What to do in Salzburg | Best Sites

In late October, my best friend and I decided to go for a weekend to Salzburg, Austria.  If you grew up in America, chances are you have watched the Sound of Music (Except a certain someone I know whose reading this….cough cough my boyfriend lol).  For those who don’t remember, the Sound of Music takes place in Salzburg.  One of our main driving factors of going to Salzburg was to take the Sound of Music tour.  I mean you can’t go all the way to Europe and be a short plane flight from being able to channel your inner Maria and not take that opportunity after all! So we booked our tickets to the birthplace of Mozart, and flew the hour flight over the Alps to the beautiful Salzburg! We were really only there for a full day before having to fly back to Köln, so we packed as much into our Saturday as humanly possible!

If you’re taking a quick trip to Salzburg and are wondering what all to do, look no further!  Here are my suggestions on what to do in Salzburg, while not spending a fortune, cause a gal on the go has to have money for all of her weekend trips after all!

My Airbnb experience in Salzburg is by far my favorite one ever! So good in fact, I spent 30 mins just trying to find my host’s Airbnb listing to link it here so y’all can book with him, but I couldn’t find it. We had booked a private room near the river in the new town, but only about a 10 min walk to the Old Town. The accommodations were nice, but our host was the highlight of the experience! When he got home from work he came and knocked on our door wanting to talk, which at first was a little odd, but y’all, he was hilarious and super nice!  Turns out he was a student studying hospitality and tourism and figured renting out his spare room for Airbnb would be a good way to get experience.  He made sure that we were booked for the Sound of Music tour because if we weren’t then obviously we were lying about being American. He also gave us other suggestions and made fun of how guys can be dicks. I think we ended up talking for 2 hours before turning in for the night. Why book a hotel, when you can get a cheaper and more cultural experience at an Airbnb?

We booked our tour with Panorama Tours for 45 Euro which was roughly 52 US dollars at the time. Our host wasn’t kidding about the whole American thing.  It was only Americans on the Tour.  Apparently Sound of Music is only really popular in the States.  With that said, the tour was 4 hours and took us to most of the filming locations in Salzburg.  Fun Fact: The opening scene with Maria singing on the mountain top is in Bavaria, not Austria! Needless to say, I didn’t get to twirl and sing the “Hills are Alive with the Sound of Music”. Oh well…  The tour does take you too Schloss Leopoldskron ( The house where the Trapp family lived), Hellbrunn Palace ( where a lot of scenes were filmed), Mirabell Gardens (“Do, a deer, a female deer…”), The Gazebo (“You are sixteen going on seventeen”), and Church Mondsee (Where the Captain and Maria get married).  Of course, along the way you get to see so many beautiful sights in Salzburg and the surrounding area!  Totally worth the money even if you aren’t a fan of the movie just because it’s a great way to see the city.

While Mozart may have lived most of his life in Vienna, he was born in Salzburg!  You can go tour the house he was born in, and if you purchased the Salzburg Card (which if you’ve read my other posts thus far you know I always suggest buying the city card because it pays for itself really) then it’s free. They have various different items that belonged to Mozart, and you really learn a lot about his life and family! Like his sister was a girl boss musician herself! If you do go here, buy some Mozartkugeln.  These are balls of pistachio marzipan and nugget that is chocolate covered.  Addictingly good! They do sell these elsewhere (The were at Rewe in Germany) but they taste better in the presence of Mozart’s home!

My dad would have gone nuts here.  He loves old forts, and this is an OLD fort. Inside is a military and torture museum.  Ironically,  my friend and I had a pretty deep talk about human nature because of the museum.  However, if you don’t find forts fascinating like my dad would, then don’t worry because the view from the fort is AMAZING! Plus the funicular ride up the mountain is so much fun! Again, with the Salzburg card, this is all free.

Once you cross over the river, you are in the old town of Salzburg, which is a UNESCO world heritage spot. The shops are all so charming! Even McDonalds! If y’all go exploring in the old town, you should most definitely stop at the Christmas in Salzburg store, which is a store with a million hand-painted eggs! I bought a strawberry one, which I have hanging in my kitchen and adore! Also, for the American’s who love ice (I never got homesick while abroad but I did shed a tear about ice)  then go grab a bite at Burgerista! They have delicious burgers (including vegan) and a self-service soda machine with ICE!!!!!!! YES, I REPEAT ICE!!!!

Ok so I only suggest this one if you either adore Christmas, or you purchased the Salzburg Card.  Otherwise, I don’t think it’s worth the price.  Don’t get me wrong it was fun, but it’s a pricey ticket for how much actually is there. But we had the Salzburg card so it was free! So many Krampus jokes between my friend and I came from the museum. Krampus is like the anti Santa.

Unfortunately, Maria just has weird taste buds, because schnitzel with noodle is not a real thing. But Schnitzel is! We got some from a street stand in the Altstadt (well I got a vegan version so it wasn’t really schnitzel).  If you go to Austria you have to buy some.

This is a random suggestion, but there are a lot of nice art installations around town, including one that represents the Jewish labors who built the bridge over the river.  I would suggest taking the time to look at all of them. Some are meaningful, others are just quirky and fun.

Finally, if you are flying into Salzburg like we did, don’t sleep on the plane and grab a window seat! Looking out the window and seeing the Alps out the window was a jaw-dropping experience!!

Hopefully, this gives you some fun suggestions of what to do while in Salzburg! If you go, please email me and tell me all about your experience! I love to hear from every one of you!  Also, many of these photos I am showing are my friend’s photos, not my own!