Salzburg (which can be translated as “Salt Castle”) is a beautiful UNESCO World Heritage city to visit in Austria. We found it was brim full of things to see and do; so many in fact, that we couldn’t possibly have done them all in just the one day we had set aside for our visit. There were beautiful gardens in spring bloom, castles, palaces, cathedrals and bus tours.

Being Mozart’s birthplace, Salzburg continues to hold a very special notoriety in operatic history. Perched majestically on the Salzach River it was evidently originally named after the salt barges that used to carry salt along the river and its tributaries back in the 8th century.

It is also well known as the city where the Sound of Music was filmed back in the 1960’s. There are even sightseeing tours that pay tribute to the film makers and explore the beautiful landscapes where the movie was originally filmed.

While there, my better half and I took advantage of the opportunity to visit the Old Town Area along with Mozart’s childhood home. We also enjoyed a city bus tour and visited some of the gardens.

I must say we were very, very tempted by the incredible looking Mozart chocolate shop but (on this particular day at least) we managed to exercise some significant willpower and refrain from giving in to the chocolate temptation!

City: Salzburg

Population: 146 thousand

Area: 66 square kilometres

Our top 8 things to see and do in Salzburg:

Mozart’s Birthplace

Salzburg Old Town Area

Hellbrunn Castle

Red Bull Hangar

Mirrabell Palace and Gardens

Salzburg Cathedral

Hohensalzburg

Sound of Music and city Bus Tours