A day in Salzburg – 3 fun places to visit

If you only have a day in Salzburg, there are a few places you need to tick off your sightseeing list. Visit the Hohensalzburg Fortress that dominates the city, tick. Stroll around the pretty Mirabell Gardens, tick. Visit the birthplace and family home of Mozart, tick. Try and spot as many Sound of Music locations as possible, tick.

1. Hohensalzburg Fortress in Salzburg

We took the funicular up to the HohenSalzburg Fortress and did the audio tour around some of the inner rooms, walked around all the court wards with thick walls towering above us, and looked around the museum with some horrible instruments of torture.

Down the funicular again and we were ready for a sit down in the sunshine outside the beer tent that was up for the Mayday weekend -we grabbed a bratwurst sausage with sauerkraut and mustard to the sounds of the Austrian band and washed down with a Weissbier (pale wheat beer).

Read my article about the Hohensalzburg Fortress

2. Mirabell gardens in Salzburg

Next, we walked across the river to the pretty Mirabell gardens, in full flower with tulips and pansies – I can see why it’s such a popular spot for wedding photos.

We spotted the same stone unicorn where I’d had my picture taken with my sisters as children when we were here with my parents and took the same shot with my son, just to recreate the moment.

Read about our visit to the Mirabell gardens in Salzburg

3. Mozart birthplace museum in Salzburg

Then it was the Mozart birthplace museum where the family of four lived in a small apartment in between travelling all over Europe to give concerts.

The last part of the afternoon we sat and had another Weissbier in the outdoor courtyard of the Sternbrau restaurant, and then walked along the river for tea and Sacher Torte with an amazing view on the Steinterrasse, on the 7th floor of the Steinhotel.

As it only served snacks, we returned once again to Sternbrau for our hearty traditional Austrian dishes for dinner washed down by more Weissbier. Back to our hotel and watched the Sound of Music DVD before bed and spotted many of the places we’d already been to that day.

Wish you were here!

Check out some of these videos about Holidays in Austria