The Hills are Alive in Salzburg

After five amazing solo days exploring Switzerland back in the summer of 2014, I hopped on a train and headed to Salzburg, Austria.

Admit it, you read that title and instantly starting singing "The hills are alive, with the sound of music," right? If you were like me you grew up watching the famous Julie Andrews movie, The Sound of Music at least yearly. You could sing all the songs, perhaps not as well as Julie Andrews and the VonTrapp family, but you knew each word and every tune was familiar. It's a classic and for those that don't know a large part of the movie was filmed in and around Salzburg, Austria. Two years before this trip, I spent a week in Vienna, Austria. It was a last-minute trip that I quickly planned and loved immensely, but due to major flight delays getting there, I lost an entire day in Vienna, one I had hoped to spend on a day trip to Salzburg later during my week. So when I found myself planning a trip to Switzerland in 2014, I knew my next stop had to be Salzburg. Bidding Zurich farewell I rose before the sun came up to catch my train to Salzburg. It was a five-and-a-half hour journey by train, but like the past several days that I had spent in Switzerland traveling around the country by train, I sat back fully intending to become immersed in my book only to be entranced by the beautiful countryside outside my train window the entire journey.

I arrived in Salzburg in the early afternoon and made my way on foot to the Hotel Markus Sittikus, my "home" for the next few nights. The hotel was quaint and charming, an easy walk from the train station and a nice wander through the Mirabell Gardens to get to Old Town Salzburg. As I wandered through the gardens I was instantly transported back to Vienna. The beautifully manicured gardens filled with colorful flowers reminded me of the Mozart garden in Vienna and the immense gardens surrounding the Schonbrunn Palace. I felt as if I had returned to a city I loved, only a smaller version of it and I couldn't have been happier. As I made my way to across the "love locks" bridge over the river Salzach, I took in the views of the Fortress Hohensalzburg up on the hill. I planned to visit the fortress a few days later but like every time I find myself in a new city I did what I always do first and set out to wander the streets on foot and just see where I would end up.

I found myself in Old town Salzburg instantly at home wandering the cute streets lined with adorable shops, quaint restaurants and everything and anything you'd want related to Mozart. Horse-drawn carriages lined the main square, along with street performers and food stalls with jumbo pretzels. I wandered in and out of the many cute shops, including an amazing shop selling thousands of intricately painted egg Christmas ornaments. Although Salzburg reminded me a lot of Vienna initially, I enjoyed it's compact size with its walkable pedestrian area. I figured out my game plan for my time there and just took it all in. After a much-enjoyed dinner of German food and a few glasses of the Austrian white wine, Gruner Veltliner that I fell in love with in Vienna two years before, I headed back to my hotel to rest up for my next day.

I had pre-booked a day tour long tour including the Sound of Music sites and the town of Hallstatt with the highly recommended, Bob's Special Tours. I met up with the group early the next morning and we set out in our small van to the countryside sites that were used in the filming of the Sound of Music. While the weather wasn't the best; it rained pretty much all day, it still was enjoyable taking in the places featured in a movie I'd watched hundreds of times! We saw the VonTrapp home, the famous gazebo, the church where they were married and the surrounding town.

We next headed to the quaint town of Hallstatt where we had a few hours to wander. The rain had picked up, so I quickly found a place for a late lunch in hopes I'd wait out the downpour. Not incredibly lucky in that regard, after my leisurely lunch I set out to wander along the cute lake side streets in the rain taking in the quaint feel for this adorable town and mentally making note that I needed to come back here someday to stay for a few nights and soak it all in and hope for sunny weather!

My next day was my final day in Salzburg as I had planned to take the train up to Munich, my final stop of this whirlwind trip later in the day. Since there were hourly trains to Munich, I had not pre-booked my tickets thinking I'd just catch the next train whenever I was ready to leave. I made my way back over to the Old Town and up to the Fortress Hohensalzburg to tour around the castle and take in the views of Salzburg from above. The rains had cleared away allowing for magnificent views of the small Austrian city I'd quickly fallen in love with in two short days.

Although my time in Salzburg was short, it easily became a place I knew I wanted to return to someday. And I will, later this year when I take a group of travelers on our Christmas Market tour of Germany, Switzerland and Austria. We'll stop in Salzburg on days nine and ten of our 14-day tour. Click here if you want to join us. I can't wait to get back and see this charming city at Christmastime! I know it'll be just as magical as it was during my first visit.

“We leave something of ourselves behind when we leave a place, we stay there, even though we go away. And there are things in us that we can find again only by going back there.” ― Pascal Mercier, Night Train to Lisbon

Editor's note: Since this was originally posted in the spring of 2021, our Christmas Market tour, which was sadly delayed in late November 2021 for a year, did take off in late 2022. Eventually, I hope to write a blog about our experiences in this beautiful part of Europe during the holiday season. Stay tuned!