salt, I immediately think it was most likely rich. It's something that doesn't usually happen.

250 million years ago, there was a sea in this area. The sea dried up, leaving behind salt. And when the Alps formed, that salt was trapped beneath the rock.

The first to discover salt here before the Romans were the Celts, about 3.000 years ago, on the outskirts of Salzburg, in Hallstatt.

Its the oldest salt mines in the world and it is estimated that they are about 7.000 years old

And the best thing is that are still operationalAnd you can visit them!

In fact, the entire region is filled with salt. All the rocks have salt.

They used the Salzach river, which means “river of salt”, to transport and sell it to countries in Central Europe that did not have access to the sea, as we do, for example, in Alicante.

They sold it for such a high price that Salzburg became the most powerful city in Central Europe in terms of money.

Everyone wanted to live here, musicians, architects… everyone wanted to work for the archbishopric.

And an example is the father of Mozart, who lived in Augsburg and came to Salzburg because there was money here, there was salt… that’s where the word “salary” also comes from.

Prince archbishops, religion, power and pleasure in Salzburg

Over time, the Catholic archbishopric gained power. Salzburg was a small country, tucked away in the Alps, protected by Rome and the empire.

They sent money (salt, the "white gold") to Rome, and since Rome was far away, they decided to begin self-governing. They did whatever they wanted, literally.

That's why it's called "Little Rome" or "Rome of the Alps."

For example, the archbishop Wolf Dietrich He had a mistress and 15 children, and he ordered the construction of palaces of pleasure and celebration.

Today, that is part of the beauty of Salzburg, since there are more than 50 palaces of those archiepiscopal families and more than 50 Catholic churches.

Together with the Vatican, Salzburg is one of the few places in Europe where there hasn't been a war in a thousand years..

From the year 696 until 1803 he lived in peace, until in 1803 he arrived Napoleon and ended that good life.

End of the archbishopric and annexation to Austria

It was the end of the ecclesiastical country, because Napoleon He gave Salzburg to the residents for six years.

After Congress of Vienna In 1815, a political decision was made: since Salzburg was right on the border with Austria, Austria was given the best part, including Salzburg.

Since 1816, the city has been part of Austria by political decision.

What to see and do in Salzburg (our experience)

Here comes one of the most important parts of any trip. These are My must-sees in Salzburg.

Hohensalzburg fortress 

In my opinion, the most striking site in Salzburg is undoubtedly the castle. Located at the top of the Mount Festungsberg, dominates the city.

That ancient Roman castle that gave rise to Salzburg was not located on a hill like the current castle, but on a small hill.

It is where today is the Nonnberg Abbey (“Nonn” means nun, and “berg” is mountain).

What we see today as the fortress was built in 1077 with a very clear objective: to protect the money and territory of the prince-archbishops of Salzburg.

In its early days, the fortress was just the central part of the hill, surrounded by a wall. Over time, it grew.

The most notable expansion was in 1500, under the archbishop humorously nicknamed “Leonardo del Nabo”, whose coat of arms had… a beet.

As a joke, we tourists are told: “you have to look for Leonardo’s turnip.”

Over the centuries, it has been rebuilt several times, adapting to the various wars that raged across Europe, while Salzburg tried to stay out of all the chaos.

Is fifth largest castle fortress in Europe., and the tenth largest in the world.

Was the Salzburg fortress ever attacked?

Surprisingly, was never formally attacked.

The only revolt occurred in 1525, when peasants, angered by the archbishop's high beer tax, brought a cannon to the castle and fired a few shots. It was the only attack it suffered.

Who lived inside?

Until around 1600, the fortress was a city in itself, with the capacity to shelter between one thousand and two thousand people.

The archbishop's workers lived there and everything was prepared to survive an invasion.

They had food, beds and most importantly, water, which was collected in cisterns using gutters.

