Salzburg • Berchtesgaden, Germany
Salzburg, just over the Austrian border, makes a fun day trip from Munich (1.5 hours by direct train). Thanks to its charmingly preserved Old Town, splendid gardens, Baroque churches, and one of Europe’s largest intact medieval fortresses, Salzburg feels made for tourism. As a musical mecca, the city puts on a huge annual festival, as well as constant concerts. Salzburgers are forever smiling to the tunes of Mozart and The Sound of Music. It’s a city with class. Vagabonds visiting here wish they had nicer clothes.
In the mountains just outside Salzburg is Berchtesgaden, a German alpine town that was once a favorite of Adolf Hitler but today thrills a better class of nature lover.
While Salzburg doesn’t have blockbuster museums, the town itself is a Baroque showpiece of cobbled streets and elegant buildings—a touristy stroller’s delight. If you’re a fan of the movie, allow half a day for the Sound of Music tour, which kills a nest of sightseeing birds with one ticket (city overview, S.O.M. sights, and a fine drive by the lakes).
You’d probably enjoy at least two nights in Salzburg—one to swill beer in an atmospheric local garden and another to attend a concert in a Baroque hall or chapel. Seriously consider one of Salzburg’s many evening musical events, even if you’re not normally a music lover (some are free, while most tickets range from €20 to €40).
When the weather’s good, get out of town to take advantage of the city’s proximity to alpine splendor. Bike down the river or hike across the Mönchsberg, Salzburg’s mini-mountain. Or consider visiting Berchtesgaden, just 15 miles away, in Germany.
A day trip from Salzburg to Hallstatt (the small-town highlight of the Salzkammergut Lake District) is doable by car (1.5 hours each way) but makes for a very long day by public transit (five hours round-trip). An overnight in Hallstatt is better.
Today, eight million tourists crawl Salzburg’s cobbles each year. That’s a lot of Mozart balls—and all that popularity has led to a glut of businesses hoping to catch the tourist dollar. Still, Salzburg is both a must and a joy.
Even without Mozart and the Von Trapps, Salzburg is steeped in history. In about A.D. 700, Bavaria gave Salzburg to Bishop Rupert in return for his promise to Christianize the area. For centuries, Salzburg remained an independent city-state, ruled by prince-archbishops—a cross between a king and a pope, but less powerful than either one. Salzburg’s mighty fortress—looming protectively over the city—helped deter invaders.
At its peak, Salzburg controlled an area about half the size of today’s Austria. Its power was funded by salt—the “white gold” of the day. It’s said one barrel of salt was worth the cost of one house.
Salzburgers enjoy throwing around the names of their obscure prince-archbishops (who built various fanciful palaces and elegant squares), but only one is worth remembering: Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau (1559-1617). It was his vision of making Salzburg a mini-Rome north of the Alps that gave the city an Italian flair and created much of what tourists enjoy today.
Napoleon finally put an end to Salzburg’s independence in 1803 (they handed him the keys to the fortress without putting up a fight). Then, after the fall of Napoleon, Salzburg became part of Austria and was ruled by Vienna.
Thanks in part to its formidable fortress, Salzburg managed to avoid the ravages of war for 1,200 years...until World War II. Allied bombing destroyed much of the city (especially around the train station), but the historic Old Town survived.
Music lovers adore Salzburg, where you can shell out for classy performances...or are just as likely to hear musicians practicing through an open window. The city also has a beautiful setting, wrapped in alpine wonder; a stout castle with great panoramas over cut-glass peaks; a tidy—almost sterile—Old Town of interlocking squares and Baroque domes, giving it a nearly Italian feel; some engaging museums; and, overall, the most accessible taste of Austria you’ll find anywhere.
Salzburg, a city of 150,000 (Austria’s fourth-largest), is divided into old and new. The Old Town (Altstadt), between the Salzach River and Salzburg’s mini-mountain (Mönchsberg), holds nearly all the charm and most of the tourists. The New Town (Neustadt), across the river, has the train station, a few sights and museums, and some good accommodations.
Salzburg has two helpful TIs (main tel. 0662/889-870, www.salzburg.info): at the train station (9:00-18:00, until 19:00 in summer; tel. 0662/8898-7340) and on Mozartplatz in the old center (daily 9:00-18:00, July-Aug often until 19:00, closed Sun in winter; tel. 0662/8898-7330).
At any TI, you can pick up a free city-center map (the €0.70 map has broader coverage and more information on sights and is particularly worthwhile if biking out of town), the free bus map (Liniennetz; shows bus stop names not on the city map), the Salzburg Card brochure (listing sights with current hours and prices), and a bimonthly events guide. Inside the Mozartplatz TI is the privately run Salzburg Ticket Service counter, where you can book concert tickets (see “Music in Salzburg,” here).
Salzburg Card: The TIs sell the Salzburg Card, which covers all public transportation (including the Mönchsberg elevator and funicular to the fortress) and admission to all the city sights (including Hellbrunn Palace and a river cruise). The card can be a convenience and a money-saver if you’ll be seeing lots of sights (€24/24 hours, €32/48 hours, €37/72 hours, half-price for kids ages 6-15, www.salzburg.info). As Salzburg’s major sights are pricey, busy sightseers can save plenty. Do the math on the places you want to see to evaluate whether the card makes financial sense.
The Salzburg station has all the services you need: train information, tourist information, luggage lockers and a pay WC (both by platform 5), and a handy Spar supermarket. Ticket counters and ticket machines for both the Austrian and German railways are off the main hall. To find the TI, follow the green-and-white information signs (the blue-and-white ones lead to a railway “InfoPoint”). Next to the train station is Forum 1, a sizable shopping mall.
Getting downtown from the station is a snap. Simply step outside, find bus platform C (labeled Zentrum-Altstadt), and buy a ticket from the machine (€2 Stundenkarte). Buses #1, #3, #5, and #6 all do the same route into the city center before diverging. Bus #25 (from platform B) follows the same path to the center and continues to Hellbrunn Palace. For most sights and Old Town hotels, get off just after the bridge (either Rathaus or Hanuschplatz, depending on the bus). For my recommended New Town hotels, get off at Makartplatz, just before the bridge.
Taking a taxi from the train station into town doesn’t make much sense, as it’s expensive (about €8 to most hotels).
To walk downtown (15 minutes), turn left as you leave the station, and walk straight down Rainerstrasse, which leads under the tracks past Mirabellplatz, turning into Dreifaltigkeitsgasse. From here, you can turn left onto Linzer Gasse for many of my recommended New Town hotels, or cross the river to the Old Town. For a slightly longer but more dramatic approach, leave the station the same way but follow the tracks to the river, turn left, and walk the riverside path toward the hilltop fortress.
Mozart never drove in Salzburg’s Old Town, and neither should you. Carefully heed the rising bollards signs at the entrance to pedestrian zones—they mean business. (The hydraulic bollards are designed to essentially destroy the car of anyone who tries to sneak through behind a car with permission.)
The best place to park is the park-and-ride lot at the Alpensiedlung bus stop, near the Salzburg Süd autobahn exit. Coming on A-8 from Munich, cross the border into Austria (for tips on driving from Germany to Salzburg, see “Route Tips for Drivers” on here). Take A-10 toward Hallein, and then take the next exit (Salzburg Süd) in the direction of Anif. Stay on the Alpenstrasse (road 150) for about 2.5 miles, following P+R signs, to arrive at the park-and-ride (€5/24 hours). From the parking lot, catch bus #3 or #8 into town (for ticket info, see “Getting Around Salzburg,” later). Alternatively, groups of up to five people can buy a combo-ticket from the parking lot attendant, which includes the 24-hour parking fee and a 24-hour transit pass for the whole group (€14, group must stay together).
If you don’t want to park-and-ride, head to the easiest, cheapest, most central parking lot: the 1,500-car Altstadtgarage, in the tunnel under the Mönchsberg (€18/day, note your slot number and which of the twin lots you’re in). Your hotel may provide discounted parking passes. If staying in Salzburg’s New Town, the Mirabell-Congress garage makes more sense than the Altstadtgarage (see here for directions).
Salzburg’s airport sits just behind its Mönchsberg mountain (airport code: SZG, tel. 0662/85800, www.salzburg-airport.com). A taxi into town runs about €15. To take a bus, cross the parking lot to the row of bus stops: Bus #10 goes to the Old Town (20 minutes); bus #2 goes to the train station, then terminates at Mirabellplatz (near several of my New Town accommodations; about 30 minutes). For either bus, buy a €2 Stundenkarte ticket at the machine, or pay the driver €2.60 (each bus runs every 10 minutes, less frequent on Sun).
Welcome to Austria: If calling from a German phone number to an Austrian one, dial 00-43 and then the number (omitting the initial zero). To call from an Austrian phone to a German one, dial 00-49 and then the number (again, omitting the initial zero; see here for dialing instructions). Drivers should note that Austria requires a toll sticker (Vignette) for using its expressways; for details, see “Route Tips for Drivers” on here.
Recommendations Skewed by Kickbacks: Salzburg is addicted to the tourist dollar, and it can never get enough. Virtually all hotels are on the take when it comes to concert and tour recommendations, influenced more by their potential kickback than by what’s best for you. Take any tour or concert advice with a grain of salt. If you book a concert through your hotel, you’ll probably lose the discount I’ve negotiated for my readers who book directly.
Festivals: The Salzburg Festival runs each year from mid-July to the end of August (for more details on this and other big annual musical events, see here). In mid-September, the St. Rupert’s Fair (Ruperti-Kirtag), celebrating Salzburg’s favorite saint, fills the sky with fireworks and Salzburg’s Old Town with music and food stands (www.rupertikirtag.at). And from mid-November throughout Advent, Salzburg boasts a handful of Christmas markets—the biggest sprawling across Domplatz and Residenzplatz (www.christkindlmarkt.co.at), with smaller ones up at the fortress (mostly just Fri-Sun), on Mirabellplatz (daily), and elsewhere around town (www.weihnachtsmarkt-salzburg.at).
Wi-Fi: The city has free hotspots at Mirabell Gardens, Mozartplatz, and Kapitelplatz (choose Salzburg surft! and click Agree).
Post Office: The one at the train station is open long hours daily. There’s another branch in the heart of the Old Town, in the New Residenz (closed Sat-Sun).
Laundry: A handy launderette with a few self-serve machines is at Paris-Lodron-Strasse 16, at the corner of Wolf-Dietrich-Strasse, near my recommended Linzer Gasse hotels—take bus #2, #4, or #21 to the Wolf-Dietrich-Strasse stop (self-service or same-day full-service, Mon-Fri 7:30-18:00, Sat 8:00-12:00, closed Sun, tel. 0662/876-381). If they’re closed, head for Green and Clean, three stops from the train station on the #1 or #2 bus; board from platform D at station, get off at the Gaswerkgasse stop (daily 6:00-22:00, Ignaz-Harrer-Strasse 32, www.greenandclean.at). See the map on here for locations.
Cinema: An art-house movie theater, Das Kino plays films in their original language (a block off the river and Linzer Gasse on Steingasse, tel. 0662/873-100, www.daskino.at).
Smoking Policies: Unlike Germany, which can implement sweeping reforms overnight, conservative Austria has been slow to embrace the smoke-free movement. Big restaurants must offer smoke-free zones (and smoking zones, if they choose). Smaller places choose to be either smoking or nonsmoking, indicated by red or green stickers on the door. A wider ban on smoking in bars and restaurants may go into effect by the time you visit.
Market Days: Pop-up farmers markets are a fun local tradition and ideal for picking up picnic supplies or artisan trinkets. The Grünmarkt at Universitätsplatz in the Old Town runs Monday-Friday (7:00-19:00) and expands onto Wiener-Philharmoniker Gasse on Saturday (7:00-13:00). Around the Andräkirche and Mirabellplatz in the New Town on Thursday (5:00-13:00) is the huge Schrannenmarkt, Salzburg’s longest running market, dating from 1906. On summer weekends, a string of craft booths with fun goodies for sale stretches along the river.
Morning Joggers: Salzburg is a great place for jogging. Within minutes you can be huffing and puffing “The hills are alive...” in green meadows outside of town. The obvious best bets in town are through the Mirabell Gardens along its riverbank pedestrian lanes.
Public Swimming Pool: The Freibad Leopoldskron complex, a few miles out of town and across the lake from Leopoldskron Palace (of Sound of Music fame), is a first-class place for a swim while surrounded by nature (and it’s on the hop-on, hop-off bus route because of the palace’s connection to the movie).
By Bus: Most visitors take at least a couple of rides on Salzburg’s extensive bus system. Everything in this book is within the Kernzone (core zone). I’ve listed prices for buying tickets from the driver; you’ll pay less if you buy them ahead at a Tabak/Trafik shop or ticket machine (these are scarce, but look around tram stops at major hubs—such as the main train station). These are your options:
• Basic single-ride ticket (Einzelfahrt): €2.60 (at a machine, select Stundenkarte)
• Ticket for 1-2 stops in a single direction (Kurzstrecke): €1.30
• “09/17” ticket (valid Mon-Sat 9:00-17:00, not valid Sun or holidays and not sold on the bus): €1.50
• 24-hour ticket (24-Stundenkarte): €5.70
• One-week pass (Wochenkarte, valid 7 calendar days, not sold on the bus): €15.50—usually pays for itself if you’re staying at least four days
Remember to validate your ticket after purchase (insert it in the machines on board).
Get oriented using the free bus map (Liniennetz), available at the TI. Many lines converge at Hanuschplatz, on the Old Town side of the river, between the Makartsteg and Staatsbrücke bridges. To get from the Old Town to the train station, catch bus #1 from the inland side of Hanuschplatz. From the other side of the river, find the Makartplatz/Theatergasse stop and catch bus #1, #3, #5, or #6. Busy stops like Hanuschplatz and Mirabellplatz have several bus shelters; look for your bus number.
For more information, visit www.svv-info.at, call 0662/632-900 (answered 24/7), or visit the Obus transit info office downstairs from bus platform C in front of the train station (Mon-Fri 6:00-18:00, Sat 7:00-15:00, closed Sun).
By Bike: Salzburg is great fun for cyclists. A’Velo Radladen rents bikes in the Old Town, just outside the TI on Mozartplatz, and offers 10 percent off to anyone with this book—ask (€12/4 hours, €18/24 hours, more for electric or mountain bikes; daily 9:30-18:00, possibly later in summer, shorter hours off-season and in bad weather; passport number for security deposit, mobile 0676-435-5950, run by George). Some of my recommended hotels and pensions also rent or loan bikes to guests.
By Funicular and Elevator: The Old Town is connected to the top of the Mönchsberg mountain (and great views) via funicular and elevator. The funicular (Festungsbahn) whisks you up into the imposing Hohensalzburg Fortress (included in castle admission, goes every few minutes—for details, see here). The elevator (Mönchsberg Aufzug) on the west side of the Old Town lifts you to the recommended Stadtalm Café, the Museum of Modern Art and its chic café, wooded paths, and more great views (see here for details).
By Buggy: The horse buggies (Fiaker) that congregate at Residenzplatz charge €44 for a 25-minute trot around the Old Town (www.fiaker-salzburg.at).
Any day of the week, you can take a one-hour guided walk of the Old Town without a reservation—just show up at the TI on Mozartplatz and pay the guide. The tours are informative and in English (€10, daily at 12:15 and 14:00, tel. 0662/8898-7330).
To save money (and probably learn more), use this chapter’s self-guided walk or 
download my free Salzburg Town Walk audio tour (see here).
Salzburg has many good guides. Two I have worked with and enjoyed are Sabine Rath (€160/2 hours, €220/4 hours, €330/8 hours, mobile 0664-201-6492, www.tourguide-salzburg.com, info@tourguide-salzburg.com) and Anna Stellnberger (€150/2 hours, €220/4 hours, €320/8 hours, mobile 0664-787-5177, anna.stellnberger@aon.at). Salzburg has many other good guides (for a list, see www.salzburgguides.at).
City Cruise Line (a.k.a. Stadt Schiff-Fahrt) runs a basic 40-minute round-trip river cruise with recorded commentary (€15, 8/day July-Aug, 5-6/day May-June and Sept, 2/day April and Oct-Nov, no boats Dec-March). For a longer cruise, ride to Hellbrunn (€18, or €28 includes palace admission and a ride back to the Old Town on a double-decker bus—a good value, daily April-Nov at 14:00, 40 minutes one-way). Boats leave from the Old Town side of the river just downstream of the Makartsteg bridge (tel. 0662/825-858, www.salzburghighlights.at). While views can be cramped, passengers are treated to a cute finale just before docking, when the captain twirls a fun “waltz.”
While most of Salzburg’s top sights are concentrated in its walkable Old Town, several are scattered around the city—making a hop-on, hop-off bus tour practical here. I’d skip the blue line, which mostly hits walkable sights, and opt for the yellow line, which stretches into the outskirts (Hellbrunn Palace and several Sound of Music sights). Both have simple and sleepy recorded commentary, including (on the yellow line) a Sound of Music track (one line: €18/1 day, €21/2 days; both lines: €23/1 day, €26/2 days; includes all-day transit pass for city buses, both routes run 2/hour, buy tickets and start tour at Mirabellplatz 2, tel. 0662/881-616, www.salzburg-sightseeingtours.at). To see the countryside, consider their green line, which makes a 2.5-hour loop into the Salzkammergut Lake District (€25/all day, 5/day).
This can be an efficient, fun way to cover a lot of ground. Choose among the one-hour basic city tour (€35), the 1.5-hour version that adds a trip up the Mönchsberg mountain (€49), or the two-hour version that also heads into the nearby countryside (€65). Reserve ahead (3/day, daily June and Aug-Sept; Wed-Sun March-May and Oct; no tours July and Nov-Feb; office near recommended New Town hotels at Wolf-Dietrich-Strasse 3, tel. 0676/674-4425, www.segway-salzburg.at).
Salzburg is the joyful setting of The Sound of Music. The Broadway musical and 1965 movie tell the story of a stern captain who hires a governess for his unruly children and ends up marrying her. Though the movie took plenty of Hollywood liberties (see “The Sound of Music Debunked” sidebar), it’s based on the actual Von Trapp family from Austria. They really did come from Salzburg. Maria really was a governess who became the captain’s wife. They did sing in the Festival Hall, they did escape from the Nazis, and they ended up after the war in Vermont, where Maria passed away in 1987. The movie screens nightly at the recommended International Youth Hostel (nonguests welcome; details on here).
Salzburg has a number of Sound of Music sights—mostly locations where the movie was shot, but also some places associated with the real Von Trapps:
• The Mirabell Gardens, with its arbor and Pegasus statue, where the kids sing “Do-Re-Mi.”
• The Festival Hall, where the real-life Von Trapps performed, and where (in the movie) they sing “Edelweiss.”
• St. Peter’s Cemetery, the inspiration for the scene where the family hides from Nazi guards (it was actually filmed on a Hollywood set).
• Nonnberg Abbey, where the nuns sing “How Do You Solve a Problem like Maria?”
• Leopoldskron Palace, which serves as the Von Trapps’ idyllic lakeside home in the movie (though it wasn’t their actual home).
Rather than visit the real-life sights from the life of Maria von Trapp and family, most tourists want to see the places where Hollywood chose to film this fanciful story. Local guides are happy not to burst any S.O.M. pilgrim’s bubble, but keep these points in mind:
• “Edelweiss” is not a cherished Austrian folk tune or national anthem. Like all the “Austrian” music in The S.O.M., it was composed for Broadway by Rodgers and Hammerstein. It was the last composition that the famed team wrote together, as Hammerstein died in 1960—nine months after the musical opened.
• The S.O.M. implies that Maria was devoutly religious throughout her life, but Maria’s foster parents raised her as a socialist and atheist. Maria discovered her religious calling while studying to be a teacher. After completing school, she joined the convent not as a nun, but as a novitiate (that is, she hadn’t taken her vows yet).
• Maria’s position was not as governess to all the children, as portrayed in the musical, but specifically as governess and teacher for the Captain’s second-oldest daughter, also called Maria, who was bedridden with rheumatic fever.
