Salzburg attractions

Mozartplatz is Salzburg’s main city square, named after its most famous son, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The square, lined with cafés and restaurants, draws visitors from around the world who come to pay homage to the composer.

Much of the Lake District landscape around St. Gilgen (Sankt Gilgen) found its way into the opening shots of The Sound of Music, and the village center itself is chocolate-box perfection, where wooden chalets with steeply pitched roofs stand side by side with softly colored baroque townhouses overlooking Wolfgangsee lake.

One of the world’s largest ice caves, this network of frosty caverns and tunnels extends for more than 25 miles (40 kilometers) through the Tennen Mountains in the Austrian Alps. Discovered in 1879, this subterranean wonderland encompasses vast blue-tinged chambers, sculptural ice formations, and frozen waterfalls.

Straddling the border between Austria and Germany, Untersberg is the highest peak above Salzburg and offers sweeping views of the city, the Rositten Valley; and the Salzburg, Bavarian, and Tyrolean mountain ranges. This flat-topped peak in the Berchtesgaden Alps is a popular destination for hikers in the summer and skiers in the winter.

Beneath the glittering lakes and snow-dusted mountains of Austria’s Lake District, the subterranean world of the Salzburg salt mines (Salzbergwerk) spreads out in a network of underground mines and tunnels. Used to mine “white gold” since the Bronze Age, the historic salt mines at Hallstatt and Berchtesgaden are now popular attractions. Here you’ll find fascinating insights into the region’s salt-mining heritage, as well as fun activities such as slides, train rides, and boat cruises.

The Hallein Salt Mine (Salzwelten Hallein) is an ancient salt mine carved into Mt. Dürrnberg, just south of Salzburg, in Austria’s Salzkammergut region. Perched above the town of Hallein, the mine is around 2,500 years old and open to visitors who explore the tunnels and learn how “white gold” contributed to medieval Salzburg’s wealth.

Perched on a rocky outcrop in the Austrian Alps south of the city of Salzburg, the ancient Hohenwerfen Fortress offers a unique look at almost a thousand years of history in the region.

Salzburg’s Alter Markt, or Old Market Square, has been a feature of the city since the 13th century. In its heyday the square was a destination for town dances, the midsummer festival, and other civic events. Curiosities on the square include Number 10, the smallest house in Salzburg at just 4.6-feet (1.4-meters) wide. For a taste of some of the local produce that would once have been sold at the market, join a guided foodie tour of the city.

Constructed in the late 1950s, this massive concert hall was designed specifically to host the annual Salzburg Festival, and is still the venue for that major summer event as well as performances throughout the year. As the name suggests, the Festival Hall is huge, with a round stage that measures 328 feet (100 meters) wide, and seating for 2,179 guests.

Climbing 60 meters (197 feet) in just 30 seconds, this elevator makes getting to the Mönchsberg Plateau and the Mönchsberg branch of the city's Modern Art Museum a breeze. Even if you don't plan to visit the museum, it's worth taking the ride up to the viewing terrace, a great place to photograph Salzburg's skyline.

Established in 1492, Salzburg’s Stiegl Brewery (Stiegl Brauwelt is Austria’s largest private brewery and one of the city’s most popular attractions. Beer-lovers—and anyone interested in Salzburg’s beer culture—come to immerse themselves in the world of Stiegl, one of the country’s most popular beer brands.

Silent Night (Stille Nacht in German is one of the world’s favorite Christmas carols. And priest Joseph Mohr and organist Franz Xaver Gruber composed it in Oberndorf bei Salzburg, a little town near Salzburg. The Silent Night Chapel (Stille Nacht Kapelle, built on the spot where the magic happened, commemorates their work.

Situated on Mönchsberg, one of Salzburg’s five towering hills, this branch of the Museum of Modern Art is notable for both its design and its collections. Opened in 2004, the white marble-clad museum features temporary and permanent exhibitions spread over four floors. The Mönchsberg branch also attracts visitors with its acclaimed restaurant, M32, which offers great city views.

The historic spa town of St. Wolfgang im Salzkammergut is considered one of the prettiest villages in Austria’s Salzkammergut (Lake District. It is perched on the northern shore of the Wolfgangsee lake and is backed by the alpine foothills of Mount Schafberg, making it a paradise for hikers in the summer and skiers in the winter.

