A day in Salzburg: perfect for the whole family

Sarah Ebner of Family Travel Times visits family-friendly places and blog about them with her children. Find out what happened when the family visited Salzburg.

What’s important to you when you go on holiday? Since having children, I’ve found this has changed dramatically – and continues to do so as they age. When they were small, it was all about high chairs and cots, babysitting and soft play. Now they’re older, it’s about doing stuff; going away and finding things which will interest the four of us. We found all of this in our one day in beautiful Salzburg. If only we’d had longer to explore.

Salzburg is probably best known as the city where Mozart was born, and of course, as the location for the Sound of Music. It is a beautiful city, but also a modern one, with 150,000 inhabitants. It’s full of museums, gorgeous squares and markets and also has an impressive array of shops (modern, and traditional in the Old City), coffee houses and restaurants, including St Peter Stiftskeller, the oldest restaurant in Europe, which dates  back to 803. The Salzach River winds through the city and separates it into two halves, while the old town is overlooked by a marvellous fortress which dates back to the 11th century.

The city has a very long and impressive history, as it was already significant during Roman times, and then ruled by Catholic Prince Archbishops from the 7^th to the 19^th century (more on one of those later). It wasn’t even officially part of Austria until 1800, and happily enjoyed a wealth and affluence which can be traced to hundreds of years of trading with salt, or to give it its German name, Salz.

It hosts over 4,000 cultural events each year and is a World Heritage Site. Mozart’s presence is everywhere (there are even Mozart rubber ducks!) not only in the buildings, but also in the delicious Mozart chocolates (Mozartkugel, with a silver wrapper as opposed to the normal gold one) you can buy across Austria. The original Salzburg Mozartkugel was invented by the chocolatier Fürst in the 19th century and there are still several branches in the city. Of course, we had to try them – and we also had try the unbelievably huge pretzels (including an amazing doughnut one) in the farmers’ market.

The only problem with our visit to this most picturesque of cities, full of stunning baroque architecture and with so much to see, is that we were only there on a day trip. I’d suggest you need at least two days here, and probably more to do it some sort of justice.

As we wanted to see a lot in a short space of time, we were lucky enough to have a guide, Michaela Muhr, who took us on a family-friendly walking tour of the old part. She was fabulous, answering all the children’s questions, pointed out things they might be interested in (such as the lions you can see on many of the buildings) and even bringing along a bag of goodies connected to the city which Robert could delve into and ask about. She was also very good natured about our many Sound of Music questions.

We started our tour on Getreidegasse, the best-known shopping street, and learnt so much from then on. Naturally we had to visit the gorgeous Mirabell Palace and Gardens where Julie Andrews and the Sound of Music children sang Do-Re-Mi, and we later walked through the historic St Peter’s Cemetery which was rather touching, with its memorials to the dead – and yet also had its own cinematic connection as it was where the Von Trapp family hid behind the tombstones at the end of the film.

We loved walking round and finding out about the history of the city. We took in the Café Tromaselli, Salzburg’s oldest coffeehouse (founded in 1700), the beautiful Cathedral where we saw the font where Mozart was baptised, and marvelled at the decor) and the huge marble Residenzbrunnen. Robert enjoyed looking for the five animals hiding in the rock beneath the horses, and we also liked the fact that this was where Julie Andrews sang “I have confidence in me” after leaving the convent.

Our tour took about two and a half hours which meant that after saying goodbye to Michaela we still had some time left to explore further. We decided to visit the Hohensalzburg Fortress, which is one of the largest castles in Europe, and which you can reach by funicular railway. It’s absolutely stunning – and also boasts terrific views.

We also went to the Hellbrunn Summer Palace which is about 15 minutes away by bus and fantastic for kids. We didn’t make it into the palace itself, nor the zoo or other attractions it offers, but we did go to the brilliant Trick Fountains.

Back in the 17^th century, the archbishop Markus Sittikus installed these fountains to amuse himself, and possibly his guests (if they didn’t mind getting soaked). These include water shooting up amongst all the chairs at his table (except for his, of course),  coming out of the nostrils of a deer’s head and randomly soaking you as you stand on some seemingly safe looking steps. I’d recommend taking some dry clothes!

The palace also has its own Sound of Music connection as it contains the gazebo where Liesl and Rolf sing “I am 16 going on 17” and the Baron and Maria sing “Something good”. The grounds are huge and if only we’d had more time (the recurring theme of our day) we’d have enjoyed some time in the children’s playground too.

I’m afraid we also didn’t manage to visit the Museum of Modern Art – one of 20 of so museums in Salzburg  –  meaning we will, one day need to go back. However, we did enjoy the many pieces of art which are on show throughout the city, plus the squares and winding alleyways.

I thought that Salzburg was an almost perfect European city for the entire family. It was full of culture, good food, shopping, history and fun. I’m already trying to work out how to return. Find out more on Salzburg.

Extra notes: We would recommend buying a Salzburg Card – they cost 26 Euros for adults and 13 for children during the peak season and give you 24 hour free entry to all the cities attractions, plus other discounts on transport and tours. You can also buy colouring/information books on the city especially written for kids (in English and German). Robert liked these! 

Disclosure: our tour around Salzburg with Michaela Muhr,  was complimentary, although all our views and opinions are our own. You can book your tour via the Salzburg Experience website, 

Sarah Ebner and her two children, 12-year-old Jessica and 9-year-old Robert, write Family Travel Times