I won’t lie—Austria had never really been high on my travel list. In fact, I barely considered it. The thought of Vienna, a big city packed with one museum after another, didn’t really appeal to me. But it didn’t take long to change my mind. It all started with a rewatch of The Sound of Music—yes, my mom and I were watching it for the 100th time, singing along to Julie Andrews and the von Trapp children. Suddenly, my mom mentioned that most of the movie was filmed in Salzburg, Austria. A place I’d never really thought about. I looked at her incredulously, then glanced back at the film, which was overflowing with beautiful greenery.

A few hours of research later, and a trip to Salzburg, Austria, was planned and booked. Normally, I try to see as much as possible in the limited time I have, but for this trip, I made a conscious effort to slow things down. Keep that in mind as you read through my itinerary. Feel free to add more activities if you wish, but this laid-back approach worked perfectly for me.

Day 1: Arrival in Salzburg

I arrived early, landing in Salzburg at around 10 AM at the end of March. After a very early departure (I managed to sleep through most of my flight), I stepped out of the small airport and was greeted by breathtaking mountain views.

Since I arrived early, I was able to stash my bags at the hotel and head straight into the heart of Salzburg. I stayed at the Arte Hotel, which is centrally located, reasonably priced, and truly lovely. I highly recommend booking breakfast at least once during your stay—it’s served on the 15th-floor gallery, offering stunning views of Salzburg and its snow-capped mountains.

The hotel’s central location made it super convenient. It was just a 20-minute walk to the Old Town, or a short 5-minute walk to both the bus and train stations.

Before I dive into the details of what to do in Salzburg, I highly recommend checking with your hotel about the Salzburg Card. Many hotels sell it, and it can be a great deal if you’re planning to visit multiple attractions. You can buy this online or at your hotel, but bear in mind many hotels want cash for this card. However, you can buy this online for either 24, 48 or 72 hours. I would really recommend buying this, as it’s free public transport and allows you to skip queues and entry into multiple venues! You save a lot of money with this!

Without further ado, let’s jump into our lazy plan!

Salzburg in essence is a very walkable city! So you can find all the major attractions within the city within walking distance of each other.

1. Mozarts birthplace

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, was born right here in Salzburg, and the city is well and truly proud of him. There are two main museums which allows us to see the life and legacy of Mozart, one of which is ‘Mozarts Geburthouse’ (or his birthplace).

It is a very interesting museum (and free with the Salzburg card ) and worth a visit to learn a bit about Mozart and his family. It is a fairly quick to check out about 30-45 minutes and is worth seeing some of the paintings and understanding the life of Mozart.

I enjoyed this a lot, especially as I had very little knowledge of Mozart himself (a sadly very limited knowledge of his work past his name and some of his famous works).

2. Mozart’s residence

The second one I would suggest that you visit, as part of your Mozart tour in Salzburg, would be Mozart’s residence.

The birth place is where Mozart and his sister were born but soon after moved into this residence where he composed many of his songs. They have preserved the room with his piano where he wrote his first pieces. This is a very short museum, and can be done in 20 minutes- longer if you have the time. Again it is free with the Salzburg card.

There is a lot of emphasis on his music in this museum with a recent professor conducting some of his music. Definitely something to listen to if you can appreciate this!

An added bonus is the coffee shop next to the museum. It’s lovely inside and worth checking out! Especially for a nice little break here!!

If you are planning not to get the Salzburg pass, there is a combined ticket available for these two attractions together. It is €18.50 (as of 2025), worth getting together for the discount.

3.st Peter’s church and grounds

This is one of the oldest churches in Salzburg, originally made in the 8th century and then reconstructed in the 17th century as it has burnt down. The inside is genuinely beautiful! Stunned to see how many paintings there were and how stunning the architecture was inside!

If you go on a Sunday, there is a church service on as well, and as you can see often with a little concert ongoing as was in this. This is free entry! So please go and enjoy this!

4.st Peter’s abbey cemetery

Again, one of the oldest cemeteries in Salzburg, this is a burial ground to some very famous names. However, that is not what attracts people to come and view this place. It is as you can see, a very seren place, and the ornate architecture of the tombs, is one to see. Many people find this place very grounding and is definitely worth a wander around.

5. St Peter’s catacombs

Just to the right, as you walk into the cemetery are the St Peter’s catacombs.

