First time visitors to Salzburg are often awed by the consistent dignity and style of the city’s baroque architecture. And rarely is a city so delicately worked into a dramatic natural setting. Rising above Salzburg’s skyline and visible for kilometres around is the Festung Hohensalzburg, a fortress that sits atop the Mönchsberg mountain and watches over the city.
Below, the Altstadt (Old Town) is dominated by baroque towers and church spires, built by a succession of independent bishops from the 16th to the 18th centuries. This historic centre became a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1996, recognised as an important European ecclesiastical area.
Salzburg is most famous for being the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and, of course, as the setting for The Sound of Music, but the city’s wealth of culture extends beyond that. With Easter and Whitsun festivals, as well as Mozart Week in January and the internationally known Salzburg Festival in summer, this is one of the world’s top festival cities, vying with Vienna as the cultural capital of Austria. Salzburg also hosts renowned Christmas markets in December, when the city is transformed into a winter wonderland, with ice sculptures, ice rinks, music, stalls and copious amounts of Glühwein (mulled wine).
Salzburg and the Salzach River
Sven Brenner/Fotolia
Geography and climate
Salzburg is in the west of central Austria and close to the Bavarian border of Germany, in the northern foothills of the Alps. The city lies between two craggy hills, the Mönchsberg and the Kapuzinerberg, and is divided in two by the Salzach River. This was the life-blood of Salzburg for many centuries, used for transporting salt (Salz), gold and copper mined in the mountains, and bringing much wealth to the city during the Middle Ages. Only a few kilometres from the city centre lies the closest real mountain, the Untersberg (1,853m/6,078ft).
Salzburg is influenced by the alpine climate, and generally has cold, dry, snowy winters and warm summers with a considerable amount of rain. When it rains here, it really pours. The locals call it Schnürlregen – ‘string rain’. Whatever the season, the weather can be turned on its head by the warm south wind known as the Föhn (for more information, click here).
The Salzburg Card
A useful money-saver for the serious sightseer is the Salzburg Card, which allows free use of public transport, including the fortress funicular and sightseeing boat, as well as discounts for various cultural events, tours and excursions. It also serves as an admission ticket to the city’s most important cultural sights, including Mozart’s birthplace, the Hohensalzburg fortress, the DomQuartier Salzburg, the Salzburg Museum and the Museum of Modern Art. Sights outside the town include Hellbrunn Palace, the zoo and the cable-car trip at Untersberg.
Cards are valid for 24, 48 or 72 hours and cost May–Oct €27, €36 or €42, Nov–Apr €24, €32 or €37 – half price for children (6–15 yrs). You can buy the Salzburg Card from hotels, ticket offices and tourist information offices, or visit www.salzburg.info.
Politics and religion
Home to approximately 150,000 people, Salzburg is the capital of the province of the same name (pop. 530,000). It is one of Austria’s youngest provinces, not incorporated into the country until 1816 (it was previously an independent ecclesiastical state). Austria is a federal state made up of nine provinces, each with its own local government. The Regional Assembly of Salzburg, elected every five years by proportional representation, consists of 36 members who have considerable influence over the politics and economics of the region.
While the role of the church in Salzburg is by no means what it was in the era of prince archbishops, the diocese continues to be one of the most important in the Roman Catholic Church, and the archbishop has direct access to the Pope. The Catholic Church remains a powerful local institution – of the city’s 43 churches, 40 of them are Catholic – and owns a lot of land in and around the city, with the final say on where street music, open-air festivals and sporting events can take place. It also has the right to claim a yearly tax from every citizen’s salary to help with its upkeep (this tax also extends to other denominations too). Nevertheless, although more than two-thirds of the population counts themselves as Catholic, not many are regular churchgoers.
Being a Salzburger
Salzburgers have a reputation for being aloof, and intimacy is reserved for their own close social circles. They are conservative in nature, though the younger generation is breaking the mould, becoming more outgoing. But this does not reflect the whole picture, and citizens are in general very friendly towards tourists.
Laws are for obeying in Salzburg: litter is prohibited, jaywalking is not tolerated, crime is almost non-existent and the police operate a zerotolerance policy. This might sound heavy-handed, but walking home at night is usually safe. However, as with most cities, pickpocketing sometimes occurs in crowded places, and you do need to lock up your bicycle.
Downtown Salzburg, near Getreidegasse
donstock/iStockphoto
Salzburgers enjoy a leisurely pace of life. They do a lot of walking and they frequent coffee houses, beer gardens and taverns to relax. There is no sense of urgency here and certainly not the hectic pace that can be felt in other cities of a similar size.
Salzburg is a university town with a good nightlife scene. The main areas for socialising by night are along Rudolfskai, Gstättengasse and Kaigasse, although there are many taverns scattered throughout the city. The Augustiner Brewery is also a must when visiting the city, with its fine beer halls and huge, tree-lined, summer beer garden.
No matter what time of year you visit Salzburg, there is always something happening, from the street-café way of life in the summer to the Christmas markets in the winter. The beauty of the city is enhanced with each season, making Salzburg a perfect year-round destination.