Things to do in Salzburg
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Salzburg
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
June is the sweet spot before the Festival: warm lakes, everything open, human prices.
Autumn is the locals' favourite: golden light, crowds gone, prices normalising, hiking at its best.
December for the Christmas markets if booked early; Advent weekends spike prices and crowds.
January drops prices and crowds and delivers Mozartwoche, serious music with empty museums.
Spring is the connoisseur's window: Easter Festival, Whitsun Festival, gardens reopening and thin crowds.
Festival season and peak everything: long days and lake swimming, but sold-out restaurants and triple rates.
November is grey, quiet and cheap until the markets open mid-month.
Mid-January to February outside Mozartwoche is the worst weather value: cold, dark, some sights on winter hours.
What's on
- Christkindlmarkt 19 Nov 2026-1 Jan 2027
One of Europe's oldest Advent markets on Domplatz and Residenzplatz, with smaller markets at Mirabellplatz, Hellbrunn and the fortress.
- Mozartwoche 21-31 Jan 2027
The January Mozart festival edition: serious music, sane prices and empty museums.
- Salzburg Easter Festival The ten days ending on Easter Monday, so late March in 2027
Founded by Herbert von Karajan in 1967, opera and concerts at festival quality without summer prices or heat.
- Salzburg Whitsun Festival Whitsun weekend, 14-17 May 2027
Cecilia Bartoli's long weekend, the spring miniature of the summer festival.
- Salzburg Festival Late July to the end of August, about five weeks
Five weeks that turn Salzburg into the world's classical-music capital, with Jedermann on the Domplatz every year.
- Rupertikirtag around 24 Sept
St Rupert's fair on Domplatz: funfair, beer tents and Tracht, the most local festival of the year.
Worth the trip for
Best things to do in Salzburg
Festung Hohensalzburg
Europe's largest fully preserved medieval fortress, with state rooms, museums and the panorama over the old town and Alps.
DomQuartier Salzburg
One circuit through the Residenz, cathedral organ loft and museums that explains how prince-archbishops built Salzburg.
Großes Festspielhaus
The Festival's main opera house, the top tier of Salzburg concertgoing in Festival, Easter and Mozartwoche seasons.
The Original Sound of Music Tour
Panorama Tours' half-day coach linking the film's city sites with Leopoldskron, Hellbrunn's gazebo and Mondsee.
Schloss Hellbrunn
A pleasure palace whose original trick fountains still soak guests on the guided tour, plus a free park and the film gazebo.
Museum der Moderne Salzburg
Modern art in a glass box on the Mönchsberg ridge, paired with the clifftop walk that gives the definitive old town view.
Kapuzinerberg
The quiet, forested city mountain across the river, climbed by the Stefan-Zweig-Weg for the best fortress-facing view.
St. Peter's Abbey
Salzburg's founding abbey from around 696, with its arcaded cemetery and catacombs carved into the Mönchsberg rock.
Where to stay in Salzburg
Altstadt - Left Bank
first trip, all-round base
Getreidegasse, the Dom, festival halls and the fortress funicular sit inside a pedestrian maze crossed in 15 minutes.
Neustadt / Right Bank
practical and value-central base, concert-goers
Mirabell, the Mozart Residence and the concert halls, 5 to 10 minutes from the Altstadt with larger, newer rooms.
Elisabeth-Vorstadt
rail travellers and honest budgets
Around the Hauptbahnhof, 20 to 25 minutes from the old town, with the cheapest credible beds and early-train logistics.
Nonntal / Josefiau
quiet, local-feeling longer stays and families
Residential streets under the Festungsberg, a short walk or one bus stop from the Dom, with guesthouses and space.
Mülln / Riedenburg
beer and calm
A lived-in quarter across the Mönchsberg, 10 minutes from Getreidegasse, with the Augustiner beer garden as your local.
Leopoldskron / Hellbrunn direction
romantic and Sound of Music retreat
Parkland, a lake and mountain views 15 to 20 minutes from the centre; choose it for the setting, not sightseeing.
Think twice about
- Salzburg Hauptbahnhof forecourt (Rainerstrasse / Südtiroler Platz edges)
Loitering, street drinking and some visible homelessness and drug-scene presence. Walk through purposefully and avoid ground-floor rooms facing the forecourt.
- Lehen
Salzburg's densest post-war housing quarter, short on charm, sights and evening life, with a rougher local reputation than its crime picture.
- Schallmoos main-road strip
Arterial roads and budget motels at near-central prices, a daily bus ride from everything in a very compact city.
- Getreidegasse itself in festival or Christmas weeks
Not safety but sleep: the street is a pedestrian river from 9am to 9pm in peak season. Stay one street behind instead.
Best restaurants in Salzburg
Ikarus
A two-star room inside Hangar-7 where a different world-class guest chef takes over the kitchen every month.
SENNS.Restaurant
Andreas Senn's two-star restaurant in a former bell foundry, serving one surprise tasting menu around the five tastes.
St. Peter Stiftskulinarium
First documented in 803 and set in rock-cut rooms, serving refined Austrian classics and the Mozart Dinner Concert.
The Glass Garden
The one-star glass-domed dining room above the old town rooftops, with a strong-value starred lunch set menu.
Pfefferschiff
A one-star country-house inn just outside the city, classic technique and Austrian produce without theatre.
Augustiner Bräu Mülln
Austria's largest beer tavern since 1621, with wooden-barrel beer, stall food and a 1,500-seat chestnut garden.
Bärenwirt
A Wirtshaus since 1663 serving the city's benchmark fried chicken, beef goulash with giant dumplings and schnitzel.
