Top 26 Salzburg Attractions

The beau­ti­ful Aus­tri­an city, locat­ed on the banks of the Salzach Riv­er at the foot of the Alps, attracts with its numer­ous monas­ter­ies, tem­ples, baroque tow­ers, parks and squares.

Who and why goes to Salzburg

The ter­ri­to­ry on which mod­ern Salzburg is spread was inhab­it­ed in the Neolith­ic era. In 696 the land passed into the hands of Bish­op Rupert. He found­ed sev­er­al monas­ter­ies here, which became the cen­ter of the new city. Now tourists come here to admire the ancient defen­sive fortress­es, tem­ples with a thou­sand-year his­to­ry, Goth­ic church­es, lux­u­ri­ous palaces and cas­tles.

Salzburg is right­ful­ly con­sid­ered the world’s musi­cal cen­ter. Great artists lived and worked in it: Mozart, Haydn, Hein­rich von Bieber. Since the mid­dle of the 19th cen­tu­ry, Mozart music fes­ti­vals have been reg­u­lar­ly held here, attract­ing numer­ous fans of clas­si­cal music. The fes­ti­val pro­gram includes con­certs, opera per­for­mances, the­atri­cal per­for­mances.

The prox­im­i­ty of the north­ern foot of the Alps attracts climbers and lovers of hik­ing. Sports bases offer ski­ing on moun­tain slopes, climb­ing peaks, hik­ing in pic­turesque places.

In win­ter, the Mozart­platz skat­ing rink opens on the cen­tral square of Salzburg, where you can have fun with the whole fam­i­ly.

A trip to Salzburg will impress both adults and chil­dren. There are many muse­ums, parks and enter­tain­ment with­in the city. Guests can go to the House of Nature to see huge dinosaurs, walk through the Dwarf Gar­den in Mirabell Park, go to the zoo.

Interesting places

Altstadt

The Old Town of All­stadt, locat­ed in the cen­ter of Salzburg, is rec­og­nized by UNESCO as a World Her­itage Site. Sig­nif­i­cant city mon­u­ments were built here.

Getrei­de­gasse is the main pedes­tri­an street in the Old Quar­ter. It is lined with beau­ti­ful build­ings with wrought iron guild signs. Here in house num­ber 9 Wolf­gang Amadeus Mozart was born and spent his child­hood. On the Getrei­de­gasse, you can meet a woman in a bright nation­al cos­tume sell­ing pup­pets. She per­forms var­i­ous tricks and amus­es the audi­ence.

Residenzplatz

The square in the his­toric heart of Salzburg is sur­round­ed by Renais­sance man­sions, baroque hous­es, exhi­bi­tion halls, shops, muse­ums. In the cen­ter stands a foun­tain designed in the 17th cen­tu­ry by the archi­tect Tom­ma­so di Garona. It is crowned by a stat­ue of Tri­ton, from which jets of water erupt.

In 1938, the Nazis burned “harm­ful” books on the Res­i­den­z­platz. Walk­ing here, you can see a memo­r­i­al sign ded­i­cat­ed to this sad event. And in sum­mer, an open-air cin­e­ma oper­ates on the square.

Mozartplatz

One of the cen­tral squares of Salzburg bears the name of the great Aus­tri­an com­pos­er. In 1842, on the ini­tia­tive of King Lud­wig of Bavaria, a bronze stat­ue of Mozart was erect­ed here.

Every day peo­ple come here to lis­ten to the melo­di­ous sound of the city bells evok­ing the melodies of Mozart and Haydn, to drink cof­fee in a cafe, to buy sou­venirs. The hous­es built around the square house an art gallery and a con­tem­po­rary art exhi­bi­tion.

Anif

The com­mune in the vicin­i­ty of Salzburg can be found at the foot of the Alps. Tourists come there to see with their own eyes the Anif Cas­tle, tow­er­ing on an island in the mid­dle of the lake. The ancient tow­ers are sur­round­ed by a lush park. Con­cen­tres and hol­i­days are reg­u­lar­ly held there.

There is a 16th cen­tu­ry church in the town. It hous­es a sculp­ture by Hans Wald­burg­er. Every year, the Kaiser­hof Hotel hosts a wine fes­ti­val. At the fes­ti­val, guests taste drinks and taste dish­es of nation­al cui­sine.

Durnberg mines

Near Salzburg there is the town of Hallein, near which there are salt mines. They are open to vis­i­tors and are a real under­ground muse­um. Tourists put on min­ing uni­forms and sit in a trol­ley that low­ers them deep down.