Just south of Salzburg in Austria’s Hohe Tauern National Park, the 10,508-foot (3,203-meter) Kitzsteinhorn mountain and glacier dominates the Zell am See and Kaprun region. With glacier snow until summer and spectacular scenery all year, the Kitzsteinhorn is a magnet for skiers, hikers, outdoor enthusiasts, and sightseers.

Opened in 2007, the award-winning Salzburg Museum unpacks Salzburg’s history as well as its cultural and musical heritage across six sites in the city. Its main venue is the New Residential Palace (Neue Residenz in Salzburg’s Mozartplatz, which invites visitors to trace the city’s history through artworks, artifacts, and multimedia content.

Located in the east wing of Salzburg's Old Residence (Alte Residenz), where Austria’s prince-archbishops once lived, the Residence Gallery (Residenzgalerie) is now home to the state of Salzburg’s painting collection. Step inside to see an impressive array of European art dating from the 16th to the 19th centuries, including paintings by the likes of Rubens and Rembrandt.

Situated in south Salzburg in the Hellbrunn Palace (Schloss Hellbrunn estate, Salzburg Zoo—often called the Tiergarten Hellbrunn—houses around 1,400 animals from Eurasia, Africa, Australia, and the Americas. Around 300,000 people visit a year to view the animals and enjoy the other offerings, such as educational programs and events for kids.

Stretching east of Salzburg, the Austrian Lake District—the Salzkammergut—is home to some of Austria’s most stunning scenery. This is an idyllic spot for a summer vacation, with picturesque alpine villages, lush green valleys framed by snow-dusted peaks, and dozens of glittering lakes. These dazzling landscapes, coupled with thousands of years of salt-mining heritage, have earned the Hallstatt-Dachstein region UNESCO World Heritage status.

Located in Salzburg Old Town, the Salzburg Museum of Natural History (Salzburg Haus der Natur) is the city’s most popular museum. Wander its diverse displays to see models of dinosaurs; journey around the human body and try hands-on experiments at the Science Centre; and admire marine creatures and reptiles in the Aquarium and Reptile Zoo.

The Salzburg Museum incorporates seven branches, including the Toy Museum (Spielzeug Museum) and Museum of Natural History (Haus der Natur), but its main branch is at the Neue Residenz and is connected by subterranean tunnel to the adjacent Panorama Museum. The underground passage itself features a section of Roman wall covered with murals and models of the city at important points in its development but the main attraction of the Panorama Museum is the cyclorama of the city. Painted in 1829 by Johann Michael Sattler, the masterpiece painting-in-the-round is supremely impressive for its fine architectural and topographical detail and is 26 meters (85 feet) in diameter. Visitors stand on a central platform, from here telescopes and computer screens highlight various areas of the city, providing detailed descriptions of 19th-century Salzburg.

Situated inside the upper floors of the Salzburg Cathedral, this museum features a permanent exhibit of religious items, primarily from the 8th through 18th centuries. Objects on display include reliquary crosses, a monstrance, a Roman missal, and an intriguing Cabinet of Curiosities. The Cathedral Museum’s interiors are also quite impressive, with chessboard-style marble floors and ornately plastered domed interiors.

In the heart of Salzburg Old Town, the Toy Museum (Spielzeug Museum provides the respite traveling parents have been longing for. Crammed full of retro and modern toys, with films, trains, dolls’ houses, dressing up, racing cars, and more, it will keep little ones happy for hours, while parents and carers unwind with a cup of tea.

Tucked into Salzburg Old Town, the Traklhaus is a tiny museum celebrating the 20th-century Austrian poet Georg Trakl, one of the city’s most celebrated sons. Set in the family house where Trakl was born in 1887, the museum charts his life and work with photos, diaries, and extracts from his poems.

Austria’s largest national park, National Park Hohe Tauern runs from the Brenner Pass in the west to the Grossglockner mountain in the east. The park unfurls across three southern Austria provinces in a swath of mountains, lakes, glaciers, waterfalls, and forests that beckon walkers, skiers, and nature and outdoor enthusiasts.

Set in a 17th-century building adorned with mosaic “tongue-beards,” the Museum of Modern Art Salzburg Rupertinum (Museum der Moderne Rupertinum) was Salzburg’s original modern art gallery. Since the opening of its larger sibling, the Museum of Modern Art Salzburg Mönchsberg, it has hosted rotating exhibitions, often graphics or photography.