• The Captain didn’t run a tight domestic ship. In fact, his seven children were as unruly as most. But he did use a whistle to call them—each kid was trained to respond to a certain pitch.
• Though the Von Trapp family did have seven children, the show changed all their names and even their genders. As an adult, Rupert, the eldest child, responded to the often-asked question, “Which one are you?” with “I’m Liesl!” Maria and the Captain later had three more children together.
• The family didn’t escape by hiking to Switzerland (which is a five-hour drive away). Rather, they pretended to go on one of their frequent mountain hikes. With only the possessions in their backpacks, they “hiked” all the way to the train station (it was at the edge of their estate) and took a train to Italy. The movie scene showing them climbing into Switzerland was filmed near Berchtesgaden, Germany...home to Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest, and certainly not a smart place to flee to.
• The actual Von Trapp family house exists...but it’s not the one in the film. The mansion in the movie is actually two different buildings—one used for the front, the other for the back. The interiors were filmed on Hollywood sets. And the much-vaunted “Sixteen Going on Seventeen” gazebo you’ll see at Hellbrunn Palace was built just for the movie, then moved twice to reach its current location.
• For the film, Boris Levin designed a reproduction of the Nonnberg Abbey courtyard so faithful to the original (down to its cobblestones and stained-glass windows) that many still believe the cloister scenes were really shot at the abbey. And no matter what you hear in Salzburg, the graveyard scene (in which the Von Trapps hide from the Nazis) was also filmed on the Fox lot.
• In 1956, a German film producer offered Maria $10,000 for the rights to her book. She asked for royalties, too, and a share of the profits. The agent claimed that German law forbids film companies from paying royalties to foreigners (Maria had by then become a US citizen). She agreed to the contract and unknowingly signed away all film rights to her story. Only a few weeks later, he offered to pay immediately if she would accept $9,000 in cash. Because it was more money than the family had seen in all their years of singing, she accepted the deal. Later, she discovered the agent had swindled them—no such law existed.
• Rodgers, Hammerstein, and other producers gave the Von Trapps a percentage of the royalties, even though they weren’t required to—but it was a fraction of what they otherwise would have earned. But Maria wasn’t bitter. She said, “The great good the film and the play are doing to individual lives is far beyond money.”
• The Summer Riding School’s iconic arcaded stage, the setting for the Von Trapp family’s final public performance in the movie.
• Hellbrunn Palace gardens, now home to the famous gazebo where Liesl, the Von Trapp’s oldest daughter, sings the words, “I am sixteen going on seventeen.”
There are many more sights—the horse pond, the wedding church in Mondsee, the fountain in Residenzplatz. Since they’re scattered throughout greater Salzburg, taking a tour is the best way to see them efficiently.
I took a S.O.M. tour skeptically (as part of my research)—and enjoyed it. The bus tour version includes a quick general city tour, hits the S.O.M. spots, and shows you a lovely stretch of the Salzkammergut Lake District. Warning: Many think rolling through the Austrian countryside with 30 Americans singing “Doe, a deer...” is pretty schmaltzy. Locals don’t understand all the commotion (many have never seen the movie). Guides are professional, but can be (understandably) jaded.
Two companies do S.O.M. tours by bus (Bob’s and Panorama), while a third company does a bike version. It’s best to reserve ahead. Note: Your hotel will be eager to call to reserve for you—to get their commission—but you won’t get the discount I’ve negotiated.
Minibus Option: Most of Bob’s Special Tours use an eight-seat minibus (and occasionally a 20-seat bus) and therefore promote a more laid-back camaraderie with your fellow S.O.M. pilgrims, and waste less time loading and unloading. Online bookings close three days prior to the tour date—after that, email, call, or stop by the office to reserve (€48 for adults—€43 with this book if you pay cash and book directly, €43 for kids 7-15 and students with ID, €38 for kids 6 and under—includes required car seat but must reserve in advance; daily at 9:00 and 14:00 year-round, tours leave from Bob’s office along the river just east of Mozartplatz at Rudolfskai 38, tel. 0662/849-511, mobile 0664-541-7492, www.bobstours.com, office@bobstours.com). Nearly all of Bob’s tours stop for a fun luge ride in Fuschl am See when the weather is dry (mountain bobsled-€4.80 extra, generally April-Oct, confirm beforehand).
Big-Bus Option: Panorama Tours uses larger buses that depart from their smart kiosk at Mirabellplatz daily at 9:15 and 14:00 year-round (€45, €5 discount for S.O.M. tours with this book if you pay in cash, book by calling 0662/874-029 or 0662/883-2110, discount not valid for online reservations, www.panoramatours.com). While they lack the personal touch of Bob’s, Panorama’s big buses have a higher vantage point, and the guides have a more polished (some might say too polished) spiel.
Bike Tours by “Fräulein Maria” offers some exercise—and much better access to the in-town sights, which are skipped or viewed from afar on the bus tours. Meet your guide (more likely a herr than a fräulein) at the Mirabell Gardens (at Mirabellplatz 4, 50 yards to the left of palace entry). The main attractions that you’ll pass during the eight-mile pedal include the Mirabell Gardens, the horse pond, St. Peter’s Cemetery, Nonnberg Abbey, Leopoldskron Palace, and, of course, the gazebo. The tour is very family-friendly, and there’ll be lots of stops for goofy photo ops (€30 includes bike, €18 for kids 13-18, €12 for kids under 13, €2 discount for adults and kids with this book, daily April-Oct at 9:30, June-Aug also at 16:30, allow 3.5 hours, reservations required, mobile 0650-342-6297, www.mariasbicycletours.com). For €8 extra (€20 per family), you’re welcome to keep the bike all day.
Both Bob’s and Panorama Tours also offer extensive arrays of other day trips from Salzburg (such as Berchtesgaden/Eagle’s Nest, salt mines, Hallstatt, and Salzkammergut lakes and mountains). One efficient tour worth considering is Bob’s full-day Sound of Music/Hallstatt Tour, which first covers everything in the standard four-hour S.O.M. tour, then continues for a four-hour look at the scenic, lake-speckled Salzkammergut, with free time to explore charming Hallstatt (€96, €10 discount if you show this book, pay cash, and book directly; doesn’t include entrance fees to optional Hallstatt sights such as salt mine; departs daily at 9:00; Rudolfskai 38, tel. 0662/849-511, mobile 0664-541-7492, www.bobstours.com, office@bobstours.com).
4 Residenz
6 Salzburg Cathedral (Salzburger Dom)
10 St. Peter’s Church (Stiftskirche St. Peter)
11 Toscaninihof
15 Alter Markt
(See “Salzburg Town Walk” map, here.)
I’ve linked the best sights in the Old Town into this handy self-guided orientation walk (rated ▲▲▲).
Download my free Salzburg Town Walk audio tour.
• Begin at the Mozartsteg, the wrought-iron pedestrian bridge over the Salzach River.
Get your bearings: The milky-green Salzach River thunders under your feet. On the north bank is the New Town. The south side is the Old Town, dominated by a castle on a hill.
Take in the charming, well-preserved, historic core of Salzburg’s Old Town. The skyline bristles with Baroque steeples and green, copper domes. Salzburg has 38 Catholic churches, plus two Protestant churches and a synagogue. The biggest green dome is the cathedral, which we’ll visit shortly. Overlooking it all is the castle called the Hohensalzburg Fortress. Far to the right of the fortress, find the Museum of Modern Art—a blocky modern building atop the hill. The castle-like structure behind it is a water reservoir.
The Salzach is called “salt river” not because it’s salty, but because of the precious cargo it once carried. The salt mines of Hallein are just nine miles upstream. For 2,000 years, barges carried salt from here to the wider world—to the Danube, the Black Sea, and on to the Mediterranean. As barges passed through here, they had to pay a toll on their salt. The city was made great from the trading of salt (Salz) defended by a castle (Burg)—“Salz-burg.”
The riverbanks and roads were built when the river was regulated in the 1850s. Before that, the Salzach was much wider and slower moving. Houses opposite the Old Town fronted the river with docks and “garages” for boats.
Looking upstream, notice the peak with the TV tower. This stands atop the 4,220-foot-high Gaisberg hill. The summit is a favorite destination for local nature lovers and strong bikers.
• Now let’s plunge into Salzburg’s Old Town. From the bridge, walk one block toward the hill-capping castle into the Old Town. Leaving the bridge, notice Michaelstor—the remains of the 17th-century town wall (with gun holes). It was built in 1620 when Salzburg cleverly barricaded itself with a wall and neutrality to avoid the tumult of the Thirty Years’ War (Catholics vs. Protestants, 1618-1648). Back then there was no embankment and the river was wider. Pass the traffic barriers (that keep this quiet town free of too much traffic) and turn right into a big square, called...
All the tourists around you probably wouldn’t be here if not for the man honored by this statue—Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The great composer spent most of his first 25 years (1756-1781) in Salzburg. He was born just a few blocks from here. He and his father both served Salzburg’s rulers before Wolfgang went on to seek his fortune in Vienna. The statue (considered a poor likeness) was erected in 1842, just after the 50th anniversary of Mozart’s death. The music festival of that year planted the seed for what would become the now world-renowned Salzburg Festival.
Mozart stands atop the spot where the first Salzburgers settled. Two thousand years ago, the Romans had a salt-trading town here called Juvavum. In the year 800, Salzburg—by then Christian and home to an important abbey—joined Charlemagne’s Holy Roman Empire as an independent city. The Church of St. Michael (whose yellow tower overlooks the square) dates from that time. It’s Salzburg’s oldest, if not biggest, church.
• Before moving on, note the TI (which also sells concert tickets). The entrance to the Salzburg Museum is across the square (described on page 238). Now walk toward the cathedral and into the big square with the huge fountain.
As Salzburg’s governing center, this square has long been ringed with important buildings. The cathedral borders the south side. The Residenz—the former palace of Salzburg’s rulers—is to the right (as you face the cathedral). To the left is the New Residenz, with its bell tower.
In the 1600s, this square got a makeover in the then-fashionable Italian Baroque style. The rebuilding started under energetic Prince-Archbishop Wolf Dietrich, who ruled from 1587 to 1612. Dietrich had been raised in Rome. He counted the Medicis as his cousins, and had grandiose Italian ambitions for Salzburg. Fortunately for him, the cathedral conveniently burned down in 1598. Dietrich set about rebuilding it as part of his grand vision to make Salzburg the “Rome of the North.”
The fountain is as Italian as can be, an over-the-top version of Bernini’s famous Triton Fountain in Rome. It shows Triton on top blowing his conch-shell horn. The water cascades down the basins and sprays playfully in the wind.
Notice that Salzburg’s buildings are made from three distinctly different types of stone. Most common is the chunky gray conglomerate (like the cathedral’s side walls) quarried from the nearby cliffs. There’s also white marble (like the cathedral’s towers and windows) and red marble (best seen in monuments inside buildings), both from the Alps near Berchtesgaden.
• Turn your attention to the building on the right, the...
This was the palace of Salzburg’s powerful ruler, the prince-archbishop—that is, a ruler with both the political powers of a prince and the religious authority of an archbishop. The ornate Baroque entrance attests to the connections these rulers had with Rome. You can step inside the Residenz courtyard to get a glimpse of the impressive digs.
To see the Residenz interior you must buy a DomQuartier ticket (see here). This admits you to the fancy chandeliered state rooms, an impressive collection of paintings, and the organ loft of the cathedral.
Notice that the Residenz has a white-stone structure (called the Cathedral Terrace) connecting it with the cathedral. This skyway gave the prince-archbishops an easy commute to church and a chance to worship while avoiding the public.
• At the opposite end of Residenzplatz from the Residenz is the...
In the days of the prince-archbishops, this building hosted parties in its lavish rooms. These days, the New Residenz houses both the Salzburg Museum (entrance on Mozartplatz) and the Panorama Museum (entrance down past the post office, between the New Residenz and the cathedral; for details on both museums, see “Sights in Salzburg,” later). It’s also home to the Heimatwerk, a fine shop showing off local handicrafts like dirndls and locally made jelly.
The New Residenz bell tower has a famous glockenspiel. This 17th-century carillon has 35 bells (cast in Antwerp) and chimes daily at 7:00, 11:00, and 18:00. It also plays little tunes appropriate to the season. The mechanism is a big barrel with adjustable tabs that turns like a giant music box, pulling the right bells in the right rhythm. (Twice-weekly tours let you get up close to watch the glockenspiel action: €4, April-Oct Thu at 17:30 and Fri at 10:30, no tours Nov-March, buy ticket and meet for tour at Panorama Museum, no reservations needed—but get tickets at least a few minutes ahead of time, ask for English handout.)
Notice the tower’s ornamental top: an upside-down heart in flames surrounds the solar system, representing how God loves all of creation.
Residenzplatz sets the tone for the whole town. From here, a series of interconnecting squares—like you’ll see nowhere else—make a grand procession through the Old Town. Everywhere you go, you’ll see similar Italian architecture. As you walk from square to square, notice how easily you slip from noisy and commercial to peaceful and reflective.
But it wasn’t always so charming and peaceful. On Residenzplatz in 1938, a huge crowd—responding to the promise of jobs and the scapegoating of immigrants and minorities—welcomed Hitler’s Nazi takeover and celebrated the Anschluss (the “unification” of Germany and Austria).
• Exit the square by walking under the prince-archbishop’s skyway. You’ll step into Domplatz (Cathedral Square). A good place to view the cathedral facade is from the far end of the square.
Salzburg’s cathedral (rated ▲▲) was one of the first Italian Baroque buildings north of the Alps. The dome stands 230 feet high, and two domed towers flank the very Italian-esque entrance.
The church was consecrated in 1628. Experts differ on what motivated the builders. As it dates from the years of Catholic-Protestant warfare, it may have been meant to emphasize Salzburg’s commitment to the Roman Catholic cause. Or it may have represented a peaceful alternative to the religious strife. Regardless, Salzburg’s archbishop was the top papal official north of the Alps, and the city was the pope’s northern outpost. With its rich salt production, Salzburg had enough money to stay out of the conflict and earn the nickname “The Fortified Island of Peace.”
The cathedral was the center of power for the prince-archbishop in his religious role, and the cathedral is surrounded by government buildings for his role as secular prince. (You can visit some of these rooms as part of the DomQuartier Museums tour; see here.) But for now, it’s time to visit the cathedral.
Cost and Hours: Free, donation prominently requested, Mon-Sat 8:00-19:00, Sun from 13:00; March-April, Oct, and Dec until 18:00; Jan-Feb and Nov until 17:00; www.salzburger-dom.at. If the Jedermann theater production is under way (July and August), you’ll find a 1,500-seat temporary theater filling the cathedral square. (And you may need to enter the cathedral through the back door.)
Visiting the Cathedral: As you approach the church, pause at the iron gates. The dates on the doors are milestones in the church’s history. In the year 774, the first church, built in Romanesque style, was consecrated by St. Virgil (see his statue on the left), an Irish monk who became Salzburg’s bishop. It was destroyed by fire in 1167, rebuilt, and then burned again in 1598. It was replaced in 1628 by the one you see today. The year 1959 marks a modern milestone: The cathedral had been severely damaged by a WWII bomb that blew through the dome. In 1959, the renovation was complete.
The interior is clean and white, without excess decoration. Because it was built in just 14 years (from 1614 to 1628), the church boasts harmonious architecture. And it’s big—330 feet long, 230 feet tall—built with sturdy pillars and broad arches. When Pope John Paul II visited in 1998, some 5,000 people packed the place.
At the collection box by the back pew, black-and-white photos show the bomb damage of October 16, 1944, which left a gaping hole where the dome once was. In the first chapel on the left is a dark bronze baptismal font. It dates from 1320—a rare survivor from the medieval cathedral. The lions upon which it sits are older yet, from the 12th century...back when this part of Europe didn’t really know what lions looked like. In 1756, little Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was baptized here. For the next 25 years, this would be his home church. Amadeus, by the way, means “beloved by God.”
As you make your way slowly up the center of the nave, notice how you’re drawn toward the light. Imagine being part of a sacred procession, passing from the relatively dim entrance to the bright altar with its painting of Christ’s resurrection, bathed in light from the dome overhead. The church never had stained glass, just clear windows to let light power the message.
Under the soaring dome, look up and admire the exceptional stucco work, by an artist from Milan. It’s molded into elaborate garlands, angels, and picture frames, some of it brightly painted. You’re surrounded by the tombs (and portraits) of 10 archbishops.
You’re also surrounded by four organs. (Actually, five. Don’t forget the biggest organ, over the entrance.) Mozart served as organist here for two years, and he composed several Masses still played today. Salzburg’s prince-archbishops were great patrons of music, with a personal orchestra that played religious music in the cathedral and dinner music in the Residenz. The tradition of music continues today. Sunday Mass here can be a musical spectacle—all five organs playing, balconies filled with singers and musicians, creating glorious surround-sound. Think of the altar in Baroque terms, as the center of a stage, with sunrays serving as spotlights in this dramatic and sacred theater.
Directly under the dome, Roman-numeral plaques commemorate the visits here by Pope John Paul II in 1988 and 1998 (notice the extra X).
Other Cathedral Sights: The crypt, with more tombs and a prayer chapel, is underwhelming (downstairs from the left transept, free). To learn more about the church, you can visit the Cathedral Museum as part of the DomQuartier Museums tour (see here). In summer, the Cathedral Excavations Museum (Domgrabungsmuseum, outside the church on Residenzplatz and down the stairs) shows off the church’s medieval foundations and a few Roman mosaics—worthwhile only for Roman-iacs (€2.50, daily 9:00-17:00, closed Sept-June, www.salzburgmuseum.at).
• As you leave the cathedral, check out the concert and Mass schedules posted near the entrance. Exiting the cathedral, turn left, heading in the direction of the distant fortress on the hill. You’ll soon reach a spacious square with a golden orb.
The playful modern sculpture in the square shows a man atop a golden orb. Every year, a foundation commissions a different artist to create a new work of public art somewhere in the city; this one’s from 2007. Kapitelplatz is a pleasant square—notice the giant chessboard that often draws a crowd.
Follow the orb-man’s gaze up the hill to Hohensalzburg Fortress. (I think he’s trying to decide whether to shell out for the funicular or save money by hiking up.) Construction of the fortress began in 1077. Over the centuries, the small castle grew into a mighty, whitewashed fortress—so impressive that no army even tried attacking for over 800 years. These days, you can tour the castle grounds, visit some interior rooms and museums, and enjoy incredible views. You can walk up (Festungsgasse leads up from Kapitelplatz—follow the lane straight up from the golden ball) or, for a few euros more, take the funicular (for details, see here). While the castle’s earliest funicular dates back to the 1500s, when animals pulled cargo up its tracks, today’s funicular is electric, from 1910.
Now walk across the square to the pond surrounded by a balustrade and adorned with a Trevi-fountain-like statue of Neptune. It looks fancy, but the pond was built as a horse bath, the 18th-century equivalent of a car wash. Notice the gold lettering above Neptune. It reads, “Leopold the Prince Built Me.” But the artist added a clever twist. The inscription uses the letters “LLDVI,” and so on. Those are also Roman numerals—add ’em up: L is 50, D is 500, and so on. It all adds up to 1732—the year the pond was built.
This square hosts many free events and concerts (including videos of great Salzburg Festival performances on a jumbo screen).
• With your back to the cathedral, leave the square, exiting through the gate in the far-right corner.
The waterwheel is part of a clever canal system that brings water to Salzburg from the foothills of the Alps, 10 miles away. The canal was built in the 12th century and is still used today. When the stream reached Salzburg, it was divided into five smaller canals for the citizens’ use. The rushing water was harnessed to waterwheels, which powered factories. There were more than 100 watermill-powered firms as late as the 19th century. The water also was used to fight fires, and every Thursday morning they flushed the streets. Hygienic Salzburg never suffered from a plague...it’s probably the only major town in Austria with no plague monument. For more on the canal system, you might want to visit the nearby Alm River Canal exhibit (which you enter after exiting the funicular on the way down, see here).