Dur­ing the tour, peo­ple explore ancient tun­nels, ride a wood­en fer­ry across an under­ground lake, and inspect tools for extract­ing salt.

Architectural monuments

Hellbrunn

In the sub­urbs ris­es the sum­mer res­i­dence of the Arch­bish­op of Salzburg in the 17th cen­tu­ry. The archi­tec­tur­al ensem­ble includes a baroque palace, the Mountschloss hunt­ing cas­tle, the Mechan­i­cal The­atre, a park and the old­est stage in the Hell­brunn moun­tain crevice. Lux­u­ri­ous tapes­tries, antique fur­ni­ture, and paint­ed ceil­ings have been pre­served in the palace.

There are man-made lakes, foun­tains, grot­toes, mar­ble stat­ues in the park. The Mechan­i­cal The­ater has wood­en fig­urines of peo­ple, a water organ and a mod­el of the town hall. Every­day scenes of a stone den come to life with the help of a hydraulic dri­ve.

Hohenwerfen Castle

Hohen­wer­fen Cas­tle stands on a hill not far from Salzburg. The for­ti­fi­ca­tion was erect­ed in 1077. The tow­ers were rebuilt more than once and reg­u­lar­ly changed their appear­ance until the 17th cen­tu­ry. Lat­er, there were no sig­nif­i­cant changes in the archi­tec­ture.

Today the cas­tle has been com­plete­ly restored. Vis­i­tors are shown a pow­er­ful bas­tion, mag­nif­i­cent cham­bers of the for­mer own­ers, a round tow­er that served as a dun­geon for high-rank­ing pris­on­ers, as well as an under­ground chapel with a stat­ue of the Vir­gin Mary. The cas­tle has a fal­con­ry muse­um that tells how to deal with birds of prey.

Hohensalzburg

The medieval fortress on the top of Mount Fes­tun is the pride of Salzburg. Its his­to­ry goes back about 900 years. At first it was a small cas­tle in the Romanesque style. Grad­u­al­ly, new tow­ers and a bas­tion were added to it to pro­tect against ene­mies. Fortress Hohen­salzburg is clear­ly vis­i­ble from any­where in the city.

You can go up to the main gate by funic­u­lar or on foot. The ancient inte­ri­or has been pre­served in the inte­ri­or: gild­ed tapes­tries, carved wood­en fur­ni­ture, mar­ble bas-reliefs. Tourists can view a large col­lec­tion of weapons and under­stand how the Aus­tri­an nobil­i­ty lived many years ago.

Mirabell Palace and Garden

An out­stand­ing archi­tec­tur­al mon­u­ment and park was erect­ed in the 17th cen­tu­ry by order of Bish­op Wolf Diet­rich von Rathenau. At the begin­ning of the 19th cen­tu­ry, a fire broke out that destroyed most of the build­ing. The mas­ters man­aged to restore the main stair­case, dec­o­rat­ed with angels, the mar­ble hall, the palace church, but the appear­ance of the man­sion changed sig­nif­i­cant­ly after the restora­tion.

The gar­den has beau­ti­ful foun­tains, fig­ured flower beds, mar­ble sculp­tures of peo­ple and ani­mals. For more than 100 years, the palace has been the prop­er­ty of the city. It hous­es the bur­go­mas­ter’s office, hosts con­cen­tres and impor­tant events.

Leopoldskron

Leopold­skron Palace in the south­ern part of Salzburg is the for­mer res­i­dence of the arch­bish­op. The majes­tic roco­co man­sion is sur­round­ed by a large park. Ahead is a pic­turesque lawn and a lake. Mount Unters­berg is vis­i­ble on the hori­zon.

The palace is pri­vate prop­er­ty, so you can only get inside on the open day, which hap­pens sev­er­al times a year. There is a hotel in one wing of the build­ing. Guests can freely move around the palace and admire the ancient inte­ri­or.

Klessheim Palace

The sum­mer palace for the rest of the Salzburg arch­bish­ops was built in 1700. It is famous for its mag­nif­i­cent inner cham­bers, the main hall, and the orig­i­nal stuc­co on the walls. On the ter­ri­to­ry of the palace there is an Eng­lish land­scape park with smooth lawns, alleys and a foun­tain in the shape of a Tri­ton.

Adolf Hitler used Klessheim for offi­cial events. Jozef Tiso, Ben­i­to Mus­soli­ni, Ion Antones­cu have been there. Now the palace hous­es a casi­no and a Euro­pean restau­rant.

