Salzburg is an incredibly attractive city filled with churches, squares with fountains, and a huge castle that looms over everything. Lots of trendy cafes and restaurants are filled with well to do tourists – Salzburg is definately a up scale tourist town. In the background, behind the city are snow covered mountains. Perfect right?
There seems to be two schools of thought on Salzburg. Many travelers, especially fans of music, are attracted by the Mozart museums/monuments and the (albeit cheesy) Sound of Music tours. Combined with the lovely architecture and geographic location, they end up loving Salzburg. Other travelers find Salzburg incredibly boring; I’ve heard many complain that the cultural interests on offer attract an older crowd, and that, as a result, the city lacks a pulse. They can’t leave soon enough. I’ll give my opinion on that further below.
Salzburg; brief history and interesting facts;
-A settlement in Roman times (around 15 BC), but fell into ruins until around 700 AD when “Salzburg” (literally Salt Castle) grew on tolls extracted from barges carrying salt on the Salzach river.
-In 1077 work started on Salzburg’s prime attraction, Hohensalzburg Fortress (the biggest completely preserved middle-age castle in Europe), which was initially for use as a base for troops of the Holy Roman Empire. The fortress was built up more in 12th and 13th centuries in response to disputes with Austria and Bavaria (Salzburg was independent), then again in 15th century because of threat of invasions from the Turks.
-One-third of population died of the Black Plague in the 14th century. Jews were expulsed from the city in 1492.
-In 1730s Protestants were also forced to leave the city.
-Salzburg became rich in 17th and 18th century on increased salt trade (salt helps preserve food). It transformed Salzburg into one of the world’s most outstanding baroque city with magnificent palaces, churches and gardens.
-In 1756 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born here.
-In 1816 Salzburg becomes part of Austria, then in 1918 becomes part of German Austria. Bombed in World War II, but much of its baroque architecture was not damaged.
Above: Famous Mozart statue in Mozartplatz – right next to tourist office and the starting point for walking tours.
Highlights: We took the walking tour offered by the tourist office. An hour long, it covers the main sites in the old town, the most memorable being the Salzburg Cathedral and the cemetary at St. Peter’s Cathedral. The tour is highly recommended for the detailed information provided by the very knowledgeable guides. We went up the mountain with the funicular and toured around Hohensalzburg fortress which has great views over the town and the mountains in the back. When exiting the castle, make sure to turn left and follow the path that skirts the hills. You’ll get some of the best views in town (see the photo at the top of this post).
Below: photos from Hohensalzburg Fortress
We did a quick tour of the Panorama museum. The panorama painting of Salzburg taken in 1829 is very impressive. There are 2 major Mozart museums in town, the one where he was born (in the old town) and the other where he lived his teenage years (across the river in the new town). My Rick Steve’s guidebook said the 2nd, the “Mozart Residence” was the better of the two. We toured it and were disappointed – the family’s furniture had been sold by auction and the residence is essentially empty. If all you like to look at are scrolls titled “Mozarts D minor, sequitur 5 from the concert played at Salzburg Catheral” (I made that up but that’s basically the kind of stuff written) then this place is for you. Lissette is a big Mozart fan and even she was disappointed – better off watching the movie “Amadeus”, much more informative than this museum tour.
Below: More photos/views around Salzburg
So, our opinion on Salzburg? Well, we didn’t love it, but neither did we find it incredibly boring – we fell somewhere in between. We were here two nights and 3 days and saw most of the sites on the first day then decided, quite spontaneously, to make a day trip to Berchtesgaden the next day. Lissette and I both agree that Salzburg has to be seen if in the area but that a day is sufficient. I would actually (knowing what I know now) make it a day trip from Berchtesgaden .
We stayed at the Weisse Taube hotel in the old city (98 Euros/night for double breakfast included). Basic but clean and comfortable. Location was perfect, and the hotel staff was great. Excellent location. I give it a 4 out of 5.
“Da Pippo” restaurant on main street is recommended (it has a large Italian flag on the outside). Food was great, atmosphere superb, prices relatively cheap. We had a great Italian waiter, a middle aged man who looked right out of The Sopranos. When we told him that Venice was our next stop he looked envious “Germans and Austrians, it’s da right or it’s da left. No fantasy. In Italy is fantasy”. We thought it was a nice introduction to our next destination.
Have you been to Salzburg? What were your feelings on it?
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