Salzburg: The Guide to the Old Town, Fortress and Festival

Salzburg is one of the few European cities whose skyline you recognise at first glance: the white Hohensalzburg Fortress above the green domes of the cathedral, the Salzach river in front, the Untersberg behind. The old town between the Mönchsberg and the river has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1996 and is so compact that you can reach every major sight on foot – ideal for a weekend, but crowded and expensive in the Festival summer.

This guide by the Alpengast editorial team walks you through the left-bank and right-bank old town, up to the fortress and the Mönchsberg, explains when the Salzburg Card pays off and presents the best day trips from Hellbrunn to Königssee – along with a zone table for choosing your hotel, public transport essentials and a budget. You will find an overview of the destination with all accommodation on our page about Salzburg.

The Old Town: World Heritage on Both Banks of the Salzach

The left-bank old town at the foot of the Mönchsberg is the baroque heart of the city: from 1600 onwards, Prince-Archbishop Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau and his successors had entire streets demolished to make room for the cathedral, the Residenz and a sequence of Italianate squares.

Getreidegasse and Mozart's Birthplace

Getreidegasse, with its wrought-iron guild signs, is Austria's most famous shopping street. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born at number 9 on 27 January 1756; the museum displays his childhood violin, letters and portraits (daily approx. 9 am–5.30 pm, admission approx. €14–15, combined ticket with the Residence on Makartplatz approx. €22–24). Come before 10 am, after which the tour groups squeeze through the rooms.

Cathedral, DomQuartier and Nonnberg Abbey

Salzburg Cathedral (consecrated in 1628) was the first great baroque building north of the Alps; Mozart was baptised in its Romanesque font. Entry is against a small contribution. The DomQuartier links the state rooms of the Residenz, the Residenz gallery, the cathedral arch terrace and the St Peter's museum into a circuit of around two hours (Wed–Mon approx. 10 am–5 pm, approx. €13–16). A steep stairway from Kajetanerplatz brings you to Nonnberg Abbey, the oldest continuously existing women's convent in the German-speaking world (founded around 714); the abbey church with its Romanesque frescoes is freely accessible during the day.

Mirabell Gardens

Cross the Makartsteg footbridge and you are in the right-bank old town with Mozart's Residence and the city's finest coffee houses. Wolf Dietrich had Mirabell Palace built in 1606 for his companion Salome Alt. The freely accessible gardens (daily from approx. 6 am until dusk), with the Pegasus fountain and the Dwarf Garden, are the most photographed spot in the city: the axis across the steps points exactly at cathedral and fortress.

Kapuzinerberg

The Kapuzinerberg is the quiet counterpart to the Mönchsberg. The ascent begins through a gateway at Linzer Gasse 14 and leads to the Capuchin monastery; from the bastion in front of it you overlook the entire old town. Further up lies the Paschinger Schlössl, where Stefan Zweig lived from 1919 to 1934. Allow approx. 1.5 hours for the circuit.

Hohensalzburg Fortress and the Mönchsberg

The fortress has sat enthroned above the city since 1077 and, at around 250 metres in length, is one of the largest fully preserved castle complexes in Europe – it was never conquered.

Up by FestungsBahn

The FestungsBahn, a funicular dating from 1892, starts in Festungsgasse behind the cathedral and takes less than a minute to the top. The fortress ticket including the funicular costs approx. €14–18, depending on whether you include the Prince's Chambers and the Fortress Museum; the walk up takes approx. 15–20 minutes and is slightly cheaper. Opening hours are approx. 9 am–7 pm in summer and approx. 9.30 am–5 pm in winter.

Alpengast tip: Buy the fortress ticket online with a time slot or use the Salzburg Card – that way you skip the queue at the valley station, which can easily reach 45 minutes in August.