Temples of Salzburg

Cathedral

The Catholic Cathe­dral, found­ed in 778, is ded­i­cat­ed to Vir­gil and Rupert of Salzburg. The build­ing was destroyed and rebuilt sev­er­al times. The mod­ern tem­ple has acquired the fea­tures of the Baroque style. It has 5 organs, 11 altars, many large and small bells cast in the 16th-17th cen­turies.

In front of the entrance stands a sculp­tur­al com­po­si­tion made of lead, mark­ing the vic­to­ry of the Vir­gin Mary over the Dev­il. The facade is dec­o­rat­ed with stat­ues of saints. Inside, a cop­per font of the 13th cen­tu­ry and mar­ble sculp­tures are kept.

Monastery of St. Peter

Near the Res­i­den­z­platz in the cen­ter of the Old Town is an ancient Bene­dic­tine monastery. The archi­tec­tur­al com­plex con­sists of the Church of St. Peter, the Church of St. Mar­garet, a ceme­tery, out­build­ings, and cat­a­combs. In the court­yard there is a large stat­ue of the saint.

Under the bell tow­er is the entrance to the main tem­ple, the inte­ri­or dec­o­ra­tion of which is dis­tin­guished by splen­dor. The walls are dec­o­rat­ed with bib­li­cal paint­ings.

Vis­i­tors can see a red mar­ble altar, a sculp­ture of the Vir­gin Mary of the 15th cen­tu­ry, fres­coes, and go down to the cat­a­combs, where her­mit monks once lived. Of par­tic­u­lar inter­est is the oper­at­ing bak­ery, which makes bread accord­ing to old recipes.

nonnberg abbey

The Bene­dic­tine con­vent was found­ed by Saint Rupert in 714. Only the monastery church and the muse­um are avail­able to vis­i­tors. Guests come to see medieval wood­en dec­o­ra­tions, fres­coes, sculp­tures, mul­ti-col­ored stained-glass win­dows. The muse­um pre­serves paint­ings by famous artists, doc­u­ments and man­u­scripts.

franciscan church

The Alt­stadt dis­trict is home to one of the old­est church­es in the city. The tem­ple, ded­i­cat­ed to the Vir­gin Mary, is famous for its high mar­ble altar trimmed with gold. It has a stat­ue of the Madon­na, sculpt­ed by sculp­tor Michael Pach­er.

Behind the pul­pit is a 12th-cen­tu­ry mar­ble lion, and the local tri­umphal arch is fres­coed by Kon­rad Laib. The Fran­cis­can church, built in the Goth­ic style, has a high bell tow­er with a gabled roof.

Church Collegienkirche

The ear­ly 17th cen­tu­ry church is locat­ed on the Uni­ver­si­ty Square in the cen­ter of Salzburg. The facade of the build­ing is dec­o­rat­ed with arched win­dows, stuc­co and stat­ues. Inside is a large organ. The church is a per­ma­nent venue for music fes­ti­vals. In sum­mer, clas­si­cal music con­certs and opera per­for­mances take place in the court­yard.

Museums in Salzburg

Archbishop’s main residence

Not far from the Cathe­dral ris­es the main res­i­dence of the arch­bish­op. An art gallery is open in the east­ern wing of the build­ing, which exhibits works by artists of the 16th-19th cen­turies.

Tourists can admire the full of Rem­brandt, Rubens, Pel­le­gri­ni, Brueghel, Boulanger. The muse­um shop sells copies of paint­ings by famous mas­ters, made accord­ing to ancient tech­niques.

Mozart House

Wolf­gang Amadeus Mozart was born on the Getrei­de­gasse in the house num­ber nine. The com­poser’s fam­i­ly rent­ed an apart­ment on the third floor. Now it hous­es a muse­um, inter­est­ing to all fans of clas­si­cal music. The inte­ri­or of that time is com­plete­ly pre­served in the premis­es.

Sheets of music writ­ten by Mozart’s hand are hang­ing on the walls, and the first instru­ments of the bril­liant com­pos­er, the harp­si­chord and the vio­lin, stand in a place of hon­or. The expo­si­tion “Mozart and the the­ater” is open on the sec­ond floor.

The Zattler Museum

A new white stone res­i­dence was built for the prince-arch­bish­ops at the begin­ning of the 17th cen­tu­ry. Its hall­mark is a high tow­er with 35 bells. Now the Salzburg Car­il­lon is an impor­tant muse­um exhib­it. You can watch him at work from March to Octo­ber.

