Salzburg Holidays

City breaks to Salzburg

Step foot on Salzburg’s riverbank and you’ll soon get a sense of what it’s like here. On one side of the water, there’s a bustling new town, and on the other, you’ve got a UNESCO-listed old town packed with listed buildings. The city sits at the edge of the Alps, so mountain views are a given, and there’s a massive hilltop fortress watching over the place.

Classical music

A quick Google search will tell you all you need to know about Salzburg’s links to Mozart. The composer was born here in 1756, and he basically put the place on the map. Pay his apartment a visit if you fancy seeing one of his pianos amongst other 18th-century artefacts. And for a real treat, spend an evening at a classical music concert – they’re held all the time in Mirabell Palace, a big castle with Baroque gardens.

Cinematic masterpieces

You can’t come to Salzburg without visiting something from The Sound of Music. Places that featured in this iconic movie are all over the city, from Nonnberg Abbey – a Benedictine monastery – to Helbrunn Palace, where you’re bound to recognise the glass gazebo where ‘Sixteen Going on Seventeen’ was filmed. If you’re a fan of the film, it’s well worth booking on to a tour to tick off all the places.

Schnitzel and sachertorte

You’ve got the highest concentration of gourmet restaurants in Austria in Salzburg. So, traditional dishes like crispy breaded pork schnitzel and sachertorte – a rich chocolate cake layered with apricot jam – are on the cards while you’re in town. If you’re more of a grab-and-go kind of eater, you can get a bosna, which is like an Austrian hot dog, from one of the city’s street food stalls.