Mönchsberg and the Museum der Moderne

The Mönchsberg is a wooded ridge in the middle of the city. From the fortress plateau a path leads past the Richterhöhe to the Museum der Moderne, whose marble building of 2004 hovers above the old town (Tue–Sun approx. 10 am–6 pm, Wed until 8 pm, approx. €10–13). The MönchsbergAufzug lift at Anton-Neumayr-Platz takes you back down (approx. €4–5 return, free with the Salzburg Card).

Festival, Advent Singing and Mozart Week

Salzburg Festival

Founded in 1920 with Hofmannsthal's "Jedermann" on Domplatz, the Festival takes place every year from around 20 July to the end of August and comprises some 200 performances of opera, drama and concerts. Ticket sales open in January; operas sell out quickly, while concerts and plays are often still available in early summer. Prices range from approx. €15 for standing room at "Jedermann" to €400 and more for premieres. The Siemens Festival Nights on Kapitelplatz are free: in the evenings, opera recordings are shown on a big screen.

Advent and Mozart Week

The Salzburg Advent Singing in the Großes Festspielhaus (since 1946, late November to mid-December) is a staged folk-song play; tickets cost approx. €30–80 and are often gone by summer. At the same time the Christkindlmarkt runs on Domplatz and Residenzplatz. The Mozart Week around Mozart's birthday on 27 January offers ten days of chamber music and opera at Festival level – at hotel prices of the deepest low season.

Does the Salzburg Card Pay Off?

The Salzburg Card is available for 24, 48 or 72 hours (approx. €30–50 depending on duration and season). It includes all city public transport plus one admission each to the fortress including the funicular, the DomQuartier, the Mozart museums, Hellbrunn, the Museum der Moderne and the Untersberg cable car. If you visit the fortress, a Mozart museum and the Mönchsberg in one day, the card has already paid for itself.

Day Trips: Hellbrunn, Untersberg, Hallein, Königssee

Hellbrunn Palace and the Trick Fountains

Five kilometres to the south, Prince-Archbishop Markus Sittikus had a summer residence built from 1612 onwards whose trick fountains still work today: hidden jets, grottoes and a water-powered mechanical theatre with which the host soaked his guests. Tours last approx. 40 minutes, the combined ticket with the palace costs approx. €15–16, and it is open from late March to early November. Trolleybus 25 gets you there from the main station in approx. 20 minutes.

Untersberg and Salzwelten Hallein

Trolleybus 25 continues to St. Leonhard in Grödig, where the Untersberg cable car glides up to 1,776 metres in approx. 8 minutes (return approx. €30–35, free with the Salzburg Card). Take a jacket – it is 10 degrees cooler at the top. On the Dürrnberg above Hallein, salt was mined for more than 2,500 years; a visit to the Salzwelten takes approx. 90 minutes and leads you, in miners' overalls, down two wooden slides and across the salt lake on a raft (approx. €25–30). The S3 gets you to Hallein in approx. 20 minutes, and a bus takes you up to the mine.

Berchtesgaden and Königssee

Königssee may lie in Bavaria, but it is closer from Salzburg than from Munich: bus 840 runs from the main station to Berchtesgaden in approx. 50 minutes, and from there bus 841 continues to the lake. Electric boats glide in approx. 35 minutes to the pilgrimage church of St. Bartholomä (round trip approx. €25–30). Remember to carry ID – it is a border, even if nobody checks – and note that the Salzburg Card is not valid here.

Salzkammergut

Bus 150 takes you in approx. 50 minutes to St. Gilgen on the Wolfgangsee. For Hallstatt, allow approx. 2.5 hours each way via Bad Ischl; feasible as a day trip, but long – an overnight stay in the inner Salzkammergut is considerably more relaxed.

Eating and Drinking: Nockerl, Kasnocken and Beer

Salzburger Nockerl, a baked meringue in three peaks for the Mönchsberg, Kapuzinerberg and Gaisberg, are served for two people and cost approx. €15–20 – as a main course, not a dessert. Kasnocken with mountain cheese and fried onions and Kaspressknödel in soup are on the menu of every traditional Gasthof. The original Mozartkugel comes from the Fürst confectionery on Alter Markt (since 1890, silver-blue, approx. €1.80 each).