Seriously interesting, as this was an old religious site from the 4th century AD. At this time, Christianity was still just spreading across Europe. This meant that Christian’s would have to worship in secret, often around burial sites. This was also a place for burials, so is known for its layered burials of people. Kinda eerie huh?

But as you go in you can see a place of worship once upon a time, as you go in and see the alter room with pews inside it.

There’s an entrance fee of 5 euros here orrrr SAY IT WITH ME NOW …free with the Salzburg card.

It’s also worthwhile checking out the view from here. The view of the abbey itself is beautiful from here, and definitely transports you back to a different era.

6. Hohensalzburg Fortress

Ok by now you’re probably thinking…wait a minute this was supposed to be a lazy girls guide! What happened to the lazy part?

Trust me on this one! The whole itinerary so far will have taken about 2-3 hours only! And that’s with stops for pictures and for food as well! The stops are very close to each other and honestly, worth doing together!

Which is why I suggest that you do this next following St Peter’s abbey and grounds. I suggest that this is where you head to next. Especially if you’re lucky enough to have a clear day and are looking for a good view of the city.

I think this is easily the landmark of the city. No matter where you are, you can see the castle rising above the city acting as its protector.

The best way to get up to the fortress is up the funicular (basically a mini train ride up to the top of the hill). This costs about 12 euros for a return ride and entry to the castle ORRRR free with the Salzburg card.

Now I would serrriously recommend this for the views over the city. And a person who is genuinely a sucker for snow capped mountains this is a genuinely beautiful spot. And a great place to either take a few pictures or stop and have something to eat.

There is a lovely little cafe right here, which has views directly of the mountain range (and protects you from the cold, if you are a bit chilly).

I found this a great time to try Salzburgs biggest dessert.

Say hello to the Salzburg Nockerl

This is a light and airy dessert, with lots of custard and jam underneath it. This was huge! And almost 21 euros (so just keep your wallet in mind!), but worth every penny. Absolutely delicious. The three peaks are supposed to represent the 3 mountains surrounding Salzburg. The dessert can only really be found in this city, so it’s worth a try!

And with that we come to the end of day 1!

You can go in and check out more of the fortress and see the museums. But since it was my first day, I headed back to the hotel to rest and relax with a drink, definitely ready for day 2.

Day 2: Hallstatt

If you have heard of it or not, going to Hallstatt should be on your list of things to do whilst visiting Austria as a whole.

I think this day was easily my favourite by far!!

I mean how picturesque is this place?!?!

Literally on every postcard you can think of! And the literal inspiration of Arendale in Frozen. Quite literally straight out of a fairy tale.

There are several ways to get here from Salzburg. If you’re driving, the roads are pretty good and is only about 1.5 hours. This is probably the fastest way to get here. However, I think there is some charm to getting here by either bus or train.

The easiest way to navigate this is through the SBG verkher app, which allows you to plan your journey and buy tickets online prior to your departure. This saved me so much time. I used it alongside Google maps for stations, but this made everything so much simpler.

I got a bus and train to Hallstatt station. The benefit of this is firstly, you get to see all the views as you drive up to Hallstatt itself, but the ferry ride at the end is missed if you go in the car. The journey is about 16 euros one way, but can be less if booked in advance. There is an additional fee of 8 euros (for a return journey) for the ferry.

And nothing quite beats the anticipation as you float towards this place.

There is quite a lot to do here. But all in all you can do most of it in half a day. But I would recommend spending the day here to get to enjoy it to the max.

1. The Hallstatt view point

Seems like an obvious thing to do, but walk around, and see this from every corner. From the drop off point of the ferry it’s about a 5 minute walk to this view point. It’s marked on Google maps as ‘Aussichtspunkt Hallstatt’ (links should take you directly there).

2. The skywalk of Hallstatt

Beware if you’re scared of heights! Again taking a funicular up to the highest point, you can see the whole of the valley from the top.

The views are genuinely amazing. But check the weather. They have tours running here regularly and can buy them from the base of Hallstatt which will show you around. Depending on how much time you have it’s worth considering.

3. Salt caves

The salt mines of Hallstatt still produce salt. If you have time check this out.