This particular waterwheel (actually, it’s a modern replacement) once ground grain into flour to make bread for the monks of St. Peter’s Abbey. Nowadays, you can pop into the adjacent bakery—fragrant and traditional—and buy a fresh-baked roll for about a euro (closed Wed and Sun).
• You’ve entered the borders of the former St. Peter’s Abbey, a monastic complex of churches, courtyards, businesses (like the bakery), and a cemetery. Find the Katakomben sign and step through the wrought-iron gates into...
This collection of lovingly tended graves abuts the sheer rock face of the Mönchsberg (free, silence requested, daily 6:30-21:00, Oct-May until 18:00, www.stift-stpeter.at). Walk in about 50 yards past a well to a junction of lanes in the middle of the cemetery. (Stop at the round stone ball on the right—perfect for stretching that stiff back.) You’re surrounded by three churches, each founded in the early Middle Ages atop a pagan Celtic holy site. The biggest church, St. Peter’s, sticks its big Romanesque apse into the cemetery. Notice the fancy tombstones lining the church’s wall.
The graves surrounding you are tended by descendants of the deceased. In Austria (and many other European countries), gravesites are rented, not owned. Rent bills are sent out every 10 years. If no one cares enough to make the payment, your tombstone is removed. Note the well you passed, used to fill the watering cans for the family members who keep these flowery graves so pretty.
The cemetery plays a role in The Sound of Music. The Captain and his large family were well known in Salzburg for their musical talents. But when Nazi Germany annexed Austria in 1938, the Von Trapps decided to flee so that the father would not be pressed into service again. In the movie, they hid here as they made their daring escape. The scene was actually filmed on a Hollywood set inspired by St. Peter’s Cemetery.
Look up the cliff, which has a few buildings attached—called (not quite accurately) “catacombs.” Legendary medieval hermit monks are said to have lived in the hillside here. For a small fee, you can enter the Katakomben and climb lots of steps to see a few old caves, a chapel, and some fine city views (entrance at the base of the cliff, under the arcade—look for #LIV; €2, visit takes 10 minutes; daily 10:00-12:30 & 13:00-18:00, Oct-April until 17:00).
Explore the arcade at the base of the cliff with its various burial chapels. Alcove #XXI has the tomb of the cathedral architect—forever facing his creation. At the catacombs entry (#LIV) are two interesting tombs marked by plaques on the floor. “Marianne” is Mozart’s sister, nicknamed “Nannerl.” As children, Mozart and his sister performed together on grand tours of Europe’s palaces. Michael Haydn was the brother of Joseph Haydn. He succeeded Mozart as church cathedral organist.
• Exit the cemetery through the green door at the opposite end. Just outside, you enter a large courtyard anchored by...
You’re standing at the birthplace of Christianity in Salzburg. St. Peter’s Abbey—the monastery that surrounds this courtyard—was founded in 696, barely two centuries after the fall of Rome. The recommended Stiftskeller St. Peter restaurant in the courtyard (known these days for its Mozart Dinner Concert) brags that Charlemagne ate here in the year 803, making it (perhaps) the oldest restaurant in Europe. St. Peter’s Church dates from 1147.
Cost and Hours: Free, daily 8:00-21:00, Nov-March until 19:00, www.stift-stpeter.at.
Visiting the Church: Enter the church, pausing in the atrium to admire the Romanesque tympanum (from 1250) over the inner doorway. Jesus sits on a rainbow, flanked by Peter and Paul. Beneath them is a stylized Tree of Life, and overhead, a Latin inscription reading, “I am the door to life, and only through me can you find eternal life.”
Enter the nave. The once purely Romanesque interior (you may find a few surviving bits of faded 13th-century frescoes) now lies hidden under a sugary Rococo finish. It’s Salzburg’s only Rococo interior—all whitewashed, with highlights of pastel green, gold, and red. If it feels Bavarian, it’s because it was done by Bavarian artists. The ceiling paintings feature St. Peter receiving the keys from Christ (center painting), walking on water, and joining the angels in heaven.
The monastery was founded by St. Rupert (c. 650-718). Find his statue at the main altar—he’s the second gold statue from the left. Rupert arrived as a Christian missionary in what was then a largely pagan land. He preached the gospel, reopened the Roman salt mines, and established the city. It was he who named it “Salzburg.”
Rupert’s tomb is midway up the right aisle. It’s adorned with a painting of him praying for his city. Beneath him is a depiction of Salzburg circa 1750 (when this was painted): one bridge, salt ships sailing the river, and angels hoisting barrels of salt to heaven.
• Exit the courtyard at the opposite side from where you entered, through the arch under the blue-and-yellow sundial. The passageway takes you past dorms still used for student monks. At the T-intersection (where you bump into the Franciscan Church), turn right for a quick detour to appreciate another view of Domplatz.
You’re just in time for “the coronation of the Virgin Mary.” The Baroque style was all about putting on a show, which is wonderfully illustrated by the statue of Mary (1771) that welcomes visitors in this square. As you approach her from the center of this lane, walking between the little brass rails in the cobblestones, keep an eye on the golden crown above and far behind Mary on the cathedral’s facade. Just as you get to the middle arch, watch as she’s crowned Queen of Heaven by the two angels on the church facade. Bravo!
Notice one more time the very Italian look of the cathedral facade. The false-front roofline. The windows flanked by classical half-columns and topped with heavy pediments. And the facade ringed with a Baroque balustrade, decorated with garlands and masks, and studded with statues.
• Do a U-turn and head back down Franziskanergasse. Pass beneath the archway painted with a modern Lamentation scene (1926) to enter a square called Max-Reinhardt-Platz. Pause here to admire the line of impressive Salzburg Festival concert halls ahead of you. Then turn left, through a square archway, into a small square called...
In this small courtyard, you get a peek at the back end of the large Festival Hall complex (on your right). The Festival Hall, built in 1925, has three theaters and seats 5,000 people (see photo on the wall). It’s very busy during the Salzburg Music Festival each summer. As the festival was started in the 1920s (an austere time after World War I), Salzburg couldn’t afford a new concert hall, so they remodeled what were once the prince-archbishop’s stables and riding school.
The tunnel you see (behind the Felsenkeller sign) leads to the actual concert hall. It’s generally closed, but you might be able to look through nearby doorways and see carpenters building stage sets for an upcoming show.
The Von Trapp family performed in the Festival Hall. In the movie, this backstage courtyard is where Captain von Trapp nervously waited before walking onstage to sing “Edelweiss.” Then the family slipped away to begin their escape from the Nazis.
The Toscaninihof also has the entrance to the city’s huge, 1,500-space, inside-the-mountain parking lot. It originated in 1944 as the Mönchsberg air raid shelter—an underground system that offered 18,000 locals refuge from WWII bombs. The stone stairway in the courtyard leads a few flights up to a panoramic view. Continuing up you reach the recommended Stadtalm Café.
• Return to Max-Reinhardt-Platz. Continue straight along the right side of the big church, passing popular sausage stands and a public toilet, then enter...
This square, home to the huge Baroque Kollegienkirche (University Church), also hosts Salzburg’s liveliest open-air produce market (and a lot of touristy food stands). It generally runs mornings, Monday through Saturday. It’s at its best early Saturday morning, when the farmers are in town. The fancy yellow facade overlooking the square marks the back end of Mozart’s Birthplace, which we’ll see shortly.
Find the fountain—it’s about 50 yards past the church, on the right. As with public marketplaces elsewhere, it’s for washing fruit and vegetables. This fountain—though modern in design—is still part of a medieval-era water system. The water plummets down a hole and on to the river. The sundial over the water hole shows both the time and the date.
• Continue toward the end of the long, tapering square. Along the way, you’ll pass several nicely arcaded medieval passageways (on the right), which lead to Salzburg’s old main street, Getreidegasse. (Try weaving back and forth through some.) When you reach the traffic-control bollards, you’re looking at the...
Rising 200 feet above you is the Mönchsberg, Salzburg’s mountain. Today you see the remains of an aborted attempt in the 1600s to cut through the Mönchsberg. It proved too big a job, and when new tunneling technology arrived, the project was abandoned. The stones cut did serve as a quarry for the city’s 17th-century growth spurt—the bulk of the cathedral, for example, is built of this economical and local conglomerate stone.
Early one morning in 1669, a huge landslide killed more than 200 townspeople who lived close to where the elevator is now (to the right). Since then the cliffs have been carefully checked each spring and fall. Even today, you might see crews on the cliff, monitoring its stability.
Walk to the base of the cliff, where you’ll see what was the giant horse trough for the prince-archbishops’ stables. Paintings show the various breeds and temperaments of horses in the stable. Like Vienna, Salzburg had a passion for the equestrian arts.
• Walk a block (past the toy museum on your left) toward the river. (The elevator up the Mönchsberg is just ahead.) Opposite the church, turn right onto the long pedestrian street called...
Old Salzburg’s colorful main drag, Getreidegasse (rated ▲▲) has been a center of trade since Roman times. Check out all the old wrought-iron signs that advertise what’s sold inside. This was the Salzburg of prosperous medieval burghers (businessmen). These days it bustles with the tourist trade. The buildings date mainly from the 15th century. They’re tall and narrow, because this neighborhood was prime real estate, and there was nowhere to build but up. Space was always tight, as the town was squeezed between the river and the mountain, and lots of land was set aside for the church. The architecture still looks much as it did in Mozart’s day—though many of the buildings themselves are now inhabited by chain outlets.
Enjoy the traditional signs, and try to guess what they sold. There are signs advertising spirits, a book maker, and a horn indicating a place for the postal coach. A brewery has a star for the name of the beer, “Sternbräu.” There’s a window maker, a key maker, a pastry shop, a tailor, a pretzel maker, a pharmacy, a hat maker, and...ye olde hamburger shoppe, McDonald’s.
On the right at #39, Sporer pours homemade spirits (about €3/shot, Mon-Fri 9:30-19:00, Sat 8:30-17:00, closed Sun). This has been a family-run show for a century—fun-loving, proud, and English-speaking. Nuss is nut, Marille is apricot (typical of Austria), the Kletzen cocktail is like a super-thick Baileys with pear, and Edle Brande are the stronger schnapps. The many homemade firewaters are in jugs at the end of the bar.
After noticing building #39’s old doorbells—one per floor—continue down Getreidegasse. On the left at #40, Eisgrotte serves good ice cream. Across from Eisgrotte, a tunnel leads to the recommended Balkan Grill (sign reads Bosna Grill), the local choice for the very best wurst in town. Down the tunnel at #28 (a blacksmith shop since the 1400s), Herr Wieber, the ironworker and locksmith, welcomes the curious. Next door, McDonald’s is required to keep its arches Baroque and low-key.
At Getreidegasse #9, the knot of excited tourists marks the home of Salzburg’s most famous resident. Mozart was born here in 1756. It was here that he composed most of his boy-genius works. Inside you see paintings of his family, letters, personal items (a lock of his hair, a clavichord he may have played), all trying to bring life to the Mozart story (see the description on here).
• A bit farther along, at Getreidegasse #3, turn right, into the passageway. You’ll walk under a whale bone (likely symbolizing the wares of an exotic import shop) and reach the Old World time-capsule café called Schatz Konditorei (worth a stop for coffee and pastry). At Schatz Konditorei, turn left through the tunnel-like passage. When you reach Sigmund-Haffner-Gasse, glance to the left (for a nice view of the city hall tower), then turn right. Walk along Sigmund-Haffner-Gasse and take your first left to reach a square called...
This is Salzburg’s old marketplace. Here you’ll find a sausage stand and the venerable and recommended Café Tomaselli.
• Our walk is over. If you’re up for more sightseeing, most everything’s a short walk from here. The Old Town has several museums, or you can head up to the Hohensalzburg Fortress. To visit sights across the river in the New Town, cross the pedestrian bridge nearby.
▲▲Mozart’s Birthplace (Geburtshaus)
Summer Riding School (Felsenreitschule)
ATOP THE CLIFFS ABOVE THE OLD TOWN
▲▲Hohensalzburg Fortress (Festung)
Museum of Modern Art on Mönchsberg
IN THE NEW TOWN, NORTH OF THE RIVER
▲Mirabell Gardens and Palace (Mirabellgarten und Schloss)
▲Mozart’s Residence (Wohnhaus)
▲▲Hellbrunn Palace and Gardens
▲▲Riverside or Meadow Bike Ride
▲Hallein Salt Mine (Salzbergwerke)
The DomQuartier ticket admits you to a circular, indoor route through the Residenz (the ornate former palace), the cathedral (which you view from the organ loft), and a couple of adjoining buildings. These sights—largely (but not entirely) focused on religious art and the history of Salzburg’s prince-archbishops—were felt to be too minor to stand on their own, but worthwhile when knitted into a whole. For me, the highlight isn’t the apartments or paintings (which are pretty unimpressive on a European scale), but the chance to walk across the gallery to the organ loft and peer into the cavernous cathedral. The tour includes a good audioguide. On the map, you can see how the interconnected museums ring the Domplatz.
Cost and Hours: €12, includes audioguide, Wed-Mon 10:00-17:00, Wed until 20:00 July-Aug, closed Tue except July-Aug, last entry one hour before closing, Residenzplatz 1, tel. 0662/8042-2109, www.domquartier.at.
Visiting the DomQuartier Museums: If you enter at the Residenz (you can also enter at the cathedral), signs will guide you along the following circuit:
Once Salzburg’s center of power, the Residenz State Rooms were the home of the prince-archbishop. Walking through these 15 chandeliered, stuccoed, tapestried, and frescoed “stately rooms” (Prunkräume), you’ll see elements of Renaissance, Baroque, and Classicist styles—200 years of let-them-eat-cake splendor.
The painting collection, one floor up in the Residenz Gallery, is strongest in Baroque paintings—not surprising in this bastion of Catholicism. The collection is always changing, but look for these highlights: Rubens’ Allegory on Charles V shows the pope’s great champion with a sword in one hand and a scepter in the other. Rembrandt’s teeny-tiny Old Woman Praying glows, despite her wrinkled face and broken teeth (the model was probably his mother). Other highlights include Federico Barocci’s intense Self-Portrait, Bernardo Strozzi’s Sleeping Child, and Boucher’s rosy-cheeked Dreaming Shepherdess. Austria is represented by F. G. Waldmüller’s cheery, sun-drenched Children at the Window, Salzburg’s own Hans Makart’s honest portrait of his first wife Amalie, and lots of Romantic alpine landscapes.
In good weather, you can cross over to the cathedral the same way the prince-archbishops did—walking across their marble skyway (the Panorama Terrace), high above the unwashed masses. (If it’s raining, you’ll be sent one floor down to the indoor walkway.)
Though you don’t actually tour the cathedral interior, you do glance down on the nave from high above. On this level, you can visit two small museums: the Nordoratorium (North Oratory), with modern religious art, and the Cathedral Museum, with rich religious objects from the cathedral’s long history.
Then you’ll head downstairs to the Cabinet of Curiosities and follow the Long Gallery to the Museum of St. Peter’s Abbey—introducing you to work and life at the abbey (which claims to be the oldest monastery north of the Alps).
This is your best look at Salzburg’s history. As the building was once the prince-archbishop’s New Residence, many exhibits are in the lavish rooms where Salzburg’s rulers entertained.
Cost and Hours: €8.50, €10 combo-ticket with Panorama Museum, includes heavy-but-handy high-tech audio/videoguide (ID required), Tue-Sun 9:00-17:00, closed Mon, tel. 0662/620-8080, www.salzburgmuseum.at.
Visiting the Museum: The centerpiece of the museum is the permanent exhibit called The Salzburg Myth, on the second floor. You’ll learn how the town’s physical beauty—nestled among the Alps, near a river—attracted 19th-century Romantics who made it one of Europe’s first tourist destinations, an “Alpine Arcadia.” The descriptive panels and informative audio/videoguide challenge visitors to consider how people then—as today—filtered out certain harsh realities (like poor living conditions) in favor of romanticized images of the places they visited.
Room 2.01 displays lots of gauzy landscapes from this era, including the remarkable View of the City of Salzburg from Kapuzinerberg, showing just how well preserved the city is. Even though the painting by Daniel Miller is from 1635, most everything in it is recognizable.
The side room holds musical instruments and explains how the arrival of the music festival in the 1920s spurred Salzburg’s status still more, drawing high-class visitors from across the globe. The exhibit is thoughtfully organized with strings, woodwinds, and keyboards dating back as far as the 1600s. Highlights include the enormous bassoon-like Grossbass Pommer, the single-stringed tromba marina (nicknamed “the nun’s violin,” its buzz resembles a trumpet), and the tiny pochette (pocket-sized violin).
After that prelude, several rooms address the notion of tourism in the context of city development, and the conflict of modernization versus conservation. The exhibit then focuses mostly on the glory days of the prince-archbishops (1500-1800), with displays housed in the impressive ceremonial rooms. Portraits of the prince-archbishops (in Room 2.07) show them to be cultured men, with sensitive eyes and soft hands, and carrying books. But they were also powerful secular rulers of an independent state that extended far beyond today’s Salzburg (see the map in Room 2.08).
Room 2.09 explains Salzburg’s Jewish history and the 1731 Counter-Reformation expulsion of Protestants. Today, about 95 percent of Salzburg is (nominally) Catholic, and there’s only one Lutheran Church.
The heart of the exhibit is Room 2.11—a big, colorful hall where the Salzburg Diet (the legislature) met. The elaborate painted relief ceiling depicts heroic Romans who sacrificed for their country. Spend some time here with the grab-bag of interesting displays, including old guns, rock crystals, and medallions. A portrait shows the prince-archbishop who sums up Salzburg’s golden age—Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau (1559-1617). Here he is at age 28, having just assumed power. Educated, well-traveled, a military strategist, and fluent in several languages, Wolf Dietrich epitomized the kind of Renaissance Man who could lead both church and state. He largely created the city we see today—the rebuilt cathedral, Residenz, Residenzplatz, and Mirabell Palace—done in the Italian Baroque style. Interactive screens describe the strict ordinances issued by this notable archbishop, including the “Mandate of Religion” (1588), which ordered all non-Catholics to leave the city. Nearby exhibits flesh out Wolf Dietrich the man (his shoes and gloves) and the city he created with Italian architect Vincenzo Scamozzi.
In Room 2.13, find the oldest known painted view of Salzburg (1599), and try to spot the burnt ruins of the second Romanesque church, now the site of Salzburg Cathedral.
The first floor and the Kunsthalle in the basement house temporary exhibits. Also on the first floor are the museum café and access to a terrace overlooking the Residenzplatz. If you bought a combo-ticket for the Panorama Museum, you can get there via the underground passage (from the entrance area).
Also in the New Residence, the Panorama Museum displays a wrap-around painting of the city, giving a 360-degree look at Salzburg in the year 1829.
Cost and Hours: €4, €10 combo-ticket with Salzburg Museum, daily 9:00-17:00, Residenzplatz 9, tel. 0662/620-808-730, www.salzburgmuseum.at.
Visiting the Museum: From the Salzburg Museum entryway, find the underground “Panorama Passage” that leads to this unique exhibit. The passage itself is lined with archaeological finds (Roman and early medieval), helping set the stage for the Salzburg you’re about to see.
In the early 19th century, before the advent of photography, 360-degree “panorama” paintings of great cities or events were popular. These creations were even taken on extended road trips. When this one was created, the 1815 Treaty of Vienna had just divvied up post-Napoleonic Europe, and Salzburg had become part of the Habsburg realm. This photo-realistic painting served as a town portrait done at the emperor’s request. The circular view, painted by Johann Michael Sattler, shows the city as seen from the top of its castle. It took Sattler four years to complete (1825-29), after which the painting spent 10 years touring the great cities of Europe, showing off Salzburg’s breathtaking setting. Donated to the city by Sattler’s son in 1870, it was displayed at Mirabell Palace until 1937 and then stored in Salzburg fortress. Today, the exquisitely restored painting, hung in a circular room, offers a fascinating look at the city as it was in 1829. The river was slower and had beaches. The Old Town looked essentially as it does today. Your ticket also lets you see the temporary exhibitions in the room that surrounds the Panorama.