Beer is culture here: Stiegl has brewed since 1492 and runs the Stiegl-Brauwelt in Maxglan with a museum and tastings. Augustiner Bräu Mülln, monastery-owned since 1621, is one of Austria's largest beer gardens, with approx. 1,400 seats in its halls and chestnut garden: you rinse your stoneware mug at the fountain, have it filled from the wooden barrel (half litre approx. €4–5) and fetch pork knuckle, radish and pretzels from the stalls in the Schmankerlgang. For a coffee-house breakfast try the Tomaselli on Alter Markt (since 1700); for a Jause of bread roll and bacon, the Schranne, the farmers' market on Thursday mornings.

Alpengast tip: During the Festival, book every dinner in the old town at least a day ahead – after the performances, 2,000 people pour into the lanes at the same time.

Where to Stay? The Zones Compared

Salzburg is small, but your location decides whether you stroll back into the old town in the evening or take the trolleybus. The five zones at a glance:

Prices apply to the low season; during the Festival and on Advent weekends they are 30 to 60 percent higher, and the old town is then often booked out months in advance.

Getting There, Getting Around, Seasons and Budget

Train and Airport

The main station lies on the northern edge of the Neustadt, approx. 20 minutes on foot or five trolleybus minutes from the old town. From Vienna, Westbahn and ÖBB Railjet trains run every half hour and take approx. 2 hours 20 minutes; Sparschiene fares start at approx. €15–20 if booked early. From Munich it is approx. 1.5 hours, from Innsbruck approx. 1 hour 50 minutes. The Klimaticket Österreich is valid on all trains and on Salzburg's public transport. Salzburg Airport W. A. Mozart lies just four kilometres to the west in Maxglan: trolleybus 2 reaches the main station in approx. 20 minutes, bus 10 takes approx. 15 minutes to Hanuschplatz in the old town, and a taxi costs approx. €20–25.

Trolleybus, S-Bahn and Tickets

Salzburg has the largest trolleybus network in Austria; lines 1 to 14 run every 10 minutes during the day. A single ticket costs approx. €2.50–3, the 24-hour ticket for the core zone approx. €6–7; in the Salzburg Verkehr app it is cheaper than from the driver. The S-Bahn opens up the surroundings: S3 to Hallein and Golling, S2 to Straßwalchen, S1 of the Lokalbahn to Oberndorf. If you come by car, use the Salzburg Süd park-and-ride; the garages inside the Mönchsberg cost approx. €20–25 per day.

Alpengast tip: Before buying tickets, check whether your accommodation issues a guest card with public transport included – many establishments in the surrounding villages do.

The Seasons

Late July to late August is Festival time: the richest cultural programme, but also the highest prices and the fullest lanes. May, June and September to mid-October are the best compromise between weather, prices and calm. January to March are the cheapest months: cold, often grey, but with empty museums and the Mozart Week. Expect rain at any time of year – with approx. 1,200 millimetres per year, Salzburg is one of Austria's wettest cities, and the famous "Schnürlregen" drizzle can last for days.

What Does a Day Cost?

With a guesthouse in Maxglan or the surroundings, a bread roll from the bakery, a lunch menu at a Gasthof and an evening at Augustiner Bräu, you can manage on approx. €90–130 per person per day, admissions included. A mid-range hotel in the Neustadt, two museums, a coffee-house visit and dinner in the old town come to approx. €180–260. Upwards, Salzburg has no ceiling: an old-town hotel, a Festival ticket and a menu at a toque-rated restaurant quickly add up to €400 and more.

Whether a Gasthof with a garden in Anif, a city hotel in the Neustadt or a room with fortress view in the old town: you will find all the vetted accommodation from this guide and many more across Austria in our hotel directory.