Salzburg Things to Do: Walking Tour of Top Sights

In a ideal world every tourist would want to have a week to spend in Salzburg alone. But time is the major constraint we faced. With just a day in hand  we planned a walking to tour of Salzburg and chalked out the things to do in this beautiful town.

The bus from our hotel dropped us off at Getreidegasse Street, Salzburg Old Town; from here we were on our own with just two books to guide us. A town well known for a variety of things ranging from chocolates, to music and movies and old architectural structures, it was initially difficult which to focus on. We walked on along the streets and cherished the sights as they came along.

Through the city flows the River Salzach, we toured the left bank first. This side has the famous Mozart’s place, fine churches and also the mighty fortress of Hohensalzburg. The following two pics of the city expanse and alpine settings, are the views from the fortress.

Altstadt – Old Town of Salzburg Things to do

Altstadt – Old Town of Salzburg

Altstadt – Old Town of Salzburg

The Old town is designated as UNESCO World Heritage site because of its best preserved unusually uniform Baroque style designs. We crossed the market in this part of the old town, it was bursting with colors of food and flowers.

Market in Altstadt Salzburg

Mozarts Geburtshaus (Mozart’s Birthplace)

Salzburg is the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The first place we halted was at the building where he was born and resided here with his family till 1773. It has a bright yellow façade. Mozart was born in the third floor of this building on 27th Jan 1756.

Third floor of the museum is devoted to Mozart and his family, portraits, family letters and many such personal belongings. The second floor has objects related to his opera-composing period and at the ground floor you get an insight into his everyday family life. The exhibits are informative and interesting.

Timings and Tickets

The museum is open from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. (with extended hours in July and August). Tickets cost about 10 euros (about $11) with reduced rates for children.

Mozart's Birthplace Salzburg

Mozart’s Birthplace Salzburg

Hohensalzburg Fortress

Imposing 11th century castle complex, it dominates the city skyline.

We visited the Hohensalzburg Fortress (Festung Hohensalzburg) which is one of the largest fully-preserved castles in Central Europe. Kids particularly enjoyed the Marionette Museum in the fortress.

River Salzach Salzburg

Mirabell Palace and Gardens

On the right bank of Salzach River are another set of interesting sight. Just one day for Salzburg and so we made a hurried visit to this part of the town and concentrated on just the Mirabell Palace, where most part of the shooting for the movie Sound of Music was done.

You can read here: Mirabell Palace and Gardens

The following picture is the view of the left side of the river with the fortress of Hohensalzburg as the outline. Do click to see the enlarged versions.

Salzburg Things to do

Sculpted image of Lion in Mirabell Garten

Mozart Square

Salzburg is the city of the ‘music master’ himself; has another name: City of Mozart. He lived here, composed music here, therefore many memorabilia around.

The Mozart square, very close to Salzburg cathedral has a huge statue of the master himself. Draped in classic clothing, the bronze statue is the creation of Ludwig von Schwanthaler. The statue was unveiled in 1842 in the presence of his two sons. What a proud moment it must have been for them! Tourists pause to have a good look at the statue, admiring his contributions in the field of music.

Statue of Mozart

Salzburg Carnival

A carnival seemed to be on the day we were in Salzburg. The historic center of Old Town of Salzburg was crowded, stalls were up with various goodies, and tourists had a great time rummaging through the displays, foods, knick-knacks.

The best part was the sight of musicians in their interesting colorful costumes. They were present with their instruments playing various tunes entertaining the visitors. As soon as a song would be over there would be huge applause and cheering, the crowds would ask for more.

There, I spotted two friends involved in a little chit chat during a small interval between songs. Isn’t the head gear interesting!

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