Spring Events in Salzburg 2025: Easter Markets, Festivals, and Park Openings

View of Mirabell Gardens in Salzburg, Austria, with Hohensalzburg Fortress in the background, against a backdrop of a bright blue sky

Top Things to Do in Salzburg Spring 2025

With the Alps visible in the distance on a clear day, Salzburg has a distant view of winter as the spring flowers bloom and Easter eggs appear in shop windows and market stalls. The longer days and warming weather beckon residents to come out and enjoy the sunshine, with a plethora of spring events to savor. Read on for Insight Cities’ recommendations for the top things to do in Salzburg this spring.

a group of tourists with a guide smiling in the Mirabell Gardens

Take a tour with Insight Cities

First time in Salzburg this spring? Take an introduction tour with us at Insight Cities. Our knowledgeable and personable guides show you around the city of Mozart, including his own birthplace and residence, bringing the charming medieval Burgher town and the stories hidden within its walls to life, along with the great Baroque squares where the archbiships presided. Get in touch with us and book your tour today!

Easter in Salzburg

Four traditional Austrian Easter palms - bundles of spring branches tied with a ribbon - held by participants at a Palm Sunday event — Austrian Easter Palms by Naturpuur, Wikimedia Commons

Salzburg, being the epitome of European holiday charm, has the perfect Easter atmosphere, with colorful egg decorations, Easter palm arrangements, and Easter markets popping up in the main squares. This year, Easter falls in late April, so spring is in full swing by the time the holiday arrives.

Easter Markets – April 12 to 21, 2025

You’ll find the largest Easter market in Residenzplatz, a historic square in the heart of the Old Town. Colorful stalls also materialize in Mirabell Gardens and Salzburg Cathedral Square (Domplatz). The Baroque setting echoes Easters of times past, with traditional decorations, treats, and rituals everywhere you look.

Assortments of decorated eggs and watering cans and decorated trees in Salzburg, Austria — Easter Shop by Andreas Praefcke, Wikimedia Commons

Hand-painted Easter eggs take center stage, featuring intricate designs that make them both special souvenirs and art pieces. Also for sale are floral wreaths, wooden crafts, ceramic decorations, and traditional Easter palms.

To satiate marketgoers’ appetites, pastries like Osterpinze (traditional soft loaves of Easter bread) and braided buns sit alongside pretzels, sausages, and other street food snacks. Also for sale are local cheeses, cured meats, and Easter sweets like chocolate bunnies and marzipan. If there’s still a chill in the air, marketgoers can still find mulled wine, tea and coffee to warm body and spirit.

With live folk music, dance performances, and occasional Easter egg hunts, Salzburg’s Easter markets embody the festive springtime mood.

Salzburg Open Air Museum Easter Market – April 12, 2025

For more spring entertainment, the Salzburg Open Air Museum reopens and celebrates with a series of seasonal events, including its own Easter market, where adults can enjoy treats from local farmers while the kids learn to decorate eggs or make Easter palms. The Easter bunny itself may be spotted while browsing this replica of a historical rural town, with some buildings dating back to the 1500s.

Music

A man in a black t-shirt waving a conductor's baton — Finnish conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen © Clive Barda

Easter Festival Salzburg (Salzburger Osterfestspiele) – various venues, April 12 -21, 2025

Of course, no season in Salzburg is complete without muisic. Spring brings with it the prestigious classical music festival hosting world-class musicians, celebrating the legacy of orchestral music and contemporary talents. This year’s orchestra in Residence is the Finnish radio Symphony Orchestra, which will perform Mussorgsky’s Khovanshchina.

A Symphonic Tribute to The Beatles – Big Festival House, May 8-10, 2025

But even Mozart’s hometown can celebrate musical genius from another time. The Beatles were one of the most influential bands of the last century, with a catalogue of songs that have become global classics. The Salzburg Philharmonic will render the greatest Beatles’ songs as a grand symphonic ensemble this spring. This tribute is an unforgettable way to experience the Beatles’ music. Tickets are selling out fast!

