Most know Saltzburg as the birthplace of Mozart. Others may remember the 1965 movie: “The Sound of Music” with Julia Andrews which was filmed in the region and based on local Maria von Trapp.
To be honest, I never really knew the extent of how influential Austria once was until we saw a show depicting the monarchy of King Ludwig II.
Austria used to be a huge empire but after losing the Austro-Prussian War in 1866 it lost a lot of territory including the land that became the German Empire in 1871. A few years before, in 1859, it had lost Lombardy in the Italian War for Independence. It is now a small, landlocked country in Central Europe. Of course, much of Europe and much of the world has gone through power struggles and transformations over the years.
There is a lot of history and add to that the beautiful backdrop of the Alps and pristine mountain lakes and there is no doubt that Austria a very scenic place to visit.
Saltzburg was initially a Roman settlement named Juvavum dating back to 15 BCE. The city as it is known today got its start in AD 696 with the founding of St. Peter’s Abbey which still remains the oldest functioning monastery in Austria. The name Saltzburg means Salt Castle.
At the time, salt was considered the white gold as it was both a spice and a preservative. Saltzburg held a monopoly on salt mining and was in an important trade route with Italy.
The monumental Hohensalzburg Fortress construction was started in 1077 with the salt profits. Saltzburg became known as the Rome of the North. It has a university founded in 1622 that is one of the oldest in Europe.
A Few Days in Salzburg, Austria
We spent three nights in Saltzburg to have two full days to explore. We managed to see much of the city in one full day and dedicated our second day to seeing the beautiful countryside.
We stayed at the Sheraton Grand Salzburg which proved to be just on the edge of the Old Town but close enough that we could comfortably walk. Our room actually had a view of the Mirabell Palace and Gardens that was next door. And this was the first thing we set out to see on our first day.
Places to see in Salzburg’s Old Town
Mirabell Gardens
The gardens are open late, so we wandered through these and they were quite nice.
There seemed to be a modern art festival or something and there were about a hundred mini-Mozart statues laid out everywhere in the garden.
The park is beautiful with lots of flowers many statues, sculptures and fountains.
Mirabell Palace
The palace itself had a nice marble staircase with Roman statues and cherubs on the balcony railing. There was not much to see here but we had a quick look as it was closed on Sunday (the following day).
Mozart’s Birthplace
We visited Mozart’s Birthplace where you can enter his modest home and see a bit of what it was like way back then.
The place has been turned into a small museum with artifacts and clippings and letters as well as many of Mozart’s childhood souvenirs.
Mozart was already a prodigy at 5 doing concerts and going on tour at 8. He was a composer and leading the Salzburg orchestra at 14. Incredible but true!
Mozart Residence
Just across the Salzach River you can also visit his former residence and learn more about his life. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart passed away on December 5, 1791, at only 35 and shortly after conducting his opera: The Magic Flute. In only three decades he left a legacy for the world which is still to this day quite amazing.
Fortress Hohensalzburg
The impressive hilltop Hohensalzburg Fortress can be seen for miles around Salzburg and its truly impressive. It was built to protect the Archdiocese of Salzburg during a major religious and political conflict between the Pope and the Roman Emperor.
A funicular takes you up and down and the ticket was included with the Saltzburg Card. (You can even skip the ticket line and go straight to the machine with your QR code). We must say that the Saltzburg Card was a great investment. For €49 we got at least €200 of value had we taken separate tickets everywhere.
Once you get up to the castle you are in the ramparts and you can explore and get some great views.
Our visit started with a small puppet museum that was fun to see.
Then it was the main fortress museum with exhibits about the history of Saltzburg from the 5th to the 15th century, the medieval period.
Hohensalzburg Fortress is one of the biggest castles in Europe and was built with the profits from the salt mines.
Be sure to check out the Princely Staterooms with the intricately carved doorways and lavishly decorated ceilings.
Remember to peek out the windows for great views of the city.
There is also a regiment museum showing old rifles and bayonets and various military uniforms through the ages.
Be sure to also look into St. George’s Chapel in the main courtyard. The church was built in 1501 in a late gothic style.
Salzburg Cathedral
This beautiful and monumental cathedral was first built in 774 but destroyed by fire and rebuild in 1628. It was then destroyed by a bomb in 1944 and rebuilt in 1959. Notice the three gates up front with the different reconstruction dates on them.