Die Weisse
Salzburg's wheat-beer specialist since 1901, a brewery tavern with a serious kitchen and Käsespätzle.
Best bars in Salzburg
Sporer
A Getreidegasse schnapps shop pouring tastings since 1903, a small standing stop in the old town.
Best coffee in Salzburg
Café Tomaselli
The grand café morning in Salzburg, serving since 1703 on the Alter Markt.
Café Bazar
The local alternative grand café on the right bank, with a terrace over the Salzach.
220 Grad
The specialty coffee and brunch pick, at the budget to mid-range tier.
Outdoor things to do in Salzburg
Untersberg
The flat-topped 1,973 m massif reached by cable car from Grödig, with plateau trails, huts and a city-to-lakes panorama.
Gaisberg
Salzburg's round green house mountain east of the city, for hiking, biking, paragliding launches and summit inns.
Tandem paragliding from Gaisberg
Tandem flights off the Gaisberg over the city and Salzach valley, 15 to 30 minutes and weather-dependent.
Salzach Cycle Path
Flat riverside cycling south to Hellbrunn and Hallein, with longer signed routes east to the Wolfgangsee lakes.
Golfclub Gut Altentann
The first Jack Nicklaus-designed course in Europe, opened 1989, a precision parkland test by the Wallersee.
Golf & Country Club Salzburg Klessheim
A flat, walkable 9-hole course in the park of Schloss Klessheim, close enough to play and still make a concert.
Golfclub Salzburg Eugendorf
An 18-hole championship course in the Alpine foothills northeast of the city, with easy visitor tee times.
Römergolf
A 27-hole course near Eugendorf that, with its neighbour, gives the easiest visitor tee times in the region.
Best hotels in Salzburg
Hotel Goldener Hirsch, a Luxury Collection Hotel
A house documented since 1407 on Getreidegasse, with hunting-lodge rooms, the s'Herzl restaurant and a great hotel bar.
Hotel Sacher Salzburg
Salzburg's classic grand hotel on the Salzach facing the Altstadt, with large river-view rooms and Café Sacher.
Hotel Schloss Mönchstein
A small castle hotel in the Mönchsberg park above the old town, with a pool and the Glass Garden restaurant.
Hotel Goldgasse
A small boutique house in the lanes behind Getreidegasse whose rooms are themed to Salzburg personalities.
Hotel Elefant
A 700-year-old house on Sigmund-Haffner-Gasse, the way to sleep in the old town without palace prices.
Gästehaus im Priesterseminar
Simple, spotless seminary guesthouse rooms, quiet and courtyard-calm, the local secret for a central budget bed.
Hotel Schwarzes Rössl
A simple, spotless budget hotel in and beside the old town, named in local lists as the best budget pick there.
Hotel Bristol Salzburg
Family-run for four generations on Makartplatz facing the Landestheater, the performers' festival address.
Is Salzburg expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | €75 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | €140 a person |
| Splurge | €320 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Großes Festspielhaus: months ahead
- The Original Sound of Music Tour: a few days ahead
- Salzburger Marionettentheater: a few days ahead
- Tandem paragliding from Gaisberg: a few days ahead
- Golfclub Gut Altentann: a few days ahead
- Golf & Country Club Salzburg Klessheim: a few days ahead
- Golfclub Salzburg Eugendorf: a few days ahead
- Römergolf: a few days ahead
- Salzburg Festival tickets and hotels book months ahead; Easter Festival and Mozartwoche headline nights book out too.
- Reserve SENNS, Ikarus and the Glass Garden weeks ahead for weekends in season.
- Book Eisriesenwelt timed tickets online in season; the cave closes roughly November to April.
- Altstadt hotels for Advent weekends sell out by early autumn. Festival and Advent rates can double or triple.
Is Salzburg safe?
- One of Europe's safest small cities; violent crime is rare and the Altstadt and Neustadt are comfortable on foot late.
- Pickpockets work Getreidegasse, Christmas markets, the fortress funicular queue and busy buses.
- Keep station awareness at the Hauptbahnhof forecourt late at night, and look for fast bicycles on shared paths.
- Mountain weather on the Untersberg and Gaisberg changes fast and the cable car stops in high wind. Emergency number 112.
Salzburg travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- The red-and-gold Mozartkugel is a factory product; the original hand-made one is Fürst's silver-and-blue.
- Getreidegasse sit-down restaurants price for the passing stream; Kaigasse, Herrengasse and Goldgasse hold local prices.
- Costumed street sellers' Mozart concerts are pick-up ensembles at premium prices; book Mirabell, fortress, Mozarteum or festival direct.
- Do not make the Mozart Birthplace your only museum; DomQuartier or the Mozart Residence gives general visitors more.
- Avoid Hallstatt at midday from a late bus, fortress concert-dinner bundles, and Fiaker rides at Residenzplatz, which are very costly per minute.
Getting around Salzburg: public transport and more
- Walk the visitor city, which spans about 2.5 km. Beyond that use trolleybus and bus on one ticket via the Salzburg Verkehr app.
- Bus 25 for Hellbrunn and the Untersberg, bus 150 for the Wolfgangsee, bus 840 for Berchtesgaden, S-Bahn for Hallein.
- The Salzburg Card covers 24, 48 or 72 hours of transport plus one entry to almost every sight; two paid sights in a day and it usually pays.
- Airport is 4 km out, bus 2 or 10 in 15 to 20 minutes. Trains: Vienna about 2h15 to 2h30, Munich about 1h30 to 2h.
Who Salzburg suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Great |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | OK |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | OK |
Make Salzburg your trip
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