On the sec­ond floor of the man­sion there is an exhi­bi­tion that tells about the life and life of the arch­bish­op. On the third arche­o­log­i­cal finds are saved. Tourists are shown ancient Roman weapons, Celtic jew­el­ry and pot­tery found dur­ing exca­va­tions.

house of nature

The Nat­ur­al His­to­ry Muse­um is a mod­ern sci­en­tif­ic cen­ter rep­re­sent­ing the flo­ra and fau­na of Salzburg.

Per­ma­nent exhi­bi­tions are open to vis­i­tors:

• “Cli­mate of the Ice Age”
• “Our Uni­verse”
• “Ocean World”
• “Pre­his­toric Ani­mals”
• “Human body”,
• “Earth Through the Ages”.

Guests can vis­it the aquar­i­um to observe the inhab­i­tants of the seas and oceans, go to the rep­tile zoo and see how igua­nas, poi­so­nous snakes and tur­tles live.

Hangar‑7

The Aero­nau­tics Muse­um is locat­ed in an ultra-mod­ern build­ing, and was found­ed by Diet­rich Mateschitz in 2003. The own­er of Red Bull GmbH built a hangar where he exhib­it­ed a col­lec­tion of air­craft from the last cen­tu­ry. Under a huge glass dome are a vari­ety of air­craft.

Touch­ing and climb­ing into the booths of the exhibits is pro­hib­it­ed. But peo­ple are hap­py to take pic­tures against the back­drop of cars, lis­ten to the fas­ci­nat­ing sto­ry of the guide, go to the Icarus restau­rant to try deli­cious dish­es.

Museum of the family brewery Stiegl-Brauwelt

Stigl is the old­est Aus­tri­an brew­ery. A muse­um has been opened on its ter­ri­to­ry, attract­ing guests of the city like a mag­net.

Tourists can learn all the secrets of mak­ing a drink, go to the brew­ery, watch a film about the cre­ation of the com­pa­ny. The muse­um has a sou­venir shop sell­ing beer acces­sories and a restau­rant where you can taste beers and try orig­i­nal cock­tails.

Natural attractions and parks

Hohe Tauern National Park

The Aus­tri­an Nation­al Park, spread with­in the land of Salzburg, includes sev­er­al moun­tain peaks, among which is Mount Gross­glock­n­er, 3798 m high. Pic­turesque forests and mead­ows are locat­ed on their slopes. In the reserve it is allowed to engage in moun­tain tourism, moun­taineer­ing.

Of the main attrac­tions, the Golling, Krimml and Liecht­en­stein Gorges stand out. A panoram­ic paid excur­sion road has been laid along the reserve. Dri­ving along it, you can see in detail the Gross­glock­n­er and the Pasterze glac­i­er.

Eisriesenwelt

Not far from Salzburg, near the com­mune of Wer­fen, there is a huge ice cave. Its length is 42 km, and the depth is 407 meters. A cable car deliv­ers tourists to the entrance to the Eis­riesen­welt. Each vis­i­tor is giv­en a car­bide lamp to light the way.

The cave has bizarre ice growths, sta­lac­tites and sta­lag­mites. Here the tem­per­a­ture is below zero all year round, so warm clothes are need­ed for the tour.

Zoo

The Salzburg Zoo, found­ed in 1961, is engaged in the pro­tec­tion of nature. 140 species of ani­mals live on an area of ​​14 hectares. Adults and chil­dren can see rep­re­sen­ta­tives of the African con­ti­nent (lion, chee­tah, zebra, white rhi­no), as well as the inhab­i­tants of South Amer­i­ca and Eura­sia: caiman, puma, pink flamin­go, python, red pan­da, polar wolf, snow leop­ard.

The zoo has a large aviary and ter­rar­i­um. There is a play­ground for chil­dren, and the restau­rant “The ZoO” is open for all vis­i­tors.

puppet theater

The Salzburg Mar­i­onette The­ater opened in 1913 and is one of the old­est in the world. He is right­ful­ly proud of the large reper­toire of his per­for­mances, bal­let and opera pro­duc­tions.

The actors are not liv­ing peo­ple, but pup­pets led by expe­ri­enced pup­peteers. Revived dolls cause a storm of emo­tions, so the the­ater is very pop­u­lar. For the per­for­mances, the music of famous com­posers is used: Mozart, Haydn, Tchaikovsky, Strauss.