In 1747, Leopold Mozart—a musician in the prince-archbishop’s band—moved into this small rental unit with his new bride. Soon they had a baby girl (Nannerl) and, in 1756, a little boy was born—Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It was here that Mozart learned to play piano and violin and composed his first boy-genius works. Even after the family gained fame, touring Europe’s palaces and becoming the toast of Salzburg, they continued living in this rather cramped apartment.
Today this is the most popular Mozart sight in town—for fans, it’s almost a pilgrimage. Shuffling through with the crowds, you’ll peruse three floors of rooms with exhibits displaying paintings, letters, personal items, and lots of facsimiles, all attempting to bring life to the Mozart story. There’s no audioguide, but everything’s described in English.
Both Mozart sights in Salzburg—the Birthplace and the Residence—are expensive and equally good. If I had to choose, I’d go with the Birthplace as the best overall introduction (though it’s more crowded), and consider the Residence extra credit. If you’re truly interested in Mozart and his times, buy the combo-ticket and see both. If Mozart isn’t important to you, skip both museums and concentrate on the city’s other sights and glorious natural surroundings.
Cost and Hours: €10, €18 combo-ticket with Mozart’s Residence in New Town—see here, daily July-Aug 8:30-19:00, Sept-June 9:00-17:30, Getreidegasse 9, tel. 0662/844-313, www.mozarteum.at. Avoid shoulder-to-shoulder crowds by visiting right when it opens or late in the day.
Salzburg was Mozart’s home for the first 25 years of his brief, 35-year life. He was born on Getreidegasse and baptized in the cathedral. He played his first big concert, at age six, at the Residenz. He was the organist for the cathedral, conducted the prince-archbishop’s orchestra, and dined at (what’s now called) Café Tomaselli. It was from Salzburg that he gained Europe-wide fame, touring the continent with his talented performing family. At age 17, Mozart and his family moved into lavish digs at (today’s) Mozart’s Residence.
As his fame and ambitions grew, Mozart eventually left Salzburg to pursue his dreams in Vienna. His departure from Salzburg’s royal court in 1781 is the stuff of legend. Mozart, full of himself, announced that he was quitting. The prince-archbishop essentially said, “You can’t quit; you’re fired!” and as Mozart walked out, he was literally kicked in the ass.
Visiting Mozart’s Birthplace: You’ll begin on the top floor in the actual apartment—five small rooms, including the kitchen and the bedroom where Mozart was born. The rooms are bare of any furnishings. Instead, you see detailed biographies and portraits of the famous family and some memorabilia: Mozart’s childhood viola, some (possible) locks of his hair, buttons from his jacket, and a letter to his wife, whom he calls his “little rascal, pussy-pussy.”
After leaving the actual apartments, you’ll enter the museum portion. First up is an exhibition on Mozart’s life after he left Salzburg and moved to Vienna: He jams with Haydn and wows the Viennese with electrifying concerts and new compositions (see a replica of Mozart’s “square piano”—the original is at Mozart’s Residence). Despite his fame, Mozart fell on hard times and died young and poor. But, as the museum shows, his legacy lived on. Using computers, you can hear his music while following along on his handwritten scores.
Downstairs, the Mozart und Oper room examines the operas he wrote (Don Giovanni, The Magic Flute, The Marriage of Figaro), with stage sets and video clips. The prize piece is an old clavichord on which Mozart supposedly composed his final work—the Requiem, which was played for his own funeral. (A predecessor of the more complicated piano, the clavichord’s keys hit the strings with a simple teeter-totter motion that allows you to play very softly—ideal for composers living in tight apartment quarters.)
The lower-floor Wunderkind Mozart exhibit takes you on the road with the child prodigy, and gives a slice-of-life portrait of Salzburg during Mozart’s time, including a bourgeois living room furnished much as the Mozart family’s would have been. The restful, oval-shaped listening room allows you to take a break from the crowds and be immersed in beautiful music and perfect acoustics.
Built into the mountainside, the Summer Riding School was established in 1683 by Prince-Archbishop Johann Ernst von Thun adjacent to his massive stables, now the next-door Large Festival Hall (Grosses Festspielhaus). The complex took on many uses before Austrian-American theater director Max Reinhardt used the venue for the Salzburg Festival in 1926. While fans will recognize its iconic arcaded stage as the setting for the Von Trapp family’s final public performance in The Sound of Music, it’s worthwhile to take a guided tour of this venue to understand its architecture, artwork, and theatrical and technical feats.
Cost and Hours: Visit possible only with guided tour, €7, tours run daily at 14:00, mid-July-Aug also at 9:30 & 15:30, closed during performances or rehearsals, buy ticket at least 15 minutes in advance, departs from Salzburger Festspiele Shop (Hofstallgasse 1, www.salzburgerfestspiele.at, info@salzburgfestival.at).
Atop the Mönchsberg, the mini-mountain that rises behind the Old Town, is a tangle of paved walking paths with great views, a couple of cafés (one cheap, one expensive, both with million-dollar views), a modern art museum, a neighborhood of very fancy homes, and one major sight: Hohensalzburg Fortress (perched on the Festungsberg, the Mönchsberg’s southern arm). You can walk up from several points in town, including Festungsgasse (near the cathedral), Toscaninihof, and the recommended Augustiner Bräustübl beer garden. At the west end of the Old Town, the Mönchsberg elevator whisks you up to the top for a couple of euros. The funicular directly up to the fortress is pricey during the day, and worthwhile only if you plan to visit the fortress, which is included in the funicular ticket. If you plan to do it all, the fortress, modern art museum, and both the elevator and funicular are covered by the Salzburg Card (see here).
(See “Hohensalzburg Fortress” map, here.)
Construction of Hohensalzburg Fortress was begun by Archbishop Gebhard of Salzburg as a show of the Catholic Church’s power (see sidebar on here). Built on a rock (called Festungsberg) 400 feet above the Salzach River, this fortress was never really used. That was the idea. It was a good investment—so foreboding, nobody attacked the town for over 800 years. The city was never taken by force, but when Napoleon stopped by, Salzburg wisely surrendered. After a stint as a military barracks, the fortress was opened to the public in the 1860s by Habsburg Emperor Franz Josef. Today, it remains one of Europe’s mightiest castles, dominating Salzburg’s skyline and offering impressive views in both directions, cafés, and a handful of mediocre museums. It’s a pleasant place to grab an ice-cream cone and wander the whitewashed maze of buildings while soaking up some medieval ambience.
Cost: Don’t get bogged down in the many ticket variations; the basic choices are whether to walk or ride the funicular up, and whether you want to add on the finest rooms. Most visitors avoid the short walk by opting for the one-minute trip on the funicular (Festungsbahn).
The “basic” ticket (€12 by funicular, €9.20 by foot) covers most castle sights: a brief audioguide tour of a small historical exhibit and a tower-top view (signed as A); a variety of museums, including the modern Fortress Museum and the military-oriented Rainer Regiments museums (B); and the Marionette Exhibit.
The “standard” ticket (€15.20 by funicular, €11.50 by foot) covers everything in the “basic” ticket plus a brief visit to the well-presented Regency Rooms (signed as C). Even with a “basic” ticket, you can pay €3.50 at the door to enter the Regency Rooms (worth seeing but skippable if your time is short).
Hours: The museums are open daily May-Sept 9:00-19:00, Oct-April 9:30-17:00.
Information: Tel. 0662/8424-3011, www.salzburg-burgen.at.
Cheap Tricks: Since the views from the fortress are more exciting than the exhibits, it makes sense to visit late in the day, when admission is much cheaper (within one hour of the museums’ closing time: May-Sept after 18:00 or Oct-April after 16:00; funicular: €8.40 round-trip, €6.80 one-way; €4.40 by foot).
Salzburg was on the frontline of a medieval power struggle between the Roman Catholic Church and the Holy Roman Emperors. The town’s mighty Hohensalzburg Fortress—a symbol of the Church’s determination to assert its power here—was built around 1077, just as the conflict was heating up.
The argument was a classic tug-of-war between papal and imperial power. The prize: the right to appoint (or “invest”) church officials. Such appointments traditionally came from the Church, but in the early Middle Ages, rulers began picking bishops and abbots themselves (which Rome more or less rubber-stamped). These appointed bishops and abbots were then under considerable obligation to support their king, both spiritually and materially.
For a while, Rome put up with this turned-around system, but things came to a head under Pope Gregory VII. To remind the uppity kings of their place below God and pope, he prohibited investiture by secular (“lay”) rulers in 1074. But Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV bucked the system, continuing to appoint his own church leaders and boldly renouncing Gregory VII as pope. In retaliation, Gregory excommunicated both Henry and the bishops he’d appointed.
Salzburg’s Archbishop Gebhard took the pope’s side against Henry. As a visible sign of ecclesiastical strength, he started construction of the massive Hohensalzburg Fortress. Henry hit back by expelling Gebhard from Salzburg in 1085. Undeterred, Gebhard spent a decade in exile mustering support for the pope and raising forces against Henry.
Gebhard eventually returned to Salzburg and resumed his position as archbishop. But the investiture back-and-forth continued until 1122, when the next pope and emperor finally reached a power-sharing accord.
After the museums close, the fortress grounds stay open. You can stroll the grounds and view terraces, and enjoy the scenery over dinner or a drink at the café. The funicular runs until about 21:30 or 22:00—later if there’s a concert (see later)—and costs €4.40 round-trip, €2.80 one-way. It’s also free to walk up, but after a certain time (usually about 20:30 in summer, 17:30 off-season), you won’t be able to enter on foot. You can still exit (the door will lock behind you, and the path is well lit) or ride the funicular back down.
If you also plan to see the Museum of Modern Art (see here), consider visiting it first, use that ticket for your elevator and funicular rides, and buy the “by foot” ticket to enter the fortress.
Avoiding Crowds: Avoid waits for the funicular ascent with the Salzburg Card (which lets you skip to the head of the line) or by walking up. In summer, there can be long waits to start the audioguide tour (only 60 people are admitted at a time). To avoid crowds in general, visit early in the morning or late in the day.
Getting There: On foot, it’s a steep but quick walk from Kapitelplatz (next to the cathedral), up Festungsgasse. (Alternatively, you can go up the Mönchsberg at the other end of the Old Town, then take the “Mönchsberg Walk,” described on here, to the fortress; this is a much longer walk, but the Mönchsberg elevator takes care of most of the altitude gain.) The funicular starts from Festungsgasse (just off Kapitelplatz, by the cathedral) and comes up inside the fortress complex.
Concerts: The fortress serves as a venue for evening concerts (the Festungskonzerte), which are held in the old banquet rooms on the upper floor of the palace museum. Concerts take place 300 nights a year and are a good way to see the fortress without crowds. For concert details, see here.
Eating: The $$ cafés to either side of the upper funicular station are a great place to linger over an open-air dinner or nibble on apple strudel while taking in the jaw-dropping view (daily 11:30-22:00, food served until about 20:30, closed Jan-Feb).
Self-Guided Tour: The fortress is an eight-acre complex of some 50 buildings, with multiple courtyards and multiple rings of protective walls.
• At the top of the funicular, turn right, head to the panoramic terrace, and bask in the view to the south (away from town) toward the Alps. Continue up through the fortress gates—two defensive rings for double protection. Emerging into the light, go left (uphill) to find the entrance to the...
Audioguide Tour (A): The audioguide leads you through a few (mostly bare) rooms. The Stable Block highlights 17 prince-archbishops and displays models showing the fortress’ growth, starting in 1460. The last model (1810) shows it at its peak. The fortress was never taken by force, but it did make a negotiated surrender with Napoleon, and never saw action again.
The tour then takes you to the base of the prison tower, with a room dedicated to the art of “enhanced interrogation” (to use American military jargon)—filled with tools of that gruesome trade. One of the most esteemed prisoners held here was Prince-Archbishop Wolf Dietrich, who lost favor with the pope, was captured by a Bavarian duke, and spent his last seven years in Hohensalzburg. It’s a complicated story—basically, the pope counted on Salzburg to hold the line against the Protestants for several generations following the Reformation. Wolf Dietrich was a good Catholic, as were most Salzburgers. But the town’s important businessmen and the region’s salt miners were Protestant, and for Salzburg’s financial good, Wolf Dietrich dealt with them in a tolerant and pragmatic way. Eventually the pope—who allowed zero tolerance for Protestants in those heady Counter-Reformation days—had Wolf Dietrich locked up and replaced.
Next, climb a spiral staircase to the top of one of the castle’s towers, the Reckturm. Jockey your way to the railing at the upper platform and survey the scene. (If it’s too crowded up here, you can enjoy nearly-as-good views from bigger terraces lower down.) To the north is the city. To the south are Salzburg’s suburbs in a flat valley, from which rises the majestic 6,000-foot Untersberg massif of the Berchtesgaden Alps. To the east, you can look down into the castle complex to see the palace where the prince-archbishops lived.
As you exit, at the end of the long battlement walkway, pause at the “Salzburger Bull”—a mechanical barrel organ used to wake the citizens every morning.
• Exit the tour into the...
Fortress Courtyard: The courtyard was the main square for the medieval fortress’s 1,000-some residents, who could be self-sufficient when necessary. The square was ringed by the shops of craftsmen, blacksmiths, bakers, and so on. The well dipped into a rain-fed cistern. The church is dedicated to St. George, the protector of horses (logical for an army church) and decorated by fine red marble reliefs (1512). Behind the church is the top of the old lift (still in use) that helped supply the fortress. Under the archway next to it are the steps that lead back into the city, or to the paths across the Mönchsberg.
• Just downhill from the chapel, find an opening in the wall that leads to a balcony with a view of Salzburg.
Kuenburg Bastion: Survey Salzburg from here and think about fortifying an important city by using nature. The fortress sits atop a ridgeline with sheer cliffs on three sides, giving it a huge defensive advantage. Meanwhile, the town of Salzburg sits between the natural defenses of the Salzach River and the ridge. (The ridgeline consists of the Mönchsberg, the cliffs to the left, and Festungsberg, the little mountain you’re on.) The fortress itself has three concentric rings of defense: the original keep in the center (where the museums we’re about to visit are located), the vast whitewashed walls (near you), and still more beefed-up fortifications (on the hillside below you, added against an expected Ottoman invasion). With all these defenses, the city only required a few more touches: The New Town across the river needed a bit of a wall arcing from the river to its hill. Back then, only one bridge crossed the Salzach into town, and it had a fortified gate. Cradled amid the security of its defenses—both natural and man-made—independent Salzburg thrived for nearly a thousand years.
• Back in the main courtyard, with the chapel on your right, head uphill through the stone gate and go straight ahead up the stairs. At the very top of the long staircase is the entrance to the...
Fortress Museum (Festungsmuseum, B): The first part of this extensive museum covers the history of the fortress, including a great town model and smaller models illustrating how the castle was constructed, and military artifacts. Follow the one-way route, exploring the exhibits on this floor, then head one floor up.
• At this level, you have the chance to enter the Regency Rooms. This is included in the pricier “standard” ticket, or you can pay a small fee at the door.
Regency Rooms (C): These recently restored rooms are the most beautiful in the palace, with richly painted and gilded woodwork. You’ll begin by viewing a fun seven-minute video presentation/puppet show setting the historical context for when the prince-archbishop built these rooms around the year 1500—the High Middle Ages. Then you’ll see the Golden Hall, where evening concerts are held, and the Royal Apartment, consisting of two rooms—one with a colorfully painted tile stove in the corner, and the other featuring a toilet with a several-hundred-foot drop.
• You’ll loop right back to where you started. From here, you can proceed into...
More Museums: The rest of this floor belongs to the Rainer Regiments Museum, dedicated to the Salzburg soldiers who fought mountain-to-mountain on the Italian front during World War I. Heading downstairs, you’ll find the second part of the Fortress Museum, with 16th-century kitchens, more torture devices (including a chastity belt), a creatively displayed armory collection (pikes, swords, pistols, cannons), a small but proud collection of military musical instruments, a tile stove and wood-carved furniture, and a fine collection of everyday decorative arts (dishes).
• Exiting the museums and gift shop, turn left up the passage, head back down the long staircase, then hook a U-turn at the bottom to find the...
Marionette Exhibit: Marionette shows are a Salzburg tradition (think of the “Lonely Goatherd” scene in The Sound of Music). Two fun rooms show off various puppets and scenery backdrops. Videos show glimpses of the Marionette Theater performances of Mozart classics (see here). Give the hands-on marionette a whirl, and find Wolf Dietrich in a Box.
• Our tour is over. To walk—either down to Salzburg or across the Mönchsberg (see “Mönchsberg Walk,” later)—you can take any trail downhill. Eventually you’ll pass through the ticket checkpoint and come to a T-intersection. Head right (downhill) to return to the Old Town (following Altstadt signs); or turn left (uphill), and go under the funicular tracks to make your way across Mönchsberg (following Museum der Moderne signs).
To reach the funicular, backtrack to the station between the two cafés. At the bottom of the lift, don’t miss the Alm River Canal Exhibit (which seems designed to be entered as you leave the funicular after riding it down, but you can enter for free through the back end of the amber shop just one door uphill from the funicular station). This fine little exhibit focuses on how the river was broken into five smaller streams—powering the city until steam took up the energy-supply baton. Pretend it’s the year 1200 and follow (by video) the flow of the water from the river through the canals, into the mills, and as it’s finally dumped into the Salzach River.
The paved, wooded walking path along the narrow ridgeline between the Mönchsberg elevator and the fortress is less than a mile long and makes for a great 30-minute hike. There’s some up and down, but the total elevation gain is about equal going in either direction.
The mountain is small, and frequent signposts direct you between all the key points, so it’s hard to get lost. (Festung Hohensalzburg and Museum der Moderne Salzburg refer to the fortress and elevator ends of the mountain, respectively; the spots where you can go down the stairs into town are signed Altstadt.) Along the way, you’ll see stunning views of Salzburg, rustic homes, a few unique little castle-like homes to ogle, a modern art museum (and occasional modern art sculptures in yards), a couple places to eat or enjoy a scenic drink, the sheer cliff face with its layers of sediment, and parts of the medieval wall. You can also pause to read various information plaques about Salzburg’s first settlers and the quarrying of the cliffs. At one point, the route forks to either a paved road or a footpath. Either works, as they reconverge later on.
You can do this walk in either direction. If you’re planning to visit the fortress, do the walk first and the fortress last, saving a few euros by skipping the funicular up: Take the Mönchsberg elevator, walk across to the fortress, pay the entry price at the fortress gate, see the fortress, then take the funicular down. (If you also plan to see the Museum of Modern Art—see here—use that ticket for your elevator and funicular rides, and buy the “by foot” ticket to enter the fortress.)
If you do the hike from the fortress, you can continue 10 minutes downhill past the Museum of Modern Art for a meal at the huge and rollicking Augustiner Bräustübl beer hall/garden (follow signs for Mülln; see description on here).
Getting There: The Mönchsberg elevator (Aufzug) starts from where Gstättengasse and Griesgasse meet, on the west side of the Old Town—look for the Museum of Modern Art entry (€2.30 one-way, €3.60 round-trip—can descend via funicular at Hohensalzburg Fortress, normally Mon 8:00-19:00, Tue-Sun 8:00-23:00).
You can also climb up and down under your own power; this saves a few more euros (no matter which direction you go). Paths or stairs lead up from the Augustiner Bräustübl beer hall/garden, Toscaninihof (near the Salzburg Festival concert halls), and Festungsgasse (at the base of the fortress).
Cafés: The elevator deposits you right at Mönchsberg 32, a sleek, modern café/bar/restaurant adjacent to the modern art museum and a fine place for a drink or splurge meal (see here for details). From there, it’s a five-minute walk to the rustic, recommended Stadtalm Café, with wooden picnic tables and a one-with-nature allure. Next to the Stadtalm is a surviving section of Salzburg’s medieval wall with an info plaque showing how the wall once looked.