They lived high up until a great fire around 1598-1600. They felt safer down below and built a new residence right on the Residence Square, where today is the largest museum in the city and where, by the way, traditional costumes are sold in case you are interested.

The city didn't take refuge in the fortress. Only the archbishop's workers had access.

I recommend that you do one guided tour of the castle, because this is one of those things that if I hadn't visited with a guide, I wouldn't have found out about details like these.

Mirabell Palace and Gardens (Schloss Mirabell & Mirabellgarten), the setting for “The Sound of Music”

Cinema, and more specifically the film “The Sound of Music”, has made the Mirabell Palace and its gardens one of the most interesting and visited sites in the city.

And I was actually surprised by how many people from all over the world came here for the film.

I noticed it especially in the gardens where the famous song “Do-Re-Mi”, where children Von Trapp y María They sing and dance around the Pegasus FountainIf you've seen the movie, you know what I'm talking about.

And if not, it's okay because, as a fact that caught my attention, almost no Austrian saw the film at the time; it was a worldwide phenomenon everywhere except in their own country.

The Mirabell complex is divided into the palace on one side and the gardens on the other.

El palace It was designed in the Baroque style and built in 1606 by the Prince-Archbishop Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau as a symbol of his love for his lover.

Over the years the palace was renamed Mirabell, derived from the Italian “mirabile” (admirable) and “as youthful " (beautiful)

Although today we see the palace within Salzburg's historic center, it was actually located outside the city walls. It currently houses the town hall.

The most beautiful thing is actually its gardens, very well maintained with several spaces, such as the Garden of the Dwarfs that appears in the film.

It's an ideal place to stroll and enjoy views of the city center and the fortress. And in case you were wondering, it's free to visit.

Getreidegasse and other beautiful streets in Salzburg

In my mind, in the memory I had of my previous trip to Salzburg, there were the baroque streets full of wrought iron signs.

And although it is true that there are several in the historic center, when I arrived in the center of Salzburg I went first to look for the one I liked the most years ago and the one that I remembered was the most emblematic of all, Getreidegasse.

Getreidegasse It is the most famous street in Salzburg and the soul of its historic center.

Your name means "grain street", because in the Middle Ages It was the axis where grain was traded and artisan workshops were concentrated. Since then, it has been the busiest route in the city, packed with merchants and travelers.

Tall, narrow houses, with baroque facades from the 16th to the 18th century, a period in which the wealth of salt made Salzburg a prosperous city.

The most characteristic of Getreidegass, and what draws our attention the most, are its wrought iron signs.

In the beginning, since many customers could not read, businesses were identified with symbols: scissors for tailors, boots for shoemakers, horseshoes for blacksmiths.

Over time, they became increasingly elaborate, becoming true works of art.

One thing I find brutal on the part of those who set the rules in the city is that even today, modern brands are required to maintain one of these signs, which explains why here you will find up to a McDonald's with a golden baroque logo.

Mozart's Birthplace

The most visited place is number 9: the Mozart's Birthplace, where he was born in 1756.

Today is a museum which displays objects, instruments and memories from his childhood, and gives the street a unique cultural weight.

I didn't go this time, but there's the information if you're a music fan, especially a Mozart fan.

But Getreidegasse isn't alone. Salzburg preserves several sister streets, equally steeped in history and charm:

• On the other side of the river, the Linzer Gasse It was the old route to Linz and Bohemia. Today it's pedestrianized, with shops, restaurants, and a quieter atmosphere than Getreidegasse, but just as picturesque.

• Very close to the cathedral, the Goldgasse It owes its name to the medieval goldsmiths and jewelers who worked there. It's a narrow, elegant street with small shops and a more artisanal atmosphere.

• La Judengasse, an old street in the Jewish quarter, retains the appearance of a narrow, shaded guild street, connecting with important squares such as the Residenzplatz.

• And the stone alley, perhaps the oldest, at the foot of the Kapuzinerberg, was the medieval route to Italy. With its simple houses and ancient walls, it maintains an authentic, less touristy feel, with local bars and hidden corners.