There are seven organs in the cathedral, and we got to hear one playing and already that was pretty amazing. A classical concert here must be fabulous!
There is a lot of detailed plaster work and while you can see that it was redone it’s impressive all the same.
DomQuartier Salzburg Museum
This was a beautiful museum where you could see lavish staterooms with nice furnishings and tapestries. All the murals on the ceilings were spectacular. One of the tapestries made with woven silk, gold, and silver on wool really stood out and almost glowed.
We had the audio guide that gave various tidbits of information about life at the time. Sometimes guests would have to stand for hours waiting for the Prince-Archbishop to come and meet them for an audience.
There were also lavish banquets and dinners which were sometimes open to all of the Prince-Archbishop’s subjects if appropriately dressed and not having any visible rashes the audio guide said. They could watch him dine and see that he actually existed and was healthy and able to rule.
The chefs went all out creating cakes and candies with the portraits of the guests and even full battle scenes or hunting scenes made with pasties and fruits.
On the second floor we found an interesting Saint Francis exhibit with beautiful displays related to animals and birds. A nice saying from a Canadian missionary of Saint Francis (Brother Gabriel Sagard) read: “Whosoever does not treat animals humanely will deal likewise with his fellow men.”
In the Cabinet of Curiosities there were some of the finest and elaborate ivory scene carvings we had ever seen, remarkable works of art.
Take a peek at the cathedral façade too as you pass by inside the museum that’s located across the street.
This museum was larger than we thought and well worth the visit.
Salzburg Christmas Museum
We are Christmas ornament collectors ourselves and sometimes wonder how we will get everything into our tree. We are humbled by the private collection shown in this lovely museum.
Over a period of almost 40 years, Ursula Kloiber has grown an exquisite collection of Christmas ornaments and artifacts most of which date back to between 1840 and 1940.
Originally for Christmas, edible ornaments such as meringues, apples, nuts and candies were used to decorate a tree. It was only near the second half of the 19th century that decorative non-edible ornaments were used.
After an enjoyable visit and of course buying an ornament or two for our own collection, We made our way to the downstairs cafe where we found a nice surprise. Some cremeschnitte, a nice memory from Croatia consisting of thick custard cream between two wafers topped with sugar. The waiter told us this was the only place in Saltzburg to get it. Lucky us.
St. Peter Stiftskulinarium
For dinner, we had reserved ahead at the oldest restaurant in Europe: St. Peter Stiftskulinarium. It has amazingly been in existence since 803!
We had a fantastic meal and great service. We had wiener schnitzel (by far the best of many that we tried!) and duck à l’orange. There was a delicious salad with passion fruit dressing and stewed apricots. They served a homemade lingonberry marmalade which was better than cranberry sauce with the schnitzel.
For dessert we had Salzburger Nockerl (an egg soufflé shaped like three mountains) it is a locally created concoction conceived 300 years ago by a woman that wanted to surprise her husband. It is served on a bed of whipped cream with cranberries and is supposedly ONLY available in Saltzburg. So yummy!
Places to visit near Salzburg
The next day we headed out with the car to get further afield.
Hellbrunn Palace
We loved this whimsical castle filled with trick fountains, grottoes, water machines, and mechanical theaters. Admission was also included in our Saltzburg Card, and it was only 10 minutes by car from the hotel.
There is a nice park full of huge dahlias as you enter and there is also The Sound of Music pavilion where the film captures a dance at this very same gazebo where a local youthful actress, Charmian Carr, sang “Sixteen Going on Seventeen”.
A humorous fountain with a monster face that rolls its eyes and sticks out its tongue at you when a basket of water fills greets you near the entrance. And kind of sets the mood.
Even with our Salzburg tourist card we had to wait in line for a paper ticket so do stop by the office. The fountain tickets are timed entries so be sure to check the time on your ticket carefully and don’t linger in the palace too long and miss the show.
The Hellbrunn Palace itself was quite beautiful with animals and birds painted on walls with some more modern art style decorations.
The palace was built originally as a pleasure villa outside the city for Prince-Archbishop Markus Sittikus. Diversion was considered a cure all and surprise was somewhat of a catalyst. Maybe the archbishop just had a great sense of humor as the amusing trick fountains had us all laughing even today.
Hellbrunn Palace was built between 1613 and 1615. The architect is thought to be the same Italian master builder that made the Saltzburg Cathedral.