This stark concrete-and-glass exhibition space features temporary exhibits. It’s located right at the top of the Mönchsberg elevator. Next to the museum is the “Sky Space,” a cylindrical stone tower intended to let you contemplate the sky.
Cost and Hours: €9.70, includes round-trip elevator between Old Town and Mönchsberg—descent via funicular allowed, Tue-Sun 10:00-18:00, Wed until 20:00, closed Mon except during festival.
The following sights are across the river from the Old Town. I’ve connected them with walking instructions (to trace the route, see map on here).
• Begin at the Makartsteg pedestrian bridge, where you can enjoy the...
Scan the cityscape and notice all the churches. Salzburg has 40 churches, justifying its nickname as the “Rome of the North.” The grand buildings just across the bridge (with their elegant promenades and cafés) were built on reclaimed land in the late 19th century. Find the five streams gushing into the river. These date from the 13th century, when the river was split into five canals running through the town to power its mills. Facing upstream, the Hotel Stein (just left of next bridge) has a popular roof-terrace café (may be closed for renovation, see here). Also upstream on the left, between here and the next bridge, is the recommended Café Bazar (a fine place for a drink with a view). Downstream, high overhead on the left, notice the Museum of Modern Art atop the Mönchsberg, with a view restaurant and a faux castle (actually a water reservoir). The Romanesque bell tower with the green copper dome in the distance is the Augustine church, site of the best beer hall in town (the recommended Augustiner Bräustübl).
• Cross the bridge, walk two blocks inland, and take a left past the heroic statues into...
These bubbly gardens, laid out in 1730 for the prince-archbishop, have been open to the public since 1850 (thanks to Emperor Franz Josef, who was rattled by the popular revolutions of 1848). The gardens are free and open until dusk. The palace is open only as a concert venue (explained later). The statues and the arbor (far left) were featured in The Sound of Music.
Walk through the gardens to the palace and find the statue of the horse (on the river side of the palace). Look back, enjoy the garden/cathedral/castle view, and imagine how the prince-archbishop must have reveled in a vista that reminded him of all his secular and religious power.
The rearing Pegasus statue (rare and very well-balanced) is the site of a famous Sound of Music scene where the kids all danced before lining up on the stairs with Maria (30 yards farther along). The steps lead to a small mound in the park (made of rubble from a former theater). Notice that Pegasus is missing what locals call “his best part.” (They claim it made the prince feel less impressive, so he had it removed.)
Nearest the horse, stairs lead between two lions to a pair of tough dwarfs (early volleyball players with spiked mittens) welcoming you to Salzburg’s Dwarf Park. Cross the elevated walk (noticing the city’s fortified walls) to meet statues of a dozen dwarfs who served the prince-archbishop—modeled after real people with real fashions in the 17th century. This was Mannerist art, from the hyper-realistic age that followed the Renaissance.
There’s plenty of music here, both in the park and in the palace. A brass band plays free park concerts (May-Aug Sun at 10:30 and Wed at 20:30). To properly enjoy the lavish Mirabell Palace—once the prince-archbishop’s summer palace and now the seat of the mayor—get a ticket to a Schlosskonzerte (my favorite venue for a classical concert—see here).
• Backtrack out of the park the way you came in, into the park-like square called Makartplatz (with the big-domed church at the top of the square). Across the square—opposite the big and bright Hotel Bristol—you’ll find...
In the fall of 1773, when Wolfgang was 17—and his family was flush with money from years of touring—the Mozarts moved here from their cramped apartment on Getreidegasse. The exhibits are aimed a bit more toward the Mozart connoisseur than those at Mozart’s Birthplace, but the place comes with a good introductory video, is less crowded, and includes an informative audioguide. (As both Mozart sights are pricey, I’d pick just one; for more tips, see the “Mozart’s Birthplace” listing on here.) The building itself, bombed in World War II, is a reconstruction.
Cost and Hours: €11 includes audioguide, €18 combo-ticket with Mozart’s Birthplace in Old Town (€19 with audioguide for both houses)—see here, daily July-Aug 8:30-19:00, Sept-June 9:00-17:30, allow an hour for visit, Makartplatz 8, tel. 0662/8742-2740, www.mozarteum.at.
Visiting Mozart’s Residence: The exhibit—seven rooms on one floor—starts in the main hall, which was used by the Mozarts to entertain Salzburg’s high society. Here, you can see the museum’s prize possession—Mozart’s very own “square piano,” as well as his violin. The family portrait on the wall (from around 1780) shows Mozart with his sister Nannerl at the piano, their father on violin, and their mother—who’d died two years earlier in Paris. Before moving on, consider spending time with the good introductory video in this room. You’ll also see three circular targets high on the wall, and—in the glass case nearby—the air rifle that Mozart and his family used to shoot at them.
Room 2 trumpets the successes the Mozart family enjoyed while living here: portraits of Salzburg bigwigs they hung out with, letters from Mozart bragging about his musical successes, and the publication of Leopold’s treatise on playing violin.
Room 3 is dedicated to father Leopold—Kapellmeister of the prince—a member of the archbishop’s orchestra, musician, and composer in his own right. Was Leopold a loving nurturer of young Wolfgang or an exploiting Svengali?
Room 4 stars “Nannerl” (Maria Anna), Mozart’s sister, who was five years older. Though both were child prodigies, playing four-hand show-pieces for Europe’s crowned heads, Nannerl went on to lead a stable life as a wife and mother.
Room 5 boasts letters and music books from the nearby Mozarteum library. Rooms 6 and 7 display many portraits of Mozart, some authentic, some not, but all a testament to his long legacy. By the time Mozart was 25, he’d grown tired of his father, this house, and Salzburg, and he went on to Vienna—to more triumphs, but ultimately, a sad end. You’ll also learn about his son, Franz Xaver, and about Mozarteum—the organization dedicated to the “advancement of music” in Salzburg.
Nearby: Tucked inside the shop (near the WCs) is the free Mozart Sound and Film Collection, an archive of audio recordings, historic concerts on video, documentaries, and even the film Amadeus. Music aficionados and those with at least 30 minutes to spare will find this intriguing (Mon-Tue and Fri 9:00-13:00, Wed-Thu 13:00-17:00, closed Sat-Sun).
• Leaving the museum, you can hook left around the corner and walk a few short blocks back to the main bridge (Staatsbrücke), where you’ll find the Platzl, a square once used as a hay market. Pause to enjoy the kid-pleasing little fountain. Look up handsome Linzer Gasse, with its attractive small shops (described later). Just past the fountain (with your back to the river), Steingasse leads darkly to the right.
Heading up dim, narrow Steingasse, you get a rare glimpse of medieval Salzburg. It’s not the Church’s Salzburg of grand squares and Baroque facades, but the people’s Salzburg, of cramped quarters and humble cobbled lanes. Inviting cocktail bars along here come alive at night (see “Steingasse Pub Crawl” on here).
Stop at #9 (which sticks out into the lane) and look across the river into the Old Town; the city’s original bridge once connected Salzburg’s two halves right here. According to the plaque (of questionable veracity) at #9, this is where Joseph Mohr, who wrote the words to “Silent Night,” was born—poor and illegitimate—in 1792. There is no doubt, however, that the popular Christmas carol was composed and first sung in the village of Oberndorf, just outside Salzburg, in 1818. Stairs lead from near here up to a 17th-century Capuchin monastery.
On the next corner, the wall is gouged out. This scar was left even after the building was restored, to serve as a reminder of the American GI who tried to get a tank down this road during a visit to the town brothel—two blocks farther up Steingasse. Within steps of here is the art cinema (showing movies in their original language, schedule in window) and three recommended bars (described on here).
Go deeper. At #19 (on the left), find the carvings on the old door. Some say these are notices from beggars to the begging community (more numerous after post-Reformation religious wars, which forced many people out of their homes and towns)—a kind of “hobo code” indicating whether the residents would give or not. Trace the wires of the old-fashioned doorbells to the highest floors.
Farther on, you step through the old fortified gate (at #20) and find a commanding Salzburg view across the river. Notice the red dome marking the oldest nunnery in the German-speaking world (established in 712) under the fortress and to the left. The real Maria, who inspired The Sound of Music, taught in this nunnery’s school. In 1927, she and Captain von Trapp were married in the church you see here (not the church filmed in the movie). He was 47. She was 22. Hmmmm.
From here, look back above the arch you just passed through, and up at part of the town’s medieval fortification. The coat of arms on the arch is of the prince-archbishop who paid Bavaria a huge ransom to stay out of the Thirty Years’ War (smart move). He then built this fortification (in 1634) in anticipation of rampaging armies from both sides.
Today, this street is for making love, not war. The Maison de Plaisir (a few doors down on the right, at #24) has for centuries been a Salzburg brothel. But the climax of this walk is more touristic.
• For a grand view, head back to the Platzl and the bridge, enter the Hotel Stein if open (left corner, overlooking the river), and ride the elevator to...
This café offers one of the best views in town (may be closed for renovation during your visit). Hidden from the tourist crush, it’s a trendy, professional, local scene. You can discreetly peek at the view, enjoy a drink or light meal, or come back later to gaze into the eyes of your travel partner as you sip a nightcap (small snacks, indoor/outdoor seating, food served daily until 22:00).
• Back at the Platzl and the bridge, you can head straight up...
The old road leading out of Salzburg in the direction of Linz (and, beyond that, Vienna) is refreshingly traffic-free after 11:00. It’s lined with good hotels, shops, and eateries (see “Eating in Salzburg,” later), and is a delight to stroll. It feels almost like an unglitzy Getreidegasse (in the Old Town). Just above Steingasse, at #14, is the gateway leading up to Kapuzinerberg (described later).
• Higher up on Linzer Gasse you’ll reach the...
This wonderfully evocative cemetery dates from around 1600, when, after picking up modern ideas while studying in Rome, Prince-Archbishop Wolf Dietrich emptied the cathedral square of its tombs and established this more modern (and Italian-feeling) place of burial. When he had it moved, people didn’t like it. To help popularize it, he had his own mausoleum built as its centerpiece.
Cost and Hours: Free, daily 9:00-18:00, Nov-March until 16:00, entry at Linzer Gasse 43 in summer; in winter go around the corner to the right, through the arch at #37, and around the building to the doorway under the blue seal.
Visiting the Cemetery: Wander through this quiet oasis. While regular citizens are buried in the middle, the arcade is lined with fine tombs of fine families. Stroll the entire square, enjoying the art of the dead. Mozart is buried in Vienna, his mom’s in Paris, and his sister is in Salzburg’s Old Town (St. Peter’s)—but Wolfgang’s wife Constanze (“Constantia”) and his father, Leopold, are buried here (from the black iron gate entrance on Linzer Gasse, walk 19 paces and look left). Continue straight past the Mozart tomb to the circular building that is Wolf Dietrich’s mausoleum (English description at door).
• If you’re ready for a bite, the cemetery is within a few steps of several good eateries (see here). For a grand finale to your New Town explorations, head back down Linzer Gasse to #14 and the trailhead up to...
Kapuzinerberg is a small park-like mountain that rises from the river opposite Salzburg’s castle. From Linzer Gasse 14, a lane and steps lead past 12 Stations of the Cross to a Capuchin monastery (the mountain’s namesake) and a commanding city viewpoint. Once an alp used for grazing animals by the town’s farmers, today Kapuzinerberg is a peaceful escape with trails and a beer garden at its far end (at the little Franziskischlössl castle). To get to the scenic viewpoint over the river and across from the castle, follow the shorter loop, circling right (find the viewpoint on the left, just before the trail descends to Steingasse and the river).
The following sights and activities take you just outside Salzburg for easy side-trips.
A little farther out are two excellent options that take all day (or even overnight). Rustic Hallstatt, crammed like a swallow’s nest into the narrow shore between a lake and a steep mountainside, is my favorite town in the scenic Salzkammergut Lake District (75-minute drive, 2.5 hours by public transit, or take a bus tour—see here). Berchtesgaden (covered later in this chapter) is equally scenic, and home to Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest and other interesting sights.
In about 1610, Prince-Archbishop Markus Sittikus decided he needed a lavish palace with a vast and ornate garden purely for pleasure (I imagine after meditating on stewardship and Christ-like values). He built this summer palace and hunting lodge, and just loved inviting his VIP guests from throughout Europe to have some fun with his trick fountains. Today, Hellbrunn is a popular side-trip. While the formal garden may be one of the oldest in Europe (with a gazebo made famous by The Sound of Music), it’s nothing special. The real draws here are those amazing fountains and the surprisingly engaging exhibits inside the palace. Perhaps most of all, Hellbrunn provides an ideal excuse to get out of the city.
Cost and Hours: €12.50 ticket includes fountain tour and palace audioguide, daily 9:00-17:30, July-Aug until 21:00—but tours after 18:00 don’t include the palace interior (which closes in the evening), late March-April and Oct until 16:30, these are last-tour times, closed Nov-late March, tel. 0662/820-3720, www.hellbrunn.at.
Getting There: Hellbrunn is nearly four miles south of Salzburg. Take bus #25 from the train station or the Rathaus stop by the Staatsbrücke bridge, and get off at the Schloss Hellbrunn stop (2-3/hour, 20 minutes). Or, in good weather, the trip out to Hellbrunn is a delightful 30-minute bike excursion (see “Riverside or Meadow Bike Ride,” later, and ask for a map when you rent your bike).
Visiting the Palace: Upon arrival, buy your fountain tour ticket and get a tour time (generally on the half-hour). The 40-minute English/German tours take you laughing and scrambling through a series of amazing 17th-century garden settings with lots of splashy fun and a guide who seems almost sadistic in the joy he has in soaking his group. (Hint: When you see a wet place, cover your camera.) You’ll see ponds, grottoes, canals, fountains, and lots of little mechanical figures—all of them (quite remarkably) powered by 17th-century hydraulic engineering.
After the fountain tour you’re free to wander the delightful garden and see the gazebo made famous by the song “Sixteen Going on Seventeen” from The Sound of Music. The gazebo was relocated here in the 1990s; from the palace, head up the long, yellow-walled gravel road, then look right for Sound-of-Music Pavilion signs.
The palace was built in a style inspired by the Venetian architect Palladio, who was particularly popular around 1600, and it quickly became a cultural destination (if there’s a wait until your fountain tour starts, you can see the palace first; enjoy the sounds of shrieking, fountain-taunted tourists below). This was the era when the aristocratic ritual was to go hunting in the morning (hence the wildlife-themed decor) and enjoy an opera in the evening. The first opera north of the Alps, imported from Italy, was performed here. The decor is Mannerist (between Renaissance and Baroque), with faux antiquities and lots of surprising moments—intentional irregularities were in vogue after the strict logic, balance, and Greek-inspired symmetry of the Renaissance. (For example, the main hall is not in the palace’s center, but at the far end.)
Today, those old rooms are filled with modern, creative exhibits that help put the palace into historical context: the emerging Age of Reason, when man was determined to conquer nature (such as harnessing hydropower to soak visiting VIPs). The eclectic exhibit includes palace models and architectural drawings, a statue of Sittikus at age three (when the dream of soaking visitors was just a twinkle in his demented little eye), a stuffed unicorn, a frescoed ballroom (where you can sit on a giant turntable for a very lazy tour), and a good exhibit on how all those fountains work—including an original pipe made out of a hollowed-out larchwood log. You’ll also see a wrap-around animated film reenacting the wild Carnival celebrations of Salzburg circa 1618.
The Salzach River has smooth, flat, and scenic bike lanes along each side (thanks to medieval tow paths—cargo boats would float downstream and be dragged back up by horses). On a sunny day, I can think of no more shout-worthy escape from the city. Rent a bike for an hour, pedal all the way up one side of the river to the outskirts, cross over, and pedal back. Even a quickie ride across town is a great Salzburg experience. In the evening, the riverbanks are a world of floodlit spires. For bike-rental information, see here.
For a longer trip, perhaps the most pristine, meadow-filled farm-country route is the nearly four-mile path along Hellbrunner Allee. It’s an easy ride with a worthy destination (Hellbrunn Palace, listed earlier): From the middle of town, head along the river on Rudolfskai, with the river on your left and the fortress on your right. After passing the last bridge at the edge of the Old Town (Nonntaler Brücke), cut inland along Petersbrunnstrasse until you reach the university and Akademiestrasse. Beyond it find the start of Freisaalweg, which becomes the delightful Hellbrunner Allee bike path...which leads directly to the palace (paralleling Morzgerstrasse; see map on here). To make the trip a loop, you can come back along the river: Head out on Fürstenweg (past the S.O.M. gazebo), and follow it—carefully crossing highway 150—until you hit the river just south of the Hellbrunner Bridge. From here, you can turn left and follow the riverside path three miles back into town.
For a nine-mile ride, continue from Hellbrunn on to Hallein (where you can tour a salt mine—see next listing). If heading to Hallein directly from Salzburg, head out from the north bank of the river—the New Town side—which is more scenic.
You’ll be pitched plenty of different salt-mine excursions from Salzburg, all of which cost substantial time and money. One’s plenty. This salt-mine tour (in Bad Dürrnberg, just above the town of Hallein, 9 miles from Salzburg) is a good choice. Wearing white overalls and sliding down the sleek wooden chutes, you’ll cross underground from Austria into Germany while learning about the old-time salt-mining process. The tour entails lots of time on your feet as you walk from cavern to cavern, learning the history of the mine by watching a series of video skits with an actor channeling Prince-Archbishop Wolf Dietrich. The visit also includes a “Celtic Village” open-air museum.
Cost and Hours: €21, cheaper online, allow 2 hours for the visit, daily 9:00-17:00, Nov-late March 10:00-15:00, these are last-tour times, closed Jan, English-speaking guides—but let your linguistic needs be known loud and clear, tel. 06132/200-8511, www.salzwelten.at.
Getting There: Ride the train to Hallein (3/hour, about 20 minutes), where you can catch Postbus #41 to the salt mines in Bad Dürrnberg (runs hourly, 10 minutes). To save a few euros, buy the “ÖBB Plus” ticket, which includes the round-trip bus ride from the Hallein station and admission to the salt mine (€21.60).
This hangar at the Salzburg airport (across the runways from the terminal) houses the car-and-aircraft collection of Dietrich Mateschitz, the flamboyant founder of the Red Bull energy-drink empire. Under the hangar’s modern steel-and-glass dome are 20 or so glittering planes, helicopters, and racecars, plus three pretentious eateries, all designed to brandish the Red Bull “culture.” For gearheads, this rates ▲▲▲; for anyone else, it’s a worthwhile curiosity if you have a little extra time on your way into or out of town. Mateschitz (now in his 70s) remains Salzburg’s big personality: He has a mysterious mansion at the edge of town, sponsors the local “Red Bull” soccer and hockey teams, owns several chic Salzburg eateries and cocktail bars, and employs thousands of mostly good-looking Salzburgers. He seems much like the energy drink that made him rich and powerful—a high-energy, anything’s-possible cultural Terminator.
Cost and Hours: Free, daily 9:00-22:00, bus #10 from Hanuschplatz to the Pressezentrum/Kuglhof stop—don’t get off at the airport terminal, Wilhelm-Spazier-Strasse 7a, tel. 0662/2197, www.hangar-7.com.
Eating: Two floors up, the $$$ Mayday Bar has light meals and an experimental menu; in good weather, they close the bar and open an outdoor grill restaurant with similar prices. On the first floor, you’ll probably want to skip the $$$$ Ikarus Restaurant (with a €170 fixed-price meal). By the entrance, the $$ Carpe Diem café serves drinks and light food (it’s an outpost of the larger Carpe Diem in the Old Town, also owned by Mateschitz—see here).
Music lovers come to Salzburg in late July and August for the Salzburg Festival, but there are also smaller, less expensive festivals at other times of year. The regular programs at the city’s theaters and concert halls are often accessible to visitors. And all year long, you can enjoy pleasant, if touristy concerts held in historic venues around town—or a musical Mass on Sunday morning. Pick up the events calendar brochure at the TI (free, bimonthly) or check www.salzburg.info (under “Events,” click on “Classical Music”). I’ve never planned in advance, and I’ve enjoyed great concerts with every visit.
