Question 1

Salzburg on Your Own

Accepted Answer

Seeing Salzburg independently from a Danube cruise means a long transfer: Passau is about two hours away, and there are direct trains from Linz, so the ship's own excursion is the simplest way to go. Once in the city, the old town is compact and best seen on foot. Getreidegasse and Mozart: This narrow shopping street, known for its tall townhouses and wrought-iron shop signs, has Mozart's Birthplace at No. 9, where the family lived on the third floor from 1747 to 1773. Cathedral and squares: Salzburg Cathedral stands on Residenzplatz, which has a large ornate fountain, and Mozartplatz has a monument to Mozart. The fortress: The FestungsBahn funicular, opened in 1892, runs from Festungsgasse up to Hohensalzburg. On foot it is a steep climb of roughly 15 to 20 minutes, part of it on gravel. Mirabell Gardens: Across the river, the formal gardens of Mirabell Palace date from 1687, and the palace was built around 1606 for Prince-Archbishop Wolf Dietrich. Keep your tour's times: On a coach excursion the departure time and meeting point are what count, so be there early. If you travel by train on your own, leave a wide margin for the journey back, because your ship posts its all-aboard time and will not wait for passengers touring on their own. Carry your passport: By law in Austria you must always have easy access to your passport, and a copy of the photo page is helpful.

Question 2

Getting Around

Accepted Answer

Salzburg's old town is best seen on foot. For longer hops, trolleybuses and buses cover the city. The city bus network has more than 20 lines, with frequent trolleybuses. Tickets can be bought from the driver, from machines or in the Salzburg Verkehr app. The Salzburg Card covers public transport and admission to many sights, and it is valid directly as a ticket for the fortress funicular and the fortress museums. Hellbrunn Palace is in Salzburg's southern countryside district, well south of the old town.

Question 3

Food and Drink

Accepted Answer

Two of Salzburg's signature foods are sweet: the Salzburger Nockerl, a baked soufflé, and the Mozartkugel chocolate. The city also has a long brewing tradition and old coffee houses on its squares. A Salzburger Nockerl is made to order and takes at least 30 minutes, and one portion is easily enough for several people. The Mozartkugel was invented by the confectioner Paul Fürst in 1884. Fürst's handmade original is sold only in the firm's own shops in Salzburg, including one at Brodgasse 13. Augustinian monks have brewed beer for the Augustiner Bräustübl since 1621, and today it is a large beer hall with a garden. Café Tomaselli, on the Alter Markt, is the oldest coffee house in Salzburg. Stiftskeller St. Peter, in the St. Peter's Abbey complex, claims to have opened in 803.

Question 4

Tipping in Austria

Accepted Answer

Tipping is customary in Austria, and although the law does not require it, many people see it as expected. In restaurants 5 to 10 percent of the bill is common, and the currency is the euro. Taxi drivers are usually tipped too, often by rounding the fare up to the next euro. Do not offer a tip to a government employee, since it may be taken as a bribe.

Question 5

Music and Festivals

Accepted Answer

Music shapes Salzburg's year. The Salzburg Festival, founded in 1920, fills the city with opera, concerts and theater for five weeks from late July, and there are Mozart concerts all year. Each festival includes Hugo von Hofmannsthal's play Jedermann (Everyman), performed in front of the cathedral. A separate Salzburg Easter Festival has been held every year since 1967. The words of Silent Night were written by Joseph Mohr, a priest born in Salzburg, and the carol was first performed on Christmas Eve 1818. The Salzburg Marionette Theater was founded in 1912. The film The Sound of Music was shot in and around Salzburg in the 1960s, and the Do-Re-Mi scene was filmed at the Pegasus Fountain and the steps of the Mirabell Gardens. The Christmas market fills Domplatz, Kapitelplatz and Residenzplatz from late November until Christmas.

