Salzburg, Travel Guide
There are many reasons to visit Salzburg, Austria, and in this travel guide, I highlight what this city is about beyond its well-known parts and cliches detailed in the things to do in Salzburg lists, and beyond only Mozart and the Sound of Music.
Let’s pretend all of Austria’s major cities are siblings. Vienna would be the classical one with a hidden, gritty second personality. Innsbruck would be sporty, and Graz would have a Mediterranean flair. Salzburg? She would be exquisitely beautiful and musically gifted. Everyone wants to see Salzburg.
The joke ‘If it’s baroque, don’t fix it’ is a perfect maxim for Salzburg: the story-book Altstadt (old town) burrowed below steep hills looks much as it did when Mozart lived here 250 years ago. Beside the fast-flowing Salzach River, your gaze is raised inch by inch to graceful domes and spires, the formidable clifftop fortress and the mountains beyond. It’s a backdrop that did the lordly prince-archbishops and Maria proud.
Beyond Salzburg’s two biggest money-spinners – Mozart and The Sound of Music – hides a city with a burgeoning arts scene, wonderful food, manicured parks, quiet side streets where classical music wafts from open windows, and concert halls that uphold musical tradition 365 days a year. Everywhere you go, the scenery, the skyline, the music and the history send your spirits soaring higher than Julie Andrews’ octave-leaping vocals.