The following concerts are mostly geared to tourists and can have a crank-’em-out feel, but they still provide good value, especially outside festival times. Or consider Salzburg’s much-loved marionette theater, with nearly daily performances.
Nearly nightly concerts—Mozart’s greatest hits for beginners—are held in the “prince’s chamber” of the fortress atop the hill, featuring small chamber groups (assigned seat in first six rows-€44, open seating farther back-€36, free funicular ride if you come within an hour of the concert; at 19:30, 20:00, or 20:30; doors open 30 minutes early, reserve at tel. 0662/825-858 or via www.salzburghighlights.at, pick up tickets at the door). The medieval-feeling chamber has windows overlooking the city, and the concert gives you a chance to enjoy the grand city view and a stroll through the castle courtyard. You can combine the concert with a four-course dinner (€62 assigned seating, €55 open seating, starts 2 hours before concert). Purists may object to hearing Baroque music in an incongruously Gothic space.
The nearly nightly chamber music concerts at the Mirabell Palace are performed in the lavishly Baroque Marble Hall. They come with more sophisticated programs and better musicians than the fortress concerts...and Baroque music flying around a Baroque hall is a happy bird in the right cage (assigned seat in first five rows-€38, open seating farther back-€32, ask about Rick Steves discount, usually at 20:00 but check flier for times, doors open one hour ahead, tel. 0662/828-695, www.salzburg-palace-concerts.com).
For those who’d like some classical music but would rather not sit through a concert, the elegant Stiftskeller St. Peter restaurant (see here) offers a traditional candlelit meal with Mozart’s greatest hits performed by a string quintet and singers in historic costumes gavotting among the tables. In this elegant Baroque setting, tourists clap between movements and get three courses of food (from Mozart-era recipes) mixed with three 20-minute courses of crowd-pleasing music—structured much as such evenings were in Baroque-era times (€59, €9 discount for Mozart lovers who reserve directly by phone or email and mention this book, but no discount if you book online, music starts nightly (fewer nights in Feb) at 19:30, arrive 30 minutes before that, dress is “smart casual,” to reserve email office@skg.co.at or call 0662/828-695, www.mozart-dinner-concert-salzburg.com).
On most afternoons, you can catch a 45-minute concert of 16th-century music (“from Baroque through Mozart”) played on Renaissance instruments at the Residenz (€22, discount with Salzburg Card or DomQuartier ticket, daily at 15:00 for harpsichord and 17:00 for harpsichord and violin, tickets available 30 minutes before performance, tel. 0664/423-5645, www.agenturorpheus.at).
Spellbinding marionettes star in these operas performed to recorded music. A troupe of 10 puppeteers—actors themselves—brings to life the artfully created puppets at the end of their five-foot strings. The 180 performances a year alternate between The Sound of Music and various German-language operas (with handy superscripts in English). While the 300-plus-seat venue is forgettable, the art of the marionettes enchants adults and children alike. The box office is like a marionette museum. For a sneak preview, check out the videos playing at the marionette exhibit at Hohensalzburg Fortress—and on their website.
Cost and Hours: €20-37, kids-€15, May-Aug and Oct nearly nightly at 19:30 plus matinees on some days, also a few shows during Christmas season, no shows Sept, Nov, or Jan-April, near Mozart’s Residence at Schwarzstrasse 24, tel. 0662/872-406, www.marionetten.at.
These short (45-minute) and fairly inexpensive concerts in St. Peter’s Abbey are ideal for families (€22, €11 for kids, €55 for a family of four, almost every Fri and Sat at 19:00 year-round, in the abbey’s Romanesque Hall—a.k.a. Romanischer Saal, enter from inner courtyard 20 yards left of St. Peter’s Church, mobile 0664-423-5645, www.agenturorpheus.at).
Traditional brass bands play in the Mirabell Gardens (May-Aug Sun at 10:30 and Wed at 20:30, may be canceled in bad weather).
Each Sunday morning, three great churches offer a Mass, generally with glorious music. The Salzburg Cathedral is likely your best bet for fine music to worship by. The 10:00 service generally features a Mass written by a well-known composer performed by choir, organist, or other musicians. The worship service is often followed at 11:30 by a free organ concert (music program at www.kirchen.net/dommusik). Nearby (just outside Domplatz, with the pointy green spire), the Franciscan Church is the locals’ choice and is enthusiastic about its musical Masses (at 9:00, www.franziskanerkirche-salzburg.at—click on “Programm”). St. Peter’s Church sometimes has music (often at 10:15, www.stift-stpeter.at—click on “Kirchenmusik,” then “Jahresprogramm”).
Each summer, from mid-July to the end of August, Salzburg hosts its famous Salzburg Festival, founded in 1920 to employ Vienna’s musicians in the summer. This fun and festive time is crowded—a total of 200,000 tickets are sold to festival events annually—but there are usually plenty of beds (except for a few August weekends). Events are pricey (€50-600) and take place primarily in three big halls: the Opera and Orchestra venues in the Festival House, and the Landestheater, where German-language plays are performed. The schedule is announced in November, tickets go on sale in January, and most seats are sold out by March. But many “go to the Salzburg Festival” by seeing smaller, nonfestival events that go on during the same weeks. For these unofficial events, same-day tickets are normally available—ask at the TI for details. For specifics on this year’s festival schedule and tickets, visit www.salzburgfestival.at.
Music lovers in town during the festival who don’t have tickets (or money) can still enjoy Festival Nights, a free series of videos of previous year’s festival performances, projected on a big screen on Kapitelplatz (behind the cathedral). It’s a fun scene, with plenty of folding chairs and a food circus of temporary eateries. For info and schedules, go to www.salzburg.info and search for “Festival Nights.”
The Salzburg Festival stages a week of Baroque concerts over the Whitsunday holiday weekend in early June (a school holiday in Austria and Bavaria). Offerings and prices are similar to those in July-August (www.salzburgerfestspiele.at/whitsun).
Mozart Week (Mozartwoche) is a high-quality, more affordable option held each year in late January. Run by the Mozarteum Foundation, it features up to three daily performances of works by both the great composer and his contemporaries (www.mozarteum.at; click on “Mozart Week” for details). Then comes the Easter Music Festival (Osterfestspiele), with reasonably priced concerts and operas (www.osterfestspiele-salzburg.at). The series of concerts and plays held during late October’s Culture Days (Kulturtage) are also designed to give locals a chance to take in some high culture at a low price. And in late October, Jazz & the City offers free concerts scattered throughout dozens of venues in the city (www.salzburgjazz.com).
Peak season is May through October, with rates rising significantly (20-30 percent) during the music festival (mid-July-Aug), during Advent (the four weeks leading up to Christmas, when street markets are at full blast), and around Easter. Many places charge 10 percent extra for a one-night stay. Note that many of my Salzburg listings will let you skip breakfast to save about €10 per person—if you don’t need a big breakfast, ask about this option. Remember, to call an Austrian number from a German one, dial 00-43 and then the number (minus the initial zero).
These listings cluster around Linzer Gasse, a lively pedestrian shopping street a 15-minute walk or quick bus ride from the train station (for directions, see “Arrival in Salzburg” on here) and a 10-minute walk to the Old Town. If you’re coming from the Old Town, cross the main bridge (Staatsbrücke), and Linzer Gasse is straight ahead. If driving, exit the highway at Salzburg-Nord, follow Vogelweiderstrasse straight to its end, and turn right. Parking is easy at the nearby Mirabell-Congress garage (€18/day, your hotel may be able to get you a €1-2 discount, Mirabellplatz).
$$$$ Altstadthotel Wolf-Dietrich, around the corner from Linzer Gasse on pedestrian-only Wolf-Dietrich-Strasse, has 40 well-located, tastefully plush rooms (10 of them overlook St. Sebastian Cemetery; a third are in an annex across the street). Prices include a huge breakfast spread (RS%, family rooms, nonsmoking, elevator, annex rooms have air-con, pool with loaner swimsuits, sauna, Wolf-Dietrich-Strasse 7, tel. 0662/871-275, www.wolf-dietrich.at, office@wolf-dietrich.at).
$$ Cityhotel Trumer Stube, well-located three blocks from the river just off Linzer Gasse, is a cozy, well-run, welcoming home base with 20 small but attractive rooms (family rooms, nonsmoking, elevator, look for the flower boxes at Bergstrasse 6, tel. 0662/874-776, www.trumer-stube.at, info@trumer-stube.at, Vivienne).
$$ Gästehaus im Priesterseminar Salzburg occupies two floors of a dormitory for theological students that have been turned into a comfortable, superbly located hotel. The 54 high-ceilinged rooms ring the stately Baroque courtyard of a grand building. Each room has a Bible and a cross (and no TV), but guests are not required to be in a contemplative frame of mind. There’s also a little guests’ chapel, which looks down into the big church where Mozart used to play the organ. This is a rare place that doesn’t charge extra during the Salzburg Festival—but you have to book by phone or email for those dates only (elevator, communal kitchen, laundry facilities, reception closes Mon-Sat at 18:00 or 19:00 in summer, Sun at 18:00—arrange ahead if arriving later; Dreifaltigkeitsgasse 14, tel. 0662/8774-9510, www.gaestehaus-priesterseminar-salzburg.at, gaestehaus@priesterseminar.kirchen.net).
$$ Hotel Krone 1512, about five blocks from the river, offers 24 decent, simply furnished rooms in a building that dates to medieval times. Back-facing rooms are quieter than the streetside ones (earplugs smart as nearby church bells ring from 7:00-22:00). Cheapskates can save by requesting the nearly windowless “student” double. Stay awhile in their pleasant cliffside garden (RS%, email reservation for discount, higher discounts paying cash, family rooms, elevator, Linzer Gasse 48, tel. 0662/872-300, www.krone1512.at, hotel@krone1512.at, run by Ukrainian-Austrian-Canadian Niko).
$$ Hotel Schwarzes Rössl is a university dorm that becomes a student-run hotel each July, August, and September. The location couldn’t be handier, and its 56 rooms, while a bit spartan, are comfortable (RS%, family rooms, cheaper rooms with shared bath, no rooms rented Oct-June, just off Linzer Gasse at Priesterhausgasse 6, tel. 0662/874-426, www.academiahotels.at, salzburg@academiahotels.at).
$ Institute St. Sebastian is in a somewhat sterile but clean historic building next to St. Sebastian Cemetery. From October through June, the institute houses students from various Salzburg colleges and also rents 60 beds for travelers. From July through September, the students are gone, and they rent all 118 beds (including 20 twin rooms) to travelers. The building has spacious public areas, a roof garden, a piano, and some of the best rooms and dorm beds in town for the money. The immaculate doubles come with modern baths and head-to-toe twin beds (family rooms, cheaper rooms with shared bath, nonsmoking, elevator, self-service laundry, pay parking—request when you reserve; reception closes at 21:00, or closer to 18:00 off-season; Linzer Gasse 41, enter through arch at #37, tel. 0662/871-386, www.st-sebastian-salzburg.at, office@st-sebastian-salzburg.at). Students like the ¢ dorms.
These two similar hotels are about five blocks farther from the river on Rupertgasse—a breeze for drivers, but with more street noise than the places on Linzer Gasse. They’re both modern and well-run, making them good values if you don’t mind being a 15- to 20-minute walk or quick bus ride from the Old Town or paying extra for breakfast. From the station, take bus #2 to the Bayerhammerstrasse stop; from Hanuschplatz, take #4 to Grillparzerstrasse.
$$ Hotel Jedermann is tastefully quirky and stylishly minimalist, with an artsy painted-concrete ambience (look for the owner’s street-art mural), a backyard garden, and 30 rooms (family rooms, nonsmoking, elevator, pay parking, Rupertgasse 25, tel. 0662/873-2410, www.hotel-jedermann.com, office@hotel-jedermann.com, Herr und Frau Gmachl).
$$ Bergland Hotel, a few doors down, is charming, classy, and a great value, renting 18 comfortable rooms with an oddly stylish leather-wicker-beach theme (nonsmoking, elevator, free parking, Rupertgasse 15, tel. 0662/872-318, www.berglandhotel.at, office@berglandhotel.at, Kuhn family).
$ Motel One Salzburg-Mirabell, part of a German chain, is an inexpensive hotel right along the river. Its 119 cookie-cutter rooms are small, but the staff is helpful, the decor is fun, and the lounge is inviting. It’s six blocks (or a two-stop bus ride) from the train station, and a 15-minute riverside walk or short bus ride from the Old Town (breakfast extra, elevator, pay parking, Elisabethkai 58, bus #1 or #2 from platform D at station to St.-Julien-Strasse—use underpass to cross road safely, tel. 0662/885-200, www.motel-one.com, salzburg-mirabell@motel-one.com).
¢ International Youth Hostel, a.k.a. the “Yo-Ho,” is a youthful, easygoing backpacker haven with cheap meals, lockers, a lively bar, and showings of The Sound of Music every evening at 20:00 (nonguests are welcome) with a pre-show happy hour at the bar. They speak English first and welcome guests of any age—if you don’t mind the noisy atmosphere (private rooms available, family rooms, breakfast extra, no curfew, laundry facilities, 6 blocks from station toward Linzer Gasse and 6 blocks from river at Paracelsusstrasse 9, tel. 0662/879-649, www.yoho.at, office@yoho.at).
These pricier hotels are nicely located in the heart of the Old Town. While cars are restricted in this area, your hotel can give you a code that lets you drive in to unload, pick up a map and parking instructions, and head for the €18-per-day garage in the mountain (punch the code into the gate near Mozartplatz). You can’t actually drive into the narrow Goldgasse, but you can unload at the end of the street.
$$$$ Arthotel Blaue Gans, at the start of Getreidegasse, comes with class and polish. Its 35 spacious and bright rooms mix minimalist modernity with old beams and bare wood. While pricey, it’s worth considering if you can score a deal (family rooms, air-con, elevator, Getreidegasse 41, tel. 0662/842-491, www.blauegans.at).
$$$ Boutique Hotel am Dom, on the narrow Goldgasse pedestrian street, offers 15 chic, upscale, boldly decorated (read: borderline gaudy) rooms, some with original wood-beam ceilings (family rooms, air-con, elevator, Goldgasse 17, tel. 0662/842-765, www.hotelamdom.at, office@hotelamdom.at).
$$$ Hotel Weisse Taube has 30 straightforward, comfortable rooms and a cozy breakfast room in a quiet, 14th-century building. It’s well-located about a block off Mozartplatz (RS%, family rooms, elevator, tel. 0662/842-404, Kaigasse 9, www.weissetaube.at, hotel@weissetaube.at).
While these two modern hotels are not ideal for train travelers, they’re worth considering for drivers in need of no-stress comfort. Set near each other in a residential area, these come with a bit more space and free parking, but a longish walk or bus ride to the Old Town.
$$$ Haus Arenberg rents 16 big, breezy rooms—most with generous balconies—in a modern, ranch-style mansion with a quiet garden. Though in one of Salzburg’s toniest neighborhoods, with Porsches lining the narrow hillside lanes, it’s relaxed and unpretentious. Figure a 15-minute downhill walk to the center of town (along atmospheric Steingasse) and 20 minutes back up, or take bus #6, #7, or #10 to the Volksgarten stop and hike five minutes uphill (no elevator, library, electric bike rental, Blumensteinstrasse 8, tel. 0662/640-097, www.arenberg-salzburg.at, info@arenberg-salzburg.at, Leobacher family). If driving here, get detailed directions.
$$$ Hotel Rosenvilla, simpler and farther out than Haus Arenberg, offers 15 colorful rooms surrounded by a leafy garden, around the corner from a stop for the bus into town (family rooms, breakfast extra, no elevator, electric bike rental, Höfelgasse 4—take bus #7 from Hanuschplatz to the Finanzamt stop, tel. 0662/621-765, www.rosenvilla.com, hotel@rosenvilla.com, Stefanie).
Tucked behind Salzburg’s mountain, Moosstrasse is lined with great-value pensions that offer a roomy, comfortable alternative to pricey in-town hotels. Each one comes with a good breakfast, free parking, farm-fresh scents, and mountains in the distance. With easy and frequent buses zipping into town in 15 minutes, the seemingly remote location shouldn’t keep you away. Some places charge about 10 percent extra for one-night stays. For locations, see the map on here.
Moosstrasse runs southwest from the Old Town (behind the Mönchsberg). It was laid out a century ago through reclaimed marshland and lined with farm lots on each side. Some farm families continue to work the land, while others concentrate on offering rooms.
Handy bus #21 connects Moosstrasse to the center frequently (Mon-Fri 4/hour until 19:00, Sat 4/hour until 17:00, evenings and Sun 2/hour, last bus leaves downtown around 23:00). To get to these pensions from the train station, take any bus heading toward the center to Makartplatz, where you’ll change to #21. If you’re coming from the Old Town, catch bus #21 from Hanuschplatz, just downstream of the Staatsbrücke bridge, by the Fisch Krieg Restaurant. Buy your ticket from the streetside machine and punch it when you board the bus. The stop for each place is included in the listings (press the button as soon as you hear your stop announced—the bus stops only when requested).
If you’re driving from the center, go through the tunnel, continue straight on Neutorstrasse, and take the fourth left onto Moosstrasse. From the autobahn, exit at Süd and head in the direction of Grodig.
$ Haus Ballwein offers 11 cozy, charming, and fresh rooms in a delightful, family-friendly farmhouse. Some rooms have balconies with an intoxicating view (family rooms, 2-bedroom apartment for up to 5 people, cash only, farm-fresh breakfasts amid hanging teapot collection, nonsmoking, 2 free loaner bikes, Moosstrasse 69a, bus stop: Gsengerweg then cross street, tel. 0662/824-029, www.haus-ballwein.at, haus.ballwein@gmx.net, Frau Ballwein). The 11 rooms at $ Pension Ballwein, across the yard—run by Frau Ballwein’s son and his wife—are more polished and modern, and cost more. But the place is also fresh and roomy, and each room has a balcony (family rooms, nonsmoking, elevator, free loaner bikes, tel. 0664/222-5396, www.pension-ballwein.at, pension-ballwein@a1.net, Simon and Daniela). Frau Ballwein’s daughter has two modern and slick apartments—called $$ Kal’s Apartments—just a few doors up the street (one apartment takes up to 4 people, no breakfast, Moosstrasse 63b, tel. 0650/552-1116, www.kalssalzburg.at).
$ Hotel Pension Bloberger Hof, the most hotelesque of these options, is comfortable and friendly, with a peaceful, rural location and 20 farmer-plush, good-value rooms—including some bigger and pricier rooms (RS%, some rooms with balcony, family rooms, family apartment with kitchen, dinner for guests available Mon-Sat 18:00-21:00, no dinner on Sun, nonsmoking, elevator, free loaner bikes, free airport pickup if staying 3 nights, Hammerauer Strasse 4, bus stop: Hammerauer Strasse then head left, tel. 0662/830-227, www.blobergerhof.at, office@blobergerhof.at, Inge and daughter Sylvia).
$ Haus am Moos has nine older rooms—with less rustic wood and more classy antiques—in a relaxed country atmosphere. It comes with a garden, swimming pool, breakfast buffet with mountain views, and a tiny private chapel (family rooms, nonsmoking, Moosstrasse 186a, bus stop: Lehrbauhof then head right, tel. 0662/824-921, www.ammoos.at, ammoos186a@yahoo.de, Strasser family).
$ Haus Steiner’s six rooms—some with great views—are straightforward and quiet, with older modern furnishings; there’s a minimum two-night stay (family rooms, nonsmoking, Moosstrasse 156c, bus stop: Hammerauer Strasse then head right, tel. 0662/830-031, www.haussteiner.com, info@haussteiner.com, Rosemarie Steiner).
$ Helga Bankhammer rents four inexpensive, nondescript rooms in a farmhouse, with a real dairy farm out back (cheaper rooms with shared bath, nonsmoking, pay laundry, Moosstrasse 77, bus stop: Marienbad then cross street and turn right, tel. 0662/830-067, www.haus-bankhammer.at, bankhammer@aon.at).