Question 6

A Brief History

Accepted Answer

For more than a thousand years Salzburg was the seat of archbishops, who grew rich on salt and turned a medieval town into a baroque capital. It joined Austria for good only in 1816, and its old town became a World Heritage Site in 1996. Roman Iuvavum: The Roman town of Iuvavum stood on the site of today's old town and became a municipium in 45 AD. Saint Rupert, around 696: Bishop Rupert received the remains of the Roman town from the Duke of Bavaria and built a church of St. Peter on the site of today's cathedral. Salzburg became a bishopric in 739 and an archbishopric in 798. The fortress, 1077: Archbishop Gebhard began Hohensalzburg in 1077, and it was enlarged over the following centuries. Its only siege came in the Peasants' War of 1525, when rebels failed to take it. A baroque city: From the late 16th century, Prince-Archbishops Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau, Markus Sittikus and Paris Lodron rebuilt the center with Italian architects. Hellbrunn Palace was built in 1613 to 1619. The expulsion of 1731: Archbishop Firmian ordered Protestants to renounce their faith, and 21,475 who refused were expelled. Most resettled in East Prussia. Mozart, 1756 to 1781: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on January 27, 1756, worked at the archbishop's court and left for Vienna in 1781. Joining Austria: The archbishopric was secularized in 1803. After changes of rule between Austria and Bavaria, the Treaty of Munich returned Salzburg to Austria for good in 1816. War and recovery: Allied bombing in the Second World War destroyed 46 percent of the city's buildings and the cathedral's dome, though much of the baroque center survived. American troops entered on May 5, 1945. To learn more ashore: The Fortress Museum inside Hohensalzburg, at Mönchsberg 34, is included in the fortress ticket, and Mozart's Birthplace at Getreidegasse 9 holds his childhood violin and family letters.

Question 7

Salzburg with Children

Accepted Answer

For families, a Salzburg day can pair the funicular ride up to the fortress with the Haus der Natur, a museum with an aquarium, dinosaurs and a hands-on science center, and Hellbrunn's trick fountains add a wet afternoon in summer. Younger children: The Haus der Natur, at Museumsplatz 5, has an aquarium and reptile zoo, dinosaurs, a hall about space and a hands-on science center. In 2026 it opened from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on most days and children aged 4 to 15 paid €10.50, so check before you go. Strollers up to 110 by 65 cm are allowed inside. School age: At Hellbrunn, the water games built for Prince-Archbishop Markus Sittikus spray unsuspecting guests from hidden jets and stone seats, and a water-powered mechanical theater of 1750 has some 200 moving figures. Expect to get wet. The fortress: Ride the funicular up, and listen for the Salzburg Bull, a mechanical organ of 1502 that sounds from the fortress at 7 a.m., 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. from Palm Sunday to October 31. Teenagers: Mozart's Birthplace shows the violin he played as a child, and the Mirabell Gardens are the place to find the steps from The Sound of Music.

Question 8

Accessibility

Accepted Answer

The main barrier in Salzburg is Hohensalzburg, which sits on a steep hill and has many steps, inclines and gravel paths. The funicular is the step-free way up, and parts of the fortress can be reached by elevator. The funicular is the step-free way up, and no booking is needed; board at the valley station, Festungsgasse 4. The footpath is not step-free. Beside the upper funicular station, the panorama terrace and a bastion can be used by everyone, and a lift in the bell tower serves the courtyard and several sights around it, including the armory exhibition, the tavern and the marionette museum. Inside, the historic rooms are not step-free. Visitors who cannot reach them can borrow a tablet with a video tour at the Info Point, and there are accessible toilets near it and in the restaurant. The funicular closes for maintenance for spells of days or weeks, when the footpath is the only way up, so check before you go. Visitors with a disability of 50 percent or more get reduced fortress admission for themselves and one companion. Up at the fortress the ground is uneven in places, with gravel and old stone steps, so sturdy shoes help. The Haus der Natur is in a historic building, and its staff help where access is difficult.

Question 9

Shopping

Accepted Answer

Shopping in Salzburg centers on Getreidegasse, a narrow old-town street where wrought-iron guild signs hang over shops in tall townhouses. The Alter Markt and the lanes around it have long-established specialist shops. The Fürsterzbischöfliche Apotheke on the Alter Markt is a working pharmacy with a historic interior, so photographs are not allowed. Reber, another Salzburg chocolate maker, has shops in the old town on the Alter Markt, Griesgasse and Getreidegasse. Getreidegasse is part of a large pedestrian zone, and many of its houses have passageways leading through to courtyards.

Salzburg

Good to know

Reaching Salzburg from the Danube