One thing I really like is that many houses hide interior passages (Durchhäuser), which lead to hidden courtyards and connect to other streets, a very typical feature of Salzburg.

I recommend that if you see one of these alleys, you go explore them because you'll find some very pretty corners.

Residenzplatz, the great square of Salzburg

La Residenzplatz It's the most majestic square in Salzburg and is located right in front of the cathedral. It was very helpful for me to find my way around the Old Town.

It was created in the 16th century by the prince-archbishop Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau, who demolished medieval houses to open up a large Renaissance space worthy of his power.

In the center, a monumental baroque fountain with sea horses and mythological figures, considered one of the most beautiful in Europe.

Around there are several important buildings for the city such as Alte Residenz, residence of the archbishops, the New residence, with its chime bells and its own cathedral, which completes a solemn and grand setting.

Compared to Mozartplatz, the Residenzplatz has a very different character.

Residenzplatz reflects the political and religious strength of the prince-archbishops.

Here everything transmits monumentality and power, in contrast to the commemorative and more human air of Mozartplatz, the nearby square dedicated to the composer.

The famous “Water Games” of the Hellbrunn Palace 

Although this visit could be included among the excursions to take from Salzburg, because it's very close to the city, I'm telling you about it because I think it's a must-do if you travel to Salzburg. It will only take half a day.

Hidden among the forests and hills on the outskirts of Salzburg is one of Austria's most magical places.

El Hellbrunn Palace It is not just any castle, it is a madness or eccentricity of the rulers of the time.

If you don't know anything and you arrive at the palace, you might think it's just another castle visit like many other cities have, but as soon as you step inside, the surprises begin.

Here the water comes to life, the statues play with you, and the fountains surprise you when you least expect it.

El Hellbrunn Palace It was built between 1613 and 1619 by order of the prince-archbishop Markus Sittikus von Hohenems, as a summer residence and leisure place.

It had no bedrooms, because it was never intended for living, it was a space for celebrate, rest and enjoy.

The Italian architect Santino Solari (also responsible for the Salzburg Cathedral) designed this set that blends art, nature and humor in a unique way.

What is the visit to Hellbrunn Palace like?

The great attraction of Hellbrunn lies in its trick fountains, fountains, grottos and sculptures that hide secret hydraulic mechanisms.

It is designed so that as you walk through the palace gardens, you will be continually surprised, because there are fountains and jets of water everywhere.

The idea is crazy, and what I liked most is that the first time you visit, you have the experience any visitor would have had at that time. I warn you, you're sure to get wet.

Everything was devised by Markus Sittikus to surprise your guests and make them laugh.

Just when you think you're safe, a jet of water leaps out from under your feet, or from a statue, or from places you don't expect.

It reminded me of a water park, but from medieval times.

Some of the most striking corners are:

• 💧 The Archbishop's Table: a stone dining room with garden seating designed for dining with guests without them knowing anything, so that when the mechanism is activated, jets of water begin to come out from all sides with the idea of ​​​​wetting the diners.

• (I.e. The Mechanical Theatre: a mini city in motion with more than 200 figures animated by the power of water.

• 🇧🇷 The caves and mythological figures, with natural lighting and baroque details that seem taken from a storybook.

• (I.e. The Stone Theater, a natural scenery carved into the rock.

And all this is in the Hellbrunn Park, which extends for more than 60 hectares of gardens, paths, ponds and forests.

Here you can take a leisurely stroll or have a picnic overlooking the mountain. Hellbrunner Mountain.

🎟️Practical tips for visiting Hellbrunn Palace

We rented a bike in Salzburg and rode along the riverbed on a flat and beautiful route. It took about 30 minutes. And even though it was raining the entire way, the experience was amazing.

But if you don't want to cycle, you can also take bus number 25 from the center to the "Hellbrunn" stop.