We won’t ruin it for anyone by giving away the surprises, but we’ll just say that the hidden surprise fountains are a lot of fun and on a hot day we didn’t mind a little spray here and there. Don’t wear anything that can’t take a little water.
There is also a wonderful display of beautiful mechanical theaters run by water pressure. Water comes from the mountains and turns pumps that make various scenes come to life.
Our next stop was to take a cable car up the hill just a few minutes away.
Untersbergbahn GmbH cable car
Also included with the Saltzburg Card (€35 each without!) is the mountain cable car of Unterbergbahn GmbH.
It whisks you up to an amazing height of 1320 m (4330 ft) and you get great views of the Alps, Saltzburg and the Hohensalzburg Fortress in the distance.
We did a small hike up to the cross on top for great views. We later saw the peak from our hotel window and recognized it.
Next, we wanted to see more of the Alps and some of those beautiful lakes.
Königssee (King’s Lake), Germany
Less than an hour’s drive away was the picturesque municipality of Schönau am Königssee. We picked it because not only was it closer than some other well-known scenic spots but there was a huge central parking which was convenient and just 5 minutes’ walk from the water.
Königssee is Germany’s cleanest and deepest lake, located in Bavaria’s Berchtesgaden Alps. It’s like a fjord between towering mountains. Only electric and row boats have been allowed to operate here since 1909.
Unfortunately, we didn’t find any real good place to change for swimming. But we did manage to get on the tour boats that go to Salet and stop at the Pilgrimage Church of St. Bartholomew.
It’s a 2-hour cruise in total bringing you back to the pier and it operated like a hop-on hop-off. Being close to the end of the day we stayed on the boat and just enjoyed the sites not wanting to risk getting off and missing the last ship back. If you make a day of it, you can get off in both spots and explore a bit.
At one point during the cruise, they stopped the boat and the captain whipped out and played a bugle horn and the echo off the cliffs would come back a couple of seconds later which was a very cool demonstration.
The old teak boats are varnished to a shine and look great as they cruise silently on the emerald-green lake.
The old picturesque Church of St. Bartholomew on the banks next to a valley and meadow makes for a postcard like picture.
We finished our day with a nice dinner at the local Königssee Hotel which has been there since 1812. The portions were huge and while we were sure desert would have been great, we just could not do it. My husband had a pig’s knuckle, a local specialty, which looked about the size of a roast for a family of four!
Back to Salzburg, Austria
Driving back, we dropped the car at the hotel and thought we’d go for a last walk in the Old Town but about 5 minutes into it the wind started swirling and lightening stared flashing and we could feel a downpour coming so we dashed back to the room just in time to avoid the sheets of rain.
Next morning we looked out the window and the sun was out. We got one last look at the fortress and the spires of the cathedral and as we looked into the distance, we also recognized the tall mountain peak that we had taken the cable car up to the prior day. Our small phone zooms could barely make out the small house at the top, but it was cool to see it right out there from our hotel window.
Conclusion
As we packed up and planned for a hearty breakfast before heading back onto our road trip in Bavaria, we were happy to have seen this picturesque area of the world. It was a wonderful place to spend our wedding anniversary.
We did all the tourist sites on our list in one fully packed day. Yes, we did over 20k steps, and it was a lot of walking but with only two full days to explore Salzburg it gave us a chance to do the other further afield sights which we also really enjoyed.
Tips
- Get the Saltzburg Card (it really paid off as for €49 we probably saved at least €200 on what individual tickets would have cost)
- Take the funicular up to the Hohensalzburg Fortress (the walk up didn’t look all that scenic)
- Do take the Untersbergbahn GmbH cable car for spectacular views of the Alps and environs
- Eat at Europe’s oldest restaurant, St. Peter Stiftskulinarium (serving patrons for over 1,200 years)
- Try the specialty desert from Saltzburg, the Salzburger Nockerl, an egg soufflé shaped like three mountain peaks
While we might be back one day on a Christmas cruise (in the planning stages at present) we felt good about what we saw and satisfied to have experienced Saltzburg and its environs in the time we had. We ate enough wiener schnitzel to last us a while! We tried the local (only in Saltzburg) 3 mountain peak dessert soufflé, and we felt we got a good sense of the history having seen three of King Ludwig’s II most famous castles in Germany. We would have one more of Ludwig’s castles to see in Munich and we were excited to see that next.