Eating on Moosstrasse: $$ Reiterhof, by the Hammerauer Strasse bus stop, is a popular, reasonably priced restaurant near these listings. They have a cozy, woody dining room that looks down into a horse-training area (Wed-Sat dinner only, Sun lunch and dinner, closed Mon-Tue, Moosstrasse 151).
Many of the restaurants and cafés listed below are open longer hours and extra days during the Salzburg Festival. On menus, look for a local dessert specialty called Salzburger Nockerl. This soufflé is made to resemble mountain peaks—including a dusting of powdered sugar on top to represent snow. Sometimes served with raspberry sauce, this rich dessert is designed to share.
(See “Salzburg Restaurants” map, here.)
$$ Gasthaus zum Wilden Mann is a good bet in bad weather for traditional dishes. Notice the century-old flood photos on the wall. For a quick lunch, get the Bauernschmaus, a mountain of dumplings, kraut, and peasant’s meats. While they have a few outdoor tables, the atmosphere is all indoors, and the menu is more geared to cold weather (kitchen open Mon-Sat 11:00-21:00, closed Sun, 2 minutes from Mozart’s Birthplace, Getreidegasse 20 or Griesgasse 17, tel. 0662/841-787, www.wildermann.co.at; Robert, Kurt, and Reinhold.
$$ St. Paul’s Stub’n Beer Garden is tucked secretly away under the fortress with a decidedly untouristy atmosphere. The food is better than at beer halls, and a young, bohemian-chic clientele fills its two troll-like rooms and its idyllic tree-shaded garden. Kasnock’n is a tasty dish of Spätzle with cheese served in an iron pan—hearty enough for two. Reservations are smart (Mon-Sat 17:00-22:00, open later for drinks only, closed Sun, Herrengasse 16, tel. 0662/843-220, www.paul-stube.at, office@paul-stube.at, Bernard).
$$ Zirkelwirt serves reasonably priced Austrian standards (schnitzel, goulash, Spätzle with kraut) and big salads in an updated Gasthaus dining room and exotic plant-screened terrace. Just a block off Mozartplatz, it’s a world away from the tourism of the Old Town (daily 11:30-22:00, Pfeifergasse 14, tel. 0662/842-796, www.zumzirkelwirt.at.
$$ Saran Essbar, in the middle of the Old Town, is the product of hardworking Mr. Saran (from the Punjab), who cooks and serves with his heart. This delightful little restaurant casts a rich orange glow under medieval vaults. Its fun menu is small (Mr. Saran is committed to both freshness and value), mixing Austrian (great schnitzel and strudel) and South Asian cuisine (vegetarian options, daily 11:00-22:00, cash only, a block off Mozartplatz at Judengasse 10, tel. 0662/846-628).
$$ Café Tomaselli (with its Kiosk annex and terrace seating diagonally across the way) has long been Salzburg’s top place for lingering and people-watching. Tomaselli serves light meals and lots of drinks, keeps long hours, and has fine seating on the square, a view terrace upstairs, and indoor tables. Despite its fancy inlaid wood paneling, 19th-century portraits, and chandeliers, it’s surprisingly low-key (Mon-Sat 7:00-19:00, Sun from 8:00, Aug until 21:00, Alter Markt 9, tel. 0662/844-488, www.tomaselli.at).
$ Wokman, fragrant with fresh cilantro, is where the Nguyen family dishes up Vietnamese noodle soups and other Asian standards in a six-table restaurant a long block from the cathedral (eat in or take out, daily 11:30-21:00, closed Sun and weekday afternoons in winter, Kapitelgasse 11, mobile 0660-257-5588).
$$$$ Stiftskeller St. Peter has been in business for more than 1,000 years—it was mentioned in the biography of Charlemagne. These days it’s classy and high-end touristy, serving uninspired traditional Austrian cuisine with indoor/outdoor seating (daily 11:30-21:30 or later, next to St. Peter’s Church at foot of Mönchsberg, tel. 0662/841-268, www.stpeter-stiftskeller.at). They host the recommended Mozart Dinner Concert described on here.
(See “Salzburg Restaurants” map, here.)
$$ Bar Club Café Republic, a hip hangout for local young people opposite the base of the Mönchsberg elevator, feels like a theater lobby during intermission. It serves an eclectic, international menu—burgers, panini, pastas, and wok dishes—both outdoors and in. It’s ideal if you want something trendy, untouristy, and un-wursty (weekday lunch specials, daily 8:00-22:00, drinks served til much later, trendy breakfasts served 8:30-16:00, live music Sun 10:00-13:00, music with a DJ Fri and Sat from 23:00, salsa dance club Tue night from 21:00—no cover, Anton-Neumayr-Platz 2, tel. 0662/841-613, www.republiccafe.at).
$$$$ Carpe Diem is a project by Red Bull tycoon Dietrich Mateschitz. Salzburg’s beautiful people, fueled by Red Bull, present themselves here in the chic ground-floor café and trendy “lifestyle bar” (smoking allowed), which serves quality cocktails and fine finger food in cones (daily 8:30-23:00). Upstairs is an expensive, nonsmoking restaurant boasting a Michelin star (Mon-Sat 12:00-14:00 & 18:30-22:00, closed Sun; Getreidegasse 50, tel. 0662/848-800, www.carpediemfinestfingerfood.com).
(See “Salzburg Restaurants” map, here.)
Riding the Mönchsberg elevator from the west end of the Old Town up to the clifftop deposits you near two very different eateries: the chic Mönchsberg 32 at the modern art museum, and the Stadtalm Café at the funky old mountaineers’ hut—each with commanding city views.
$$$$ Mönchsberg 32 is a sleek, modern café/bar/restaurant overlooking Salzburg from the top of the Mönchsberg elevator. Even if you’re not hiking anywhere, this makes for a great place to enjoy a €5 coffee and the view. Or settle in for a pricey but high-quality meal (weekday lunch specials, Tue-Sun 9:00-24:00, closed Mon, popular breakfasts served until 12:00, buy a one-way elevator ticket—they give customers a free pass to descend, tel. 0662/841-000, www.m32.at).
$$ Stadtalm Café sits high above the Old Town on the edge of the cliff, with cheap prices, good traditional food, and great views. Nearby are the remnants of the old city wall. If hiking across the Mönchsberg, make this a stop (cliff-side garden seating or cozy-mountain-hut indoor seating, May-Aug Mon-Sat 11:30-23:00 or later, Sun until 18:00; closes earlier off-season, hours are weather- and whim-dependent, 5 minutes from top of Mönchsberg elevator, also reachable by stairs from Toscaninihof, Mönchsberg 19C, tel. 0662/841-729, www.stadtalm.at, Peter).
(See “Salzburg Restaurants” map, here.)
$ Fisch Krieg Restaurant, on the river where the fishermen used to sell their catch, is a great value, serving fast, fresh, and inexpensive fish. Get your fishwich to go, or order from the affordable eat-in menu to enjoy the casual dining room—where trees grow through the ceiling—and the great riverside seating (Mon-Fri 8:30-18:30, Sat until 13:00, closed Sun, Hanuschplatz 4, tel. 0662/843-732).
$ M-Café Toskanatrakt Cafeteria is the university lunch canteen, very basic but fast and cheap—with drab indoor seating and a great courtyard for good weather. Choose between two daily soup and main-course specials (vegetarian options available, free tap water, open weekdays generally 8:30-17:00, hot meals served 11:30-13:30 only, closed Sat-Sun, behind the Residenz, in the courtyard opposite Sigmund-Haffner-Gasse 16, tel. 0662/8044-6909, friendly Miriam runs the show).
$ Sausage stands (Würstelstände) serve the town’s favorite “fast food.” The best stands (like those on Universitätsplatz) use the same boiling water all day, which gives the weenies more flavor. For a list of helpful terms, see here. $ Balkan Grill, run by chatty Frau Ebner, is a Salzburg institution since 1950, selling just one type of spicy sausage—Bosna—with your choice of toppings (survey the options—described in English—and choose a number; takeout only, steady and sturdy local crowd, Mon-Fri 11:00-19:00, Sat until 18:00, Sun 15:00-19:00, hours vary with demand, Jan-Feb closed Sun, hiding down the tunnel at Getreidegasse 33 across from Eisgrotte).
Picnics: Picnickers will appreciate the well-stocked Billa supermarket at Griesgasse 19a, across from the Hanuschplatz bus stop (Mon-Fri 7:40-20:00, Sat until 18:00, Sun 11:00-15:00). The smaller Spar supermarket has multiple locations: one in the train station (long hours daily) and three in the New Town (Mon-Sat generally 7:30-18:00, closed Sun). The bustling morning Grünmarkt produce market (closed Sun) on Universitätsplatz, behind Mozart’s Birthplace, is fun but expensive.
(See “Salzburg Restaurants” map, here.)
$$ Augustiner Bräustübl, a huge 1,000-seat beer garden within a monk-run brewery in the Kloster Mülln, is rustic and raw. On busy nights, it’s like a Munich beer hall with no music but the volume turned up. When it’s cool outside, enjoy a historic indoor setting in any of several beer-sloshed and smoke-stained halls (one of which is still for smokers). On balmy evenings, it’s like a Renoir painting—but with beer breath and cigarette smoke—outdoors under chestnut trees. Local students mix with tourists eating hearty slabs of grilled meat with their fingers or cold meals from the self-serve picnic counter, while children frolic on the playground kegs. For your beer: Pick up a half-liter or full-liter mug, pay the lady (Schank means self-serve price, Bedienung is the price with waiter service), wash your mug, give Mr. Keg your receipt and empty mug, and you will be made happy. Waiters only bring beer; they don’t bring food—instead, go up the stairs, survey the hallway of deli counters, grab a tray, and assemble your own meal (or, as long as you buy a drink, you can bring in a picnic—many do). Classic pretzels from the bakery and spiraled, salty radishes make great beer even better. Locals agree that the hot food here is not as good as the beer. Stick with the freshly cooked meat dishes: I made the mistake of choosing schnitzel, which was reheated in the microwave. For dessert—after a visit to the strudel kiosk—enjoy the incomparable floodlit view of old Salzburg from the nearby Müllnersteg pedestrian bridge and a riverside stroll home (daily 15:00-23:00, Augustinergasse 4, tel. 0662/431-246, www.augustinerbier.at).
Getting There: It’s about a 15-minute walk along the river (with the river on your right) from the Old Town side of the Staatsbrücke bridge. After passing the Müllnersteg pedestrian bridge, just after Café am Kai, follow the stairs up to a busy street, and cross it. From here, either continue up more stairs into the trees and around the small church (for a scenic approach to the monastery), or stick to the sidewalk as it curves around to Augustinergasse. Either way, your goal is the huge yellow building. Don’t be fooled by second-rate gardens serving the same beer nearby. You can also take a bus from Hanuschplatz (#7, #8, #21, #24, #27, or #28) two stops to the Landeskrankenhaus stop, right in front of the beer garden. Or you can walk down from Mönchsberg (follow signs for Mülln; see “Mönchsberg Walk” on here).
(See “Salzburg Restaurants” map, here.)
$$ Spicy Spices is a trippy vegetarian-Indian restaurant where Suresh Syal (a.k.a. “Mr. Spicy”) serves tasty curry and rice, samosas, organic salads, soups, and fresh juices. It’s a namaste kind of place, where everything’s proudly organic; everything is vegetarian, and most items are vegan (Mon-Fri 10:30-21:30, Sat 12:00-21:00, closed Sun, Wolf-Dietrich-Strasse 1, tel. 0662/870-712).
$$ Biergarten die Weisse, close to the hotels on Rupertgasse and away from the tourists, is a longtime hit with the natives. If a beer hall can be happening, this one—modern yet with antlers—is it. Their famously good beer is made right there; favorites include their fizzy wheat beer (Die Weisse Original) and their seasonal beers (ask what’s on offer). Enjoy the beer with their good, cheap, traditional food in the great garden seating, or in the wide variety of indoor rooms—sports bar, young and noisy, or older and more elegant (Mon-Sat 10:00-24:00, closed Sun, Rupertgasse 10, bus #2 to Bayerhamerstrasse or #4 to Grillparzerstrasse, tel. 0662/872-246, www.dieweisse.at, prost@dieweisse.at).
$$ Café Bazar overlooks the river between the Mirabell Gardens and the Staatsbrücke bridge. Its interior is as close as you’ll get to a Vienna coffee house in Salzburg. While service is hit-or-miss, their outdoor terrace is a venerable spot for a classy drink with an Old-Town-and-castle view (Mon-Sat 7:30-19:30, Sun 9:00-18:00, July-Aug daily until 23:00 or later, Schwarzstrasse 3, tel. 0662/874-278).
$$ L’Osteria, a local standby for Italian, has a fun energy, a youthful interior, and plenty of outside tables. It’s a hit with locals for its pizza and weekly specials, and is one of the livelier hangouts for after-hours drinks when most of the town is closed (daily 11:00-24:00, Dreifaltigkeitsgasse 10, tel. 0662/8706-5810).
$$ Zum Fidelen Affen (“The Funky Monkey”) is a reliable neighborhood eatery serving mostly traditional Austrian dishes and a few international items (pastas, big salads). The wood interior is cozy, but the big draw is the outdoor seating, which sprawls through an inviting people zone (Mon-Sat 17:00-24:00, closed Sun, Priesterhausgasse 8, tel. 0662/877-361).
$ BioBurgerMeister is a hip, crowded, order-at-the-counter place specializing in tasty American-style burgers and fries (including veggie and vegan burgers). The indoor seating is cramped—barely more than stools—but the outdoor tables on the street are pleasant (daily 11:00-22:00, across from the big church at Linzer Gasse 54, tel. 0662/265-101).
$$$$ Wasserfall is a splurge right on Linzer Gasse, serving a mostly Italian menu of pastas, meat, and fish. The sophisticated, dressy interior has an actual waterfall trickling underfoot. While popular with tourists, this is also where Salzburgers come to celebrate special occasions (Tue-Sat 17:30-22:00, closed Sun-Mon and July-mid-Aug, reservations smart, Linzer Gasse 10, tel. 0662/873-331, www.restaurant-wasserfall.at).
(See “Salzburg Restaurants” map, here.)
For a fun post-concert activity, drop in on a couple of atmospheric bars along medieval Steingasse (described on here). This is a local and hip scene—yet is accessible to older tourists: dark bars filled with well-dressed Salzburgers lazily smoking cigarettes and talking philosophy as laid-back tunes play. These places are all within about 100 yards of each other. Start at the Linzer Gasse end of Steingasse. As they are quite different, survey all before choosing your spot (all open until the wee hours). Most don’t serve food, but $ Reyna, a convenient four-table pizzeria and döner kebab shop at #3, stays open late.
Pepe Cocktail Bar, with Mexican decor and Latin music, serves cocktails and nachos (Tue-Sat 19:00 until late, closed Sun-Mon, live DJs on Sat, next door to Reyna at Steingasse 3, tel. 0662/873-662).
Saiten Sprung wins the “Best Atmosphere” award. The door is kept closed to keep out the crude and rowdy. Just ring the bell and enter its hellish interior—lots of stone and red decor, with mountains of melted wax beneath age-old candlesticks and an ambience of classic ’70s and ’80s music. Stelios, who speaks English with Greek charm, serves cocktails and fine wine, though no food (Mon-Sat 21:00-late, closed Sun except in Dec, Steingasse 11, tel. 0662/881-377).
Fridrich, two doors down, is an intimate little place under an 11th-century vault, with lots of mirrors and a silver ceiling fan. Bernd Fridrich is famous for his martinis and passionate about Austrian wines, and has a tattered collection of vinyl that seems hell-bent on keeping the 1970s alive. Their Yolanda cocktail (grapefruit and vodka) is a favorite. He and his partner Ferdinand serve little dishes designed to complement the focus on socializing and drinking, though their €15 “little bit of everything dish” can be a meal for two (Thu-Tue from 18:00, closed Wed except during festivals and Dec, Steingasse 15, tel. 0662/876-218).
By train, Salzburg is the first stop over the German-Austrian border. This means that if Salzburg is your only stop in Austria, and you’re using a rail pass that covers Germany (including the Regional Day Ticket for Bavaria) but not Austria, you don’t have to pay extra or add Austria to your pass to get here. Deutsche Bahn (German Railway) ticket machines at the Salzburg train station make it easy to buy tickets to German destinations.
From Salzburg by Train to: Füssen (roughly hourly, 4 hours on fast trains, 5 hours on slow trains—included with Regional Day Ticket for Bavaria, change in Munich and sometimes in Kaufbeuren or Buchloe), Reutte (roughly hourly, 5 hours, change in Augsburg and Kempten, or in Munich and Garmisch), Nürnberg (hourly with change in Munich, 3 hours), Hallstatt (every 30-90 minutes, 50 minutes to Attnang-Puchheim, short wait, then 1.5 hours to Hallstatt; also works well by bus—see later), Innsbruck (hourly, 2 hours), Vienna (3/hour, 3 hours), Melk (almost hourly, 2.5 hours, transfer in Amstetten), Munich (2/hour, 1.5 hours on fast trains, 2 hours on slower trains—included with Regional Day Ticket for Bavaria), Frankfurt (4/day direct, 6 hours), Ljubljana (3/day, 4.5 hours, some with change in Villach), Prague (4/day, 6 hours with change in Linz or 7.5 hours with change in Landshut), Venice (5/day, 7 hours, change in Innsbruck or Villach, short night train option). German train info: Tel. 0180-699-6633, from Austrian phone call 00-49-180-599-6633, www.bahn.com. Austrian train info: Tel. 051-717 (to get an operator, dial 2, then 2), from German phone call 00-43-51-717, www.oebb.at.
To reach Berchtesgaden, bus #840 is easier than the train (for details see here).
The bus trip to Hallstatt via Bad Ischl is cheaper, more scenic (with views of the Wolfgangsee), and only slightly slower than the train via Attnang-Puchheim—but the bus trip isn’t covered by rail passes (bus #150 to Bad Ischl—Mon-Fri nearly hourly, fewer on Sat-Sun, 1.5 hours, leaves from platform F outside Salzburg train station, also stops at Mirabellplatz and Hofwirt, tel. 0810-222-333, www.postbus.at; at Bad Ischl station, change to the train—20-minute ride to Hallstatt, then ride the boat across the lake—or continue by bus #542/543 to the Lahn section of Hallstatt with a change in Gosaumühle).
To drive on expressways in Austria, you need a toll sticker called a Vignette (€8.90/10 days, buy at the border, gas stations, car-rental agencies, or Tabak shops). You can skip the sticker if you stay off toll roads.
From Germany to Salzburg: To avoid the A-1 toll road between the German border and Salzburg, you can exit the A-8 autobahn at Bad Reichenall while you’re still in Germany, take B-20, and then B-21, which becomes B-1 as it crosses the border (this adds about 10 minutes to the drive).
From Salzburg to Innsbruck: To leave town driving west, go through the Mönchsberg tunnel and follow blue A-1 signs for Munich. It’s 1.5 hours from Salzburg to Innsbruck.
From Salzburg to Hallstatt: To avoid tolls, stick to the most direct route (B-158 via St. Gilgen). If you’re in a hurry, get on the Munich-Vienna autobahn (follow blue A-1 signs, toll sticker required), head for Vienna, exit at Thalgau (#274), and follow signs to Hof, Fuschl, and St. Gilgen. The Salzburg-Hallstatt road passes two luge rides, St. Gilgen (pleasant but touristy), and Bad Ischl (the center of the Salzkammergut, with a spa, the emperor’s villa if you need a Habsburg history fix, and a good TI, tel. 06132/277-570).
This alpine ski region, just across the border from Salzburg in a finger of German territory that pokes south into Austria, is famous for its fjord-like lake and its mountaintop Nazi retreat. Long before its association with Hitler, Berchtesgaden (BERKH-tehs-gah-dehn) was one of the classic Romantic corners of Germany. In fact, Hitler’s propagandists capitalized on the Führer’s love of this region to establish the notion that the native Austrian was “truly” German at heart.
