Salzburg is one of my new favorite European destinations. So picturesque, and small enough that you can walk everywhere. We visited this past summer as part of my son’s graduation trip and we all loved it! We sandwiched three days in Salzburg between Munich and Prague, which makes for a great European itinerary if you are looking to do about a 10-day trip. My husband and I went with my adult children in early June, but this itinerary would be great for a family with smaller kids (maybe over age 8) or a couple’s getaway too. If you’re a fan of the Sound of Music or Mozart, this is a must-do for you!
Here is a sample 3-day itinerary for Salzburg, based on our family trip with adult kids in June:
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DAY 1: TRAVEL BY TRAIN, MOZART MUSEUM, AND HOHENSALZBURG FORTRESS:
Travel by train is the way to go when moving from place to place in Europe. We took Railjet Express from Munich to Salzburg (just about a 1.5 hour ride), and it was very comfortable and easy to navigate (I did purchase the tickets online in advance). We got in to Salzburg, grabbed an Uber, and got checked in to our hotel all before lunchtime! We stayed at the Altstadthotel Wolf Dietrich, right in the heart of Salzburg on the East side of the Salzach River. It was a great location, had a delicious breakfast, fitness center, and a cute lobby / bar area. We were able to walk everywhere from here.
By the time we got checked in, we were ready for lunch. The hotel recommended Pasta e Vino just down the road…we had their fresh bread, the charcuterie that was available that day, and then their homemade pasta dishes. They have 3 pasta dishes each day, and that’s it…I had the lemon chicken pasta and it was to die for! It was a beautiful day, so we sat at a table outside and devoured our lunch. I highly recommend visiting Pasta e Vino in Salzburg.
After lunch, I recommend taking some time to walk around and explore Salzburg. Walking through the streets and checking out all of the great shops could easily pass some time, walking along the river, grabbing coffee, walking through the gardens of Mirabellplatz…there’s so much to see. We headed across the river to take a tour of Mozart’s Birthplace (aka the Hagenauer Haus). It’s 12 Euros per adult to tour, and tickets can be bought at the door. Mozart was born in this home and lived there for 17 years until his family moved to the Mozart Residence in Makartplatz, just a short walk away. You can also buy combination tickets if you’d like to visit both. We spent about 45 minutes touring the birthplace, and it was worth a visit to learn more about Mozart, his family, and how he came to be such a musical prodigy.
Depending on how thorough a tour person you are (in other words if you need to see EVERYTHING and read every sign when taking a tour, you might need the better part of a day for this), you might have enough time to visit the Hohensalzburg Fortress, which is the largest preserved castle in Central Europe. It sits high above the city in the historic Baroque District, and because of this, it has the most unbelievable views. During the summer it was open until 8PM, so we had plenty of time to see everything. We spent about 2-3 hours exploring the castle, taking pictures at the panoramic viewing spot, and even took some time to have a beer and a snack in a beer garden right inside the castle grounds.
There are various options for tickets, including walking up the footpath (it’s a little steep, but not bad) versus taking the funicular (we walked to save time), and there are scaled-back options with access to fewer parts of the castle. You can buy your tickets at the door, so just decide how you feel when you get there and know how much time you want to spend. The most expensive option was still under 20 Euros per person, so I’d recommend getting the all-inclusive version.
After we finished touring the castle and walking through some of the squares along the way back toward the hotel, we grabbed dinner at Die Cabreras not far from the hotel. We were about 5 days in to our trip at this point and were craving Mexican food! It’s not easy to find in Europe, so we were happy to come across Die Cabreras where we could enjoy some margaritas and tacos…it hit the spot!
DAY 2: EAGLE’S NEST / SALT MINE / LAKE KONIGSSEE DAY TOUR
So in full transparency…this tour is actually in Bavaria, Germany. The destinations were closer to Salzburg than Munich though, so we took the tour from Austria. This is another must-do if you are in the area and want to see breathtaking views, while learning about the history, culture, and industry in this area of Europe. The tour we selected was this one through Viator, which was a full day trip that stopped in the village of Berchtesgaden for lunch, included the full tour of Eagle’s Nest, and then stopped at Lake Konigssee for just under 2 hours before heading back to Salzburg.
The first stop in Berchtesgaden was just about 40 minutes from Salzburg. Throughout the drive, our tour guide Walter shared a lot of interesting historical and cultural information about the area, and what we were going to see during our tour. We had about an hour to find lunch on our own. We ate at a hotel restaurant that Walter recommended, and it was perfect.
From here, it was just a short drive to the base of where the switchback part of the mountain started. Here we had to get off of our tour bus and get on to a different tour bus, whose driver was skilled at navigating the very windy and steep road up to Eagle’s Nest! Eagle’s Nest was Hitler’s mountain retreat where he held many gatherings and hosted elite politicians back in the 1930’s. Once we got to the top, we were given a couple of hours here to tour the property, grab a snack and a drink, and hike up a little above the property to take in some amazing views.
After making our way back down in bus #1 and then switching to bus #2, we were back with Walter and off to the Salt Mine! This was a really fun and informative tour that was one of the highlights of our entire trip. Located in Berchtesgaden, this salt mine takes a little over an hour to tour, and is very well-done. It includes suiting up in mining overalls, riding a small train deep in to the mountain, a full audio / live tour, a trip down a wooden slide, and then ends with a really neat ride across a lake inside the mine…official photos below…ha!
We had a little bit of time after our tour to explore the gift shop and grab yet another beer and snack! They had a nice little patio where you could sit and enjoy the views.
The final stop on the tour was to Lake Konigssee, also right in Berchtesgaden…everything was very close. There were a lot of shops to buy souvenirs, we sat by the lake and watched the wildlife, and then we grabbed another drink and some food at their beer garden. There was a boat ride you could take across the lake, but there wasn’t enough time for us to do that before heading back to Salzburg. It was a very full day, but definitely worth doing when you’re in Salzburg.
DAY 3: SOUND OF MUSIC BICYCLE TOUR AND EXPLORING SALZBURG
Another highlight of our trip was our half-day Fraulein Maria’s Sound of Music Bicycle Tour. Be sure to book this in advance online. The majority of the Sounds of Music movie was filmed at various locations around Salzburg, so there are plenty of tours available, but only this one on bikes, and it’s fantastic! It was a short walk to the meeting spot from our hotel. We picked out our bikes, had a quick chat with our guides, and off we went!
We had two guides and about 8-10 others in the group…all ages and abilities! It was about a 3.5 hour tour and around 10 miles total, but there were a lot of stops along the way to rest and take pictures…and a singalong while riding too! Our guides were very informative and took great pictures for us at every stop. One tip is to bring some cash with you (especially some 1 and 2 Euro coins) for the public restroom.
We worked up an appetite after that 10-mile bike ride, so we grabbed lunch at L’Osteria on the way back to our hotel. They have fabulous pasta and pizzas, and a great patio to sit and people watch.
For our last afternoon, we toured around Salzburg one more time. We walked through the Friedhof Sankt Sebastian Cemetery that was just behind the hotel (there are a couple of very old cemeteries in Salzburg that are quite beautiful and worth a walk through), visited an Irish Pub for some drinks, and then ended our time there with dinner at Stiegl Keller for some authentic Austrian food with a view.
There are a couple of additional things I would like to have done in Salzburg if we had a little more time. There are many options for concerts (especially Mozart) in really neat settings like this one in Mirabellplatz. Some include dinner as well. We also wanted to do an Apple Strudel making class with lunch like this one through Trip Advisor. I guess we will just have to make another trip to Salzburg soon!