
As with my time in Munich, May and I only had about 24 hours to spend in Salzburg when I visited. It was a super quick trip, but I couldn’t be so close to Salzburg and not go. We’re both huge Sound of Music (SOM) fans so we mostly went for the SOM tour, everything else was really a bonus. I didn’t have a lot of expectations, just a shameful amount of excited for the Sound of Music tour, but I really fell in love with the city.
We arrived in Salzburg around lunch time and had just enough time to check into our hostel, grab some food at a café nearby, and get to the meeting place for our Sound of Music tour. May and I stayed at this hostel in a private with room with private bathroom and it was only about €60 for the night. It was a great location, very close to different restaurant, the Mirabelle Gardens, and a short walk from the Old Town side of the city.
For the Sound of Music tour we decided to go with the actual tour rather than trying to see all the spots ourselves mostly for convenience and time-saving (this is the tour company we went with and thought they were a good choice). The next time I’m there I would l love to go back to some of the locations and get to spend some more time there, but the guided tour was good for our first time.
The first stop on our tour was Leopoldskron Palacewhere the famous boating scene was filmed and which was used for the backyard scenes. We didn’t actually go to the palace but got a great view of the back from across Lake Leopoldskron.

Next stop was Hellbrunn Palacewhere the “16 going on 17” gazebo currently lives! Close by is the street Maria walks down on her way to the von Trapp house at the beginning of the movie and the house used for scenes of the front of the von Trapp house, so we got a quick glimpse of those too.
On our way to the next stop on the tour we passed the real Nonnberg Abbey where the “real” Maria really was a novice and got married. It’s still an active women’s convent so we couldn’t go inside but we got a great view of the front gate and Gothic Church.
We stopped in the Salzburg Lake Districtarea where panorama shots and picnic scenes were filmed and then continued on to Mondsee, the church where the wedding was filmed in the movie. The church was spectacularand being in there thinking of the wedding scene (and knowing that Julie Andrews had stood in that exact spot!) gave me chills.
We had some time to walk around the little town before getting back on the bus, so we got a quick cup of tea and admired the picturesque buildings.

After the tour we went back to the hostel to freshen up and ventured out in search of dinner. One of the women at the front desk suggested a restaurant close by and assured us we would be fine without reservations (required at most restaurants here) but she was very incorrect.
We did some quick googling and found a burger restaurant that was close, so we made our way there, hoping our lack of reservations wouldn’t be a problem this time, and were very lucky to get seats at the bar. For a last-minute restaurant pick, the food was really good! I think it was called Ludwig – definitely recommend.
Even though the Sound of Music tour started and ended near Mirabelle Gardens, it wasn’t actually one of the stops on the tour and we hadn’t really had a chance to see it in daylight yet so that was first on our agenda the next morning.
Like I mentioned in my trip highlights post, we got a little snow overnight so technically the gardens were closed. Did that stop us from going over the tiny chain fence and walking around the garden area? Not one little bit. I did feel bad for breaking the rules, but nothing was going to stop me from standing where Julie Andrews once stood in those beautiful gardens. Even without all the flowers of spring in the gardens it was still beautiful and very peaceful in the morning light.
Once we’d had our fill of the gardens we walked across the river and into the Old Town area. The store signs and narrow, wandering streets were idyllic and we had a fantastic time just wandering around. We popped into Café Tomaselli for a healthy breakfast of tea and apfelstrudel (because on vacation anything goes) before making our way towards the Mozart statue and cemetery St. Peter’s Abbey.

We didn’t have time to see any of the Mozart attractions, but we did at least see the statue! And the cemetery at St. Peter’s Abbey is like nothing I have ever seen – if you get the chance to stop by, you definitely should spend a few minutes walking around the extravagant, beautiful grave sites.

The next stop for us was a visit to the Hohensalzburg Fortress. Built in 1077 (and added to in later years), the fortress sits on the Festungsberg and is the biggest fully preserved castle in Central Europe. After a bit of searching, we finally found the entrance and decided to take the Festungsbahn (funicular railway) up to the fortress (rather than walkingto the top).
Once you make it to the top, be prepared to spend at least 30 minutes goggling at the spectacular view of the city below you (and taking 500 photos minimum). When/if you’re able to tear your eyes away from the breathtaking views, you can visit the fortress museum and medieval princely chambers as well as The Marionette Museum. We thought the marionette dolls were a tad creepy but still cool.

By the time we made it through the whole fortress and back down the mountain it was time to grab our luggage from the hostel and head back to the train station. We did make a quick stop at one of the street vendors to get pretzels (the biggest pretzels I’ve ever seen) and hot chocolate. We also very serendipitously stumbled on a street artist (the only one I saw during my whole trip!) and I got a few watercolors to bring home and add to my growing collection.
It was short trip but a great 24 hours and I know I’ll find a way to make it back some day. Hopefully next time it’ll be spring and I won’t have to sneak into Mirabelle Gardens (again).

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