If you arrive by car, there is free parking next to the palace.

We recommend that you allow about 2 or 3 hours for your visit.

The gardens are free, but if you want to see the water features, you have to sign up for a guided tour that lasts about 50 minutes.

• • Approx. price: €15 adults / €8 children from April to October (water games closed in winter).

Recommended excursions near Salzburg

Salzburg is a beautiful city, but if you are going to visit it, I recommend that you sign up for some of these nature excursions which are well worth a visit in the surroundings of Salzburg.

I tell you more, in my opinion, you should consider some of them as a must-see.

If you have three days to visit Salzburg, dedicate at least one day to one of them, although the ideal would be to extend your trip a little longer so you can do at least two. And now you'll see why.

Summarizing the visits would be:

• Schafbergbahn mountain railway and the lake area, for me, the best of all
• Eisriesenwelt Ice Caves, a wonder of nature
• Hallein Salt Mines, which made Salzburg rich
• Hallstatt, the most beautiful village in Austria

Each excursion requires a full day. Even the train and the lakes, I'd dedicate two days.

As a personal opinion, the mountain train with the lakes I would definitely include them on the trip. It's a spectacular introduction to the Alpine landscapes without taking a long route.

Suggested itineraries for visiting Salzburg

Depending on the time you have on your trip to Salzburg, this is what I recommend:

• Day 1 : Hohensalzburg Fortress + Getreidegasse and Mozart House + Cathedral/Residenz + Mirabell Gardens + Old Town Walk

• Day 2If you're missing anything I've listed, save it for the second day. Also, include Hellbrunn Palace in the morning or afternoon.

• Day 3: PFor the third day I would definitely recommend Wolfgangsee and the Schafbergbahn mountain railwaySpend the day there, viewing the lakes from the boat, and then take the train up to the impressive summit. Spend the night there.

• 4 or more days: Excursion to Hallstatt or the Werfen Ice Mines, more leisurely walks.

What to eat in Salzburg and where, recommended restaurants

We've eaten at many places in Salzburg, but these are the ones I recommend:

Augustiner Bräu Mülln, a monastery brewery

Augustiner Bräu Mülln is a brewery in a monastery where they eat typical Austrian dishes in a brutal place.

That alone should make it a must-see. It's one of my favorite places in Salzburg, whether you want to go for a meal, a drink, or just to hang out.

Beer is served as it was centuries ago, in ceramic mugs and straight from the barrel.

Founded by monks in 1621, the Augustiner Bräu Mülln It is much more than a brewery, it is a Salzburg institution where time seems to have stopped.

I advise you to try the Laberkase, horseradish, the pork sausage in various forms and the potato saladAlthough I loved all the dishes.

• Price approx 15-25 Euros

Stadtalm Restaurant with views of the fortress

La Stadtalm It is a restaurant and small hostel located in the Mönchsberg, with the best panoramic views of Salzburg.

Founded in the 19th century, it combines history, nature and good alpine food.

Its terrace is amazing; I think it's the best viewpoint in all of Salzburg.

You can go up walking, as we did after visiting the castle, or in the Mönchsberg elevator.

We didn't do it, but apparently you can also sleep there in simple rooms with rustic charm. A perfect spot to experience Salzburg from above.

I loved it duck salad from this place. Also highly recommended is the g.

• Price approx 25-35 Euros

Zum Fideler Affe

Zum Fideler Affe is a traditional restaurant in a brewery format in the heart of Salzburg.

Here we ask for a Snichel comes so typical of central Austria, it was brutal.

There are many more traditional dishes, too, such as g.

• Price approx 20-30 Euros

Where to sleep in Salzburg

There are many places to stay in Salzburg. Obviously, it all depends on your budget.

I'd like to recommend the one we stayed in because it was very well located and the rooms were really cool, as they were themed.

Also, the breakfast restaurant was very good.

Is in the Hotel & Villa Auersperg Salzburg