Spending Two Days In Salzburg – Austria

Salzburg is a beautiful city with a long pedestrian downtown area.

Classical music takes the stage here as this is the birthplace of Mozart (his house can be easily seen from the pedestrian area).

Live classical music is played at the castle overlooking the city. This is also where the Sound of Music was filmed. There are many tours that run daily to take you to these famous landmarks.

Since Salzburg is only a few hours from Stuttgart, we decided to take a short weekend trip to Salzburg, Austria.

About Salzburg

Even though Salzburg is rather touristy, I love visiting this city. This is my second time here but I’ve enjoyed it just as much as my first visit.

I love simply walking around the large pedestrian zone, heading up to the castle to capture panoramic views of the area, and listening to music fill the streets.

Austria has to be one of the prettiest countries I’ve ever visited. Outside the city, there are also many places to explore.

Salt mines, caves, huge gorges with trails, over 70 beautiful lakes to see, and the huge Berchtesgaden mountain area where Hitler’s Eagle Nest sits is also in close proximity. It’s a great starting point to visit many historical sites but also to get outside and hike or explore some of the great natural surroundings.

Our Visit

We drove 4 1/2 hours to get there from Stuttgart for a short two-day trip. We found a place on airbnb.com at the last minute but luckily the place was really close to downtown and the sites. Since we brought Juno, our lab, we had to find a place with fields and trails nearby.

The place we stayed at was next to a huge park that sat on a hill overlooking the city. It was so nice waking up and walking through the trails and getting some good photos. We came across some old castle ruins and also found a great view of the main castle that sits prominently overlooking the city below.

At the entrance of the park, there was a restaurant and Biergarten, which we made sure to be a stopping point on our trip since the location was amazing and the views were nothing short of fantastic.  

Below are photos from the downtown area. You can see the castle from below and the main pedestrian street was busy with tourists.

This beautiful church, the Dome of Salzburg or Salzburg Cathedral, is downtown and worth a look. Entry is free and it’s really quite beautiful, as most European churches are.

We stopped at a schnapps/wine/beer place that was ornately decorated and could only fit about 5 people comfortably to have a drink. Austrians love their flavored schnapps!

Visit the Hohensalzburg Fortress

At the end of the day, we headed up to the castle to check it out and take in the views. There are a few Biergarten at the top to grab some food and have a drink. We stayed until sunset which made for some nice photos.

There is a cable car that also can take you up but the fee is about 11 Euro and we didn’t want to pay that. Well, I didn’t want to pay for it, I think the others would’ve rather gone that route! If you buy the ‘Fortess Card’ it comes with the ride up the funicular and an audio guide tour of many rooms in the castle.

Coming back down the sunset was so beautiful looking over the city. I’ve been here twice but would love to come back once more before we leave Europe.

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And of course, no trip is complete without a dip in one of the fountains!

All images were taken with my current favorite camera body, the Canon 6D. I upgraded from the Canon 60D and it has been a game changer! Shooting in low light without a tripod is so easy to do now. I highly recommend this if you’re looking to purchase a DSLR or upgrade!

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