Salzburg Things to Do

Salzburg is a city of Baroque architecture, steep hills, great castles, and the music of Mozart. If you are short on time, here’s how to catch the essence of the pint-sized city in just one day.

Salzburg is all about music but never more so than in the summer when the city goes festival crazy, with a series of musical celebrations to entice everybody from Mozart fans to opera freaks.

Salzburg conjures up images of Mozart and Julie Andrews, fairytale castles, and romantic classical concerts but there’s also a host of quality museums to explore – and what better time to enjoy them than during Museum Week, running from May 6–12, 2013, when admission is free to one museum each day. Combined tickets to all the best museums are available, and the Salzburg Museum closes Monday.

In a peculiar tradition that smacks of some Austrian brand of Hinduism, the tiny, Tyrolean village of Jerzens marks the return of their cattle to their respective owners from a community pasture on the second Saturday of September by organizing a parade/feast in honor of the most impressive beasts involving elaborate, decorative masks and other accoutrement (for the cows, that is).

There’s so much to do around Salzburg, from visiting romantic castles to exploring salt mines, ice caves, or the house of a despot; and that’s all before considering the surrounding Alps as a year-round adventure playground.

There’s so much to see in the Alps around Salzburg, from roaring rivers to snowy peaks, and plenty for outdoors enthusiasts, whatever the weather or season.

There’s so much to see in the Alps around Salzburg, from roaring rivers to snowy peaks, and plenty for outdoors enthusiasts, whatever the weather or season.