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Salzburg, the capital of the Austrian federal state that shares its name, sits on the Salzach right by the border with Germany. Tours in the city and day trips from Vienna take you around the old town and the Mirabell gardens, up the Mönchsberg past Hohensalzburg Fortress, and sometimes out to the lakes of the Salzkammergut, the places where The Sound of Music was filmed, or a Christmas market.
On 1 January 2020 the city had 155,021 inhabitants, and in 2018 its municipal area measured 65.65 square kilometres. The city and its river both take their names from the salt trade. The Salzach crosses Austria and Germany before it flows into the Inn, so its water ends up in the Danube basin.
Salzburg is a border city. Freilassing, a town on the German side, and the District of Berchtesgadener Land lie along one edge of the municipality, and the Salzburg-Umgebung District along the rest. In Salzburg the Mönchsberg rises to 508 m (1,667 ft) above sea level.
The Altstadt, the old town, is one of the city's districts, and much of what visitors come for stands here: Salzburg Cathedral, a Catholic cathedral, Hohensalzburg Fortress, the Residenzplatz with the Residenzbrunnen fountain, and Nonnberg Abbey, a religious community whose abbey church, the Stiftskirche Nonnberg, is part of the abbey. The cathedral, the square and the abbey are all listed monuments.
Mozart's birthplace, the town house in which Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born, is also in the Altstadt; today it is a museum run by the International Mozarteum Foundation and a listed building too. Nearby, the Getreidegasse takes its name from Getreide, the German word for grain, and meets the Kranzlmarkt, the Rathausplatz and the Hagenauerplatz.
Mirabell Palace is another listed monument, and its grounds, the Mirabellgarten, are laid out as a formal French garden. Hellbrunn Palace, also within the city, includes the Hellbrunn Rock Theatre. The city is also home to the Salzburg Festival, a music festival.
In the city, the Segway tour of the old town, the castle and the mountain crosses the Salzach and rolls through a string of squares, among them the Old Market Square, the University Square and the Cathedral Square, then climbs the Mönchsberg past Hohensalzburg Fortress to viewpoints over the rooftops such as the Richterhöhe and the terrace of the Museum of Modern Art. It comes back down through medieval lanes and along the river and finishes at Mirabell Palace and its gardens, with a guide all the way. The Sound of Music tour with a cooking class takes a small group to the film locations: the Do-Re-Mi steps and the Pegasus Fountain in the Mirabell gardens, a photo stop at Leopoldskron Palace across its lake, the gazebo in the gardens of Hellbrunn Palace and the gate of Nonnberg Abbey. The drive then passes Lake Fuschl and the Wolfgangsee on the way to St. Gilgen and the basilica of Mondsee, where the wedding scene was filmed, and the day ends with a hands-on class in which you cook a traditional Austrian dish.
From Vienna, the small-group day trip travels by minivan with pickup and drop-off at your hotel or apartment. It stops at St. Michael's Basilica in Mondsee, the church of the film's wedding scene, and at St. Gilgen on the Wolfgangsee; in Salzburg a local guide shows you the Mirabell gardens and the Do-Re-Mi steps, Mozart's birthplace, the cathedral and St. Peter's Abbey, with a taste of Mozartkugeln chocolates, before free time in the old town. The private day with a local guide collects you in Vienna; the guided walk covers the Mirabell gardens and palace, the Makartsteg footbridge over the Salzach and the Cathedral Square, free time follows, and the drive back passes the Mondsee and the Drachenwand cliff. The private trip to Schloss Ort, Hallstatt and Salzburg also collects you in Vienna, with a driver for the whole day: you walk the wooden bridge to Schloss Ort, a castle on an island in the Traunsee, see the village of Hallstatt, and end in the old town of Salzburg, with Hohensalzburg Fortress, Mirabell Palace and the cathedral.
In the festive season, the Christmas market trip from Vienna pairs a guided stroll through the heart of Salzburg, from the Mirabell gardens to St. Peter's Abbey, Mozart's birthplace and the cathedral, with free time among the stalls of the city's Christmas market, and on the way back it calls at the festive markets of St. Gilgen and St. Wolfgang.
More tours in and around the city are on the Salzburg destination page.
Yes. Four of the tours on this page go there and back from Vienna within the day, in a small group or privately, and all of them include time in the old town.
The small-group trips from Vienna and the guided private day include a guided walk through the old town, and the Segway tour and the Sound of Music tour are guided too. The Schloss Ort and Hallstatt trip comes with a driver instead.
Yes. The Sound of Music tour visits the Mirabell gardens, Leopoldskron Palace, Hellbrunn Palace and Nonnberg Abbey, and the small-group trip from Vienna stops at the basilica in Mondsee.
The film tour stops at the abbey gate. The convent itself is closed to visitors.
Yes, a small-group trip from Vienna visits the Christmas market of Salzburg's old town and two more in St. Gilgen and St. Wolfgang.
Sources: Wikidata (CC0).