Salt has been mined from Hallstatt for millennia. Genuinely, one of the most precious items for trade, as it was valued for its ability to preserve food which was so important when they didn’t have any fridges to do the work for them. So as you can imagine, the salt mines were very lucrative. Today the mines are still used to export salt, however, now you can go down and view the salt mines as well! This can be done by tour as well. So have a look if this fits into your budget.

Take your time checking out this area.

Or alternatively, about 40-45 minutes away from Hallstatt is the ice caves. Unfortunately I didn’t have time to see these. But if it’s in your itinerary I would spend the second half of the day Dachstein Ice caves.

Day 3: Lammerklamm gorge and Golling waterfall

This is ideally done with a car. But genuinely so worth it.

Unfortunately for me, this was the day that the Austrian rain decided to come. And when it rains it pours. But growing up the UK has taught me one thing- a bit of rain never hurt anyone. And as I had packed my trusty walking shoes, I was ready to go.

And I stick by my decision. The walk and the gorge itself is genuinely stunning.

Despite the rain, this trek has stunning views.

The gorge is about 2km long and has lots of bridges and scenic views.

This is only about 20 minutes away from Salzburg and has parking for those of you that want to drive there. Definitely worth it.

And even with the rain, the views are stunning. The clouds that surround the mountains can be seen so closely! So so beautiful. It can be a bit slippery in the rain. So definitely make sure you’re wearing the right footwear for this!

The gorge is fairly easy to get to from the town of Abtenau. I took the OBB train to Stop Golling-Abtenau and then the bus from there. This was 8 euros one way.

There is entry fee (as of 2025)

Adult: 5 euros

Children ages 5-15: 3 euros

Children under 5: free

2. Golling waterfall

This was a major source of disappointment for me. But this was the original plan, and worth doing if you have the time.

I would suggest this more if you have a car. The drive from lammerklamm to the waterfall is in total 14 minutes! So it’s definitely worth it. If you are like me and don’t have a car, I would be very wary in wet weather. Although the waterfall is open all year round, weather and maintenance can occur so can sometimes be closed. The walk from the station to the waterfall itself is about 35 minutes. Before the 1 hour walk around.

So I would miss this if you find yourself in the rain.

Day 4: sound of music tour

Do a deer a female deer…

Ok ok I won’t sing. Your ears will survive. But as I mentioned this movie set was set in Salzburg. So it would be a crime to not go see it right?

Luckily most of the set is part of the attractions of Salzburg itself! So this is a great chance to quickly see some of the sites when you have less time on your hands, or just want to see them in a more whimsical (or maybe musical) way!

1. Mirabell Palace and Gardens

Do you recognise this fountain?

Yes, this would happen to be the same fountain for the do-ray-mi song.

2. Schloss Leopoldskron (Salzburg)

Used as one of the locations for the back of the Von trap house.

The lake was mainly used in the movie. So this was one part of the back of the house. The trees weren’t really shown. Zoomed in this would be the scene in the movie. Imagine all the von trap children in their curtain clothing.

3. hellburn palace

Recognise the yellow walls? Let me give you a clue….

‘I HAVE CONFIDENCE IN SUNSHINEEEEE, I have confidence in rain…I have confidence in confidence alone…’

No?

Remember now? I knew you would. The yellow walls are those of Hellbrun palace. you can see where this may have been!

What more the palace has got even better. Remember the song 16 going onto 17. The gazebo used to be in the Schloss Leopoldskron. Sadly it was getting ruined as too many visitors would climb on it. So it was moved here.

I think I look well and truly ready to go from 16 to 17 again!!

4. Mondsee Cathedral

I am not quite sure how the Austrians do it. I have never seen cathedrals quite as extravagant as this, without seeming so overbearing! As you walk into this cathedral, a similar vibe of black and gold, with beautiful paintings around the place can be seen.

Thinking about Maria getting married here, or anyone getting married here must be unique experience!

This is the location where Maria married the captain. But i think this place is beautiful just to see!

But if not for that. The beautiful lake around this area, is magical in the sunlight.

There are many more locations to see on this tour. And guess what? It’s only 4 hours, so it makes life very easy. It starts at 9:15 and finishes by 1:30, which leaves most of your day to relax or have a few more drinks!!

So in conclusion…

There are so many things to do in Salzburg. But if you want to take it slow enough to rest but also to see as much as possible, it is do able. Hopefully you enjoy your trip! Let me know what you think!!

Till then….

layee odl layee odl layee-oo