Today, the Berchtesgaden area still exerts a powerful pull on visitors interested in Nazi history or nature. World War II buffs come here as a pilgrimage to see the remains of the Nazis’ elaborate last-ditch bunkers—now hosting a top-notch documentation center—and Hitler’s mountain retreat. Those drawn by the pristine alpine setting appreciate cruising up the romantic Königssee river to get in touch with the soul of Bavarian Romanticism, and hiking along a secluded gorge to a high waterfall. And if you have yet to do a salt-mine tour in Austria, Berchtesgaden has a good one.
Remote little Berchtesgaden can be inundated with Germans during peak season, when you may find yourself in a traffic jam of tourists desperately trying to turn their money into fun. Plan your time carefully to avoid getting stuck in lines and crowds (more tips later).
From Salzburg: Berchtesgaden is 15 miles from Salzburg, and easily connected by bus #840 (runs about hourly Mon-Fri from 8:15, 6-8/day Sat-Sun from 9:15, usually at :15 past each hour, 50 minutes, buy tickets from driver, €9.80 Tageskarte day pass covers your round trip plus local buses in Berchtesgaden—except special bus #849 up to the Eagle’s Nest; check schedules at www.svv-info.at). While bus #840 originates in front of Salzburg’s main train station, for many travelers it’s easiest to catch it at Mirabellplatz (near many recommended New Town hotels) or in Salzburg’s Old Town (on Rudolfskai, near Mozartplatz). The last bus #840 back to Salzburg from Berchtesgaden departs at 18:15 (on weekends, this bus requires an easy change at the border; the 17:15 departure is direct).
In a pinch, you can also take the train between Salzburg and Berchtesgaden (via Freilassing)—but it takes twice as long and isn’t as scenic.
From Munich: It’s easiest to take the train (almost hourly, 2.5-3 hours, change in Freilassing or Salzburg).
Berchtesgaden’s sights are excellent, but especially packed during the busy summer months of June through September (sunny weekends attract huge crowds). That means you’ll have to be selective.
If your priority is the Nazi sites, plan your day around David and Christine Harper’s half-day tour (see “Tours in Berchtesgaden,” later). For a leisurely pace, take the bus at 10:15 or 11:15, poke around a bit, and meet the tour at the TI at 13:15. The tour ends in time for the last bus back at 18:15.
To squeeze in more sights, leave Salzburg on the 8:15 bus (Mon-Fri) and head directly for the salt mines, Königssee (boat trip), or the Almbach Gorge (hiking); as long as you’re at any of these sights by 9:00 or 9:30, you should avoid the worst of the crowds that descend later in the day, and still make it to the 13:15 Nazi sites tour in time. (This is trickier on weekends, when the first bus is at 9:15—expect a longer wait at sights.) Bus #840 stops at both the salt mines and the gorge on the way into town; to reach Königssee, you’ll have to change buses at the Berchtesgaden station. (Doing more than one of these in addition to the tour is not realistic—unless you have a car or it’s an exceptionally uncrowded day.)
Note that the Eagle’s Nest opens for the season in mid-May and closes in late October (confirm dates at www.kehlsteinhaus.de). Even if it’s closed, it’s still worthwhile to tour the excellent documentation center and visit the area’s other sights.
Most of the area’s major sights are just outside of the small town of Berchtesgaden (pop. 7,500). The hub of activity is the train station, with the bus terminal out front facing a huge roundabout that spans the confluence of two rivers; the TI and parking lots are across the roundabout from the station. From here, buses fan out to the various outlying sights: To the north (along the road to Salzburg) are the salt mine and the Almbach Gorge; in the foothills to the east is Obersalzberg, with the documentation center and the remains of some Hitler-era bunkers; high on the adjacent mountaintop to the east (called Kehlstein in German) is the Eagle’s Nest; and to the south is the long, skinny Königssee, which cuts deep into alpine peaks. The old center of Berchtesgaden, bypassed by most tourists, is up the hill behind the station (use the bridge over the tracks).
Remember, you’re in Germany. To call a Berchtesgaden phone number from an Austrian phone, dial 00-49 and then the number (dropping the initial zero).
By Bus: Berchtesgaden’s central bus terminal (ZOB) is just in front of the train station, which has baggage lockers (along the train platform), free WCs (near the Burger King), a few basic eateries, and history (specifically, its vintage 1937 Nazi architecture and the murals in the main hall). The oversized station was built to accommodate (and intimidate) the hordes of Hitler fans who flocked here in hopes of seeing the Führer. The building next to the station, just beyond the round tower, was Hitler’s own V.I.P. reception area.
By Car: Drivers follow signs for P - Zentrum - i, which lead you to the main roundabout at the station. You can park free for 30 minutes in front of the TI (marked with a red i). For a longer stay, use the lot across the street (free, 2-hour limit but rarely enforced) or the pay Salinenplatz lot by the train station. All the outlying sights have their own parking.
The TI is across the roundabout from the train station, in the yellow building with green shutters (Mon-Fri 8:30-18:00, Sat 9:00-17:00, Sun 9:00-15:00; shorter hours and closed Sun Oct-mid-May; German tel. 08652/9670, www.berchtesgaden.com). You may want to pick up the local-bus schedule (Fahrplan, €0.30).
All of these buses except #849 leave from the train station, run about hourly, and are covered by the Tageskarte from Salzburg. Check timetables at www.rvo-bus.de, or call German tel. 08652/94480.
Bus #840 connects Berchtesgaden to Salzburg, also stopping at the salt mine (Salzbergwerk stop, 7 minutes from Berchtesgaden) and the Almbach Gorge (Kugelmühle stop, 12 minutes)—allowing you to hop off at either sight on your way into or out of town. For more on this bus, see here.
Buses #837 and #848 also go to the salt mine.
Bus #838 goes to the Obersalzberg Documentation Center and Bunker (Obersalzberg stop, 12 minutes).
Bus #841 goes to the Königssee (Königssee stop, 9 minutes).
Bus #849 is the only way to reach the Eagle’s Nest, connecting from the Obersalzberg Documentation Center (for details, see here).
In a pinch, taxis are standing by at the train station (figure €8 to the salt mine, €12 to the Königssee, or €14 to Obersalzberg).
For 20 years, David and Christine Harper—who rightly consider this visit more an educational opportunity than simple sightseeing—have organized thoughtful tours of the Hitler-related sites near Berchtesgaden. Their bus tours, usually led by native English speakers, depart from the TI. Tours start by driving through the remains of the Nazis’ Obersalzberg complex, then visit the bunkers underneath the documentation center, and end with a guided visit to the Eagle’s Nest (€53/person, €3 discount with this book, includes admissions, English only, daily at 13:15 mid-May-late Oct, 4 hours, 30 people maximum, reservations strongly recommended, private tours available, German tel. 08652/64971, www.eagles-nest-tours.com). If you’re visiting near the beginning or end of the season, be aware that tours will be canceled if it’s snowing at the Eagle’s Nest.
David and Christine also do half-day private tours, which are more flexible and tailored to your interests (€250 for up to 4 people, €300 for up to 8 people); they also do great Sound of Music tours to Salzburg that begin in Berchtesgaden (better quality than the competition, but practical only if you’re based in Berchtesgaden).
While Salzburg-based tour companies (including Bob’s Special Tours, www.bobstours.com, and Panorama tours, www.panoramatours.com) offer half- and full-day tours to Berchtesgaden, I don’t recommend them except as a last resort. They take you to (but not into) the sights described here—meaning that you pay the tour price for the same transport that you can buy yourself for about €10 from Salzburg. Even on the full-day tours, you cannot see both the Eagle’s Nest and the Obersalzberg Documentation Center—you have to choose between them. Instead, take David and Christine Harper’s tour, or visit the documentation center and Eagle’s Nest on your own by bus.
Early in his career as a wannabe tyrant, Adolf Hitler had a radical friend who liked to vacation in Berchtesgaden, and through him Hitler came to know and love this dramatic corner of Bavaria. Berchtesgaden’s part-Bavarian, part-Austrian character held a special appeal to the Austrian-German Hitler. In the 1920s, just out of prison, he checked into an alpine hotel in Obersalzberg, three miles uphill from Berchtesgaden, to finish work on his memoir and Nazi primer, Mein Kampf. Because it was here that he claimed to be inspired and laid out his vision, some call Obersalzberg the “cradle of the Third Reich.”
In the 1930s, after becoming the German Chancellor, Hitler chose Obersalzberg as the place to build his mountain retreat, a supersized alpine farmhouse called the Berghof—the Nazis’ answer to Camp David. His handlers crafted Hitler’s image here—surrounded by nature, gently receiving alpine flowers from adoring little children, lounging around with farmers in lederhosen...no modern arms industry, no big-time industrialists, no ugly extermination camps. In reality, Obersalzberg was home to much more than Hitler’s alpine chalet. It was a huge compound of 80 buildings—fenced off from the public after 1936, and connected by extensive bunkers—where the major decisions leading up to World War II were hatched. Hitler himself spent about a third of his time at the Berghof, hosted world leaders in the compound, and later had it prepared for his last stand.
Some mistakenly call the entire area “Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest.” That name actually belongs only to the Kehlsteinhaus, a small mountaintop chalet on a 6,000-foot peak that juts up two miles south of Obersalzberg. (A visiting diplomat humorously dubbed it the “Eagle’s Nest,” and the name stuck.) In 1939, it was given to the Führer for his 50th birthday. While a fortune was spent building this perch and the road up to it, Hitler, who was afraid of heights, visited only 14 times. Hitler’s mistress, Eva Braun, though, liked to hike up to the Eagle’s Nest to sunbathe.
In April 1945, Britain’s Royal Air Force bombed the Obersalzberg compound nearly flat, but missed the difficult-to-target Eagle’s Nest entirely. Almost all of what survived the bombing at Obersalzberg was blown up in 1952 by the Allies—who wanted to leave nothing as a magnet for future neo-Nazi pilgrims—before they turned the site over to the German government. The most extensive surviving remains are of the Nazis’ bunker system, intended to serve as a last resort for the regime as the Allies closed in. In the 1990s, a museum—the Obersalzberg Documentation Center—was built on top of one of the bunkers. The museum and bunker, plus the never-destroyed Eagle’s Nest, are the Nazi sites worth seeing near Berchtesgaden.
With a fine museum and the chance to walk through a network of bunkers (all that survives from Hitler’s original Berghof complex), this site provides an informative and sobering look at Nazi history.
Cost and Hours: €3 covers both museum and bunker; daily 9:00-17:00; Nov-March Tue-Sun 10:00-15:00, closed Mon; last entry one hour before closing, allow 1.5 hours for visit, essential €2 audioguide, German tel. 08652/947-960, www.obersalzberg.de.
Getting There: Hop on bus #838 from Berchtesgaden’s train station (Obersalzberg stop, then a 5-minute walk). Drivers follow signs for Obersalzberg and Kehlstein, then park for free at the documentation center (lot P1 is near the Eagle’s Nest bus stop, while P2 is closer to the museum and bunker).
Visiting the Museum and Bunker: From the parking lot or bus stop, walk down past the big restaurant to reach the entrance.
The small but well-presented museum—while lacking many actual artifacts—does a fine job of explaining the history of the site, and offers a concise and powerful overview of Nazi history. If you’re visiting other documentation centers on your trip (in Nürnberg or Berlin, for example), this is a rerun. If not, it’s well worth your time. There’s very little English, so rent the audioguide and follow the one-way route.
First head upstairs, with exhibits about this notorious site, including the propagandists based here who cultivated a gauzy cult of personality around their mountain-loving Führer. (A subtitled 28-minute film gives eyewitness accounts of the Berghof during Hitler’s heyday.) Head back down to the main floor for a look at the Nazi state and their crimes: profiles of 15 key players, from Himmler to Goebbels to Göring; the Volksgemeinschaft propaganda that convinced everyday Germans of their ethnic purity; and methods of terror, from the SS to concentration camps. A children’s book is filled with anti-Semitic stereotypes, and a map of the concentration camp network illustrates how all roads led to Auschwitz.
Head downstairs. On your way to the bunkers, you’ll pass a series of exhibits on World War II, demonstrating how this place was Hitler’s “second center of power” after Berlin.
Finally, you enter the vast and complex Platterhof bunker system. Construction began in 1943, after the Battle of Stalingrad ended the Nazi aura of invincibility. This is a professionally engineered underground town, which held meeting rooms, offices, archives for the government, and lavish living quarters for Hitler—all connected by four miles of tunnels cut through solid rock by slave labor. You can’t visit all of it, and what you can see was stripped and looted bare after the war. (Look for graffiti from French soldiers, Italian forced laborers, and American GIs.) But enough is left that you can wander among the concrete and marvel at megalomania gone mad.
Today, the chalet that Hitler ignored is basically a three-room, reasonably priced restaurant with a scenic terrace, 100 yards below the summit of a mountain. You could say it’s like any alpine hiking hut, just more massively built. On a nice day, the views are magnificent. If it’s fogged in (which it often is), most people won’t find it worth coming up here (except on David and Christine Harper’s tours—described earlier—which can make the building come to life even without a view). Bring a jacket, and prepare for crowds in summer (less crowded if you go early or late in the day).
From the upper bus stop, a finely crafted tunnel (which had me humming the Get Smart TV theme song) leads to the original polished-brass elevator, which takes you the last 400 feet up to the Eagle’s Nest. Wander into the fancy back dining room (the best-preserved from Hitler’s time), where you can see the once-sleek marble fireplace chipped up by souvenir-seeking troops in 1945.
Cost and Hours: Free, generally open mid-May-late Oct, snowfall sometimes forces a later opening or earlier closing—dates listed at www.kehlsteinhaus.de.
Getting There: The only way to reach the Eagle’s Nest—even if you have your own car—is by specially equipped bus #849, which leaves from the documentation center and climbs steeply up the one-way, private road—Germany’s highest (every 25 minutes, 15-minute ride, €16.10 round-trip, Tageskarte day passes not valid, look for Kehlstein Busabfahrt signs, buy ticket from windows, last bus up 16:00, last bus down 16:50, free parking at documentation center).
At the Berchtesgaden salt mines, you put on traditional miners’ outfits, get on funny little trains, and zip deep into the mountain. On the 1.5-hour tour (which includes time to get into and back out of your miner’s gear), you’ll cruise subterranean lakes; slide speedily down two long, slick, wooden banisters; and learn how they mined salt so long ago. Call ahead for crowd-avoidance advice; when the weather gets bad, this place is mobbed with a two-hour wait for the next open tour. Tours are in German, but English speakers get audioguides.
Cost and Hours: €16.50, daily 9:00-17:00, Nov-April 11:00-15:00—these are last-entry times, German tel. 08652/600-20, www.salzbergwerk.de.
Getting There: The mines are a 20-minute walk along the river or quick bus ride (#837, #840, or #848—see “Getting around Berchtesgaden,” earlier). If you have extra time, you can take a longer, more interesting 35-minute walk from the station to the mines through Berchtesgaden’s Old Town. Drivers look for the Salzbergwerk and P signs at the northern edge of town (on the Salzburg road). You’ll pay €3.50 to park, then walk five minutes to the mine (follow signs through the pedestrian underpass and over the river).
Three miles south of Berchtesgaden, the idyllic Königssee stretches like a fjord through pristine mountain scenery to the dramatically situated Church of St. Bartholomä and beyond. While this is a stunner on a nice day, it’s only mildly entertaining when it’s socked in. And if you’ll be rushing back to town for a tour or a bus back to Salzburg, think carefully before sailing the Königssee—figure at least two hours round-trip to St. Bartholomä and three hours round-trip to Salet.
Getting There: Bus #841 goes from the Berchtesgaden train station to Königssee. Walkers can take the scenically woodsy, reasonably flat 1.5-hour walk (well-signed). Drivers pay €4 to park. From the parking lot and bus stop (with WCs, ATMs, and a TI), a brick path leads five minutes downhill to the lakeshore through a thicket of souvenir stores selling marmot-fat ointment, quartz chunks, carved birdhouses, lederhosen, dirndls, and “superpretzels.”
Boat Trips: The big draw at Königssee are the scenic boat trips. Most visitors simply go as far as St. Bartholomä, poke around the church there, eat some smoked fish, then take the boat back (35 minutes each way, €14.50 round-trip). You can stay on the boat 15 minutes longer to Salet, which is less crowded and offers a fine 15-minute hike to the smaller lake called Obersee (€17.50 round-trip). Boats, going at a sedate Bavarian speed, are filled with Germans chuckling at the captain’s commentary. For the best view, sit on the right going out, and on the left heading back. At a rock cliff midway through the journey, your captain stops, and the first mate pulls out a trumpet to demonstrate the fine echo. Boats leave with demand (generally 2-4/hour, first boat around 8:30, last boat back between 18:00 and 19:00 depending on season—ask at ticket desk, runs late April-mid-Oct, no boats off-season, German tel. 08652/96360, www.seenschifffahrt.de). Boats fill up, especially in nice weather (between 10:00 and 11:00 in July-Aug are the worst)—at the ticket windows, you’ll get a set departure time. Later in the day, return boats (especially from St. Bartholomä) can be packed; if you’re rushing to get back to town, keep an eye on queues for the return boats.
St. Bartholomä: The remote, red-onion-domed Church of St. Bartholomä (once the home of a monastery, then a hunting lodge of the Bavarian royal family) is surrounded by a fine beer garden, rustic fishermen’s pub, and inviting lakeside trails. The family next to St. Bartholomä’s lives in the middle of this national park and has a license to fish—so very fresh, caught-and-smoked-today trout is the lunchtime favorite. (Look for the Fischerei; you can get a filet on a baguette to go for about €4.) For a heartier meal, there’s also an outpost of the Hofbräuhaus. Just up from the boat-dock area is a cluster of houses with a national park center (small German-only exhibit). Here you can get advice for hikes, which are well-signposted. The Eiskappelle “glacier” is about 1.25 hours one-way; for an easier hike, go only partway, to the river called Eisgraben. Or follow the easy 30-minute St. Bartholomä-Rundweg loop along the lakeshore.
This short, popular hike is a good option for nature lovers who come to see Berchtesgaden’s Nazi sites, then want to fill up the rest of the day hiking along a stream-filled gorge. Though not a world-class attraction, it is an enjoyable way to spend two or three hours. Most visitors do it as roughly a four-mile round-trip, though you can go farther if you wish.
Getting There: Take bus #840 to the Kugelmühle stop (12 minutes toward Salzburg from Berchtesgaden) and check the next bus times—two hours between buses is enough for a quick visit, three hours for a leisurely one. Walk five minutes along Kugelmühlweg (following the Almbachklamm signs) to the trailhead. Drivers simply turn off the Salzburg road at Almbachklamm signs and turn left along Kugelmühlweg to reach the free parking lot.
Visiting the Gorge: First you’ll see the $$ Gasthaus zur Kugelmühle, which serves meals and drinks in a pleasant setting (daily 11:30-19:30, German tel. 08650/461, www.gasthaus-kugelmuehle.de). In front of the restaurant is an old wooden apparatus for shaping marble blocks into round toy spheres (hence the name—Kugel means ball, Mühle means mill).
Just beyond is a gate where you pay €3 to enter the gorge; pick up a map and get hiking advice here (daily May-Oct 8:00-18:00; gorge closed in winter). A rushing stream cascades through the gorge, which the trail crosses and recrosses on numbered steel bridges. The trail is well-maintained and exciting, and accessible to anyone who is reasonably fit, sure-footed, and wearing sturdy shoes. However, it’s not appropriate for young children because the path has some steep, unguarded drop-offs that could land kids in the cold water. Expect some narrow and slippery parts, and take advantage of the handrails and steel cables strung along some portions for support. You can just walk up as far as you have time for, but the high Sulzer waterfall by bridge #19 is a traditional turn-around point. The walk there and back can be done in two hours at a good clip, but allowing three hours makes for a more pleasant visit. To gain some altitude, on the way back at bridge #17, hike up to the Mesnerwirt Chapel.