Markets & Food

Kunst Designmarkt – March 15-16, 2025

One weekend every March, Branboxx Salzburg turns into a showcase of local Salzburg artists and designers. Clothing, postcards, paintings, jewelry, accessories and more will be for sale, many of which displaying the colorful spring palette.

Eat & Meet Culinary Festival – March 2025 (dates TBA)

Every March, likewise, cheesemongers, winemakers, greengrocers, and expert butchers converge in Salzburg to share unique products and dishes from all over the world. You’ll find anything from locally-produced caviar to exotic mushrooms and zebu beef. Adventurous foodies should mark their calendars to attend this year’s festival.

Grünmarkt at Kollegienkirche – Monday–Friday 7 AM to 7 PM, Saturdays 6 AM to 3 PM

The arrival of spring marks the revitalization of the local farmers’ markets, and the Grünmarkt is one of the most popular, with stalls spilling out into nearby streets on Saturdays. In spring you’ll find seasonal produce such as asparagus, wild garlic, and strawberries on display, boasting the fresh palate of the season, while year-round bakers, cheesemakers, and butchers offer their own flavorful wares.

Herbs, vegetables and fruit on display at Schrannenmarkt in Salzburg — Schrannenmarkt by Eweht, Wikimedia Commons

Schrannenmarkt – Thursdays except public holidays, 5 AM to 1 PM

Early Thursday mornings at Mirabellplatz, you may see trucks unloading produce and men setting up tents as they prepare for the weekly market, with farmers and restaurateurs from the region gathering to sell their wares. At Easter time, expect to find palms and wreaths in addition to early-spring flowers among the deli meat, jams, sauces, and locally-grown fruit and vegetables. A Salzburg tradition dating back to 1906, some vendors go back several generations.

Theater

Faust at the Salzburg State Theater – various dates, March to April 2025

This compact modern interpretation of Goethe’s Faust portrays the epic, tragic tale in just over 2 hours, with stunning costume and set design. You haven’t seen Faust played like this before!

PERFORMdANCE Festival – April 11 – 17, 2025

Held at the contemporary and experimental arts center ARGEKultur, this festival celebrates dance and all the unique forms it can take. Featuring prominent choreographers and performers from across the German-speaking world and beyond, this festival features new perspectives and performances. Check early 2025 for the final program.

A line of marionette puppets representing the Trapp family in the Sound of Music at the Salzburg Marionette Theater — © Salzburger Marionettentheater, Photos: George Kaulfersch

The Sound of Music at Salzburg Marionette Theater – various dates, May – August 2025

Based on the original Broadway musical, with some inspiration from the film, this marionette adaptation of The Sound of Music is a uniquely Salzburger way to experience the true story of ordinary Austrians that has become a musical-theatre legend across the English-speaking world.

Exhibitions

Image Turn, Era Turn at the Museum of Modernity – opens March 14, 2025

The development of photography changed art and documentation as we know it. This exhibition by the Salzburg Museum, hosted by the Museum of Modernity Altstadt, takes a look back at the early days of photography: the technology, techniques, and cultural shifts that took place as a result. Early photographs of Salzburg, its people, and artists in the medium will be on display.

Folklore Museum – opens March 29, 2025

As a part of Hellbrunn Palace, the Folklore Museum reopens along with the greater palace and gardens. Expect a treasure trove of Salzburger and Austrian folk culture, including traditional costumes, jewelry and other adornments, statues, paintings, and everyday objects used by country folk of times past. This spring also heralds the reopening of the exhibition on water, meditating on the historic and symbolic significance of water, as well as the ways by which people have attempted to control it through time.

Special events

May Day Celebrations – May 1, 2025

Being a smaller Austrian city, Salzburg remains in touch with many longstanding traditions, including the celebration of May Day. Men and women wearing traditional drindls will raise maypoles and dance around them. The Salzburg Open-Air museum takes part in a host of traditional rituals surrounding this holiday, with woodcarvers, weavers, and farmers’ wives hard at work to deliver festive goodies to visitors.

A large group of people running past a historic building during the Salzburg Marathon in Austria — © Salzburg Marathon / Alexander Schwarz

Salzburg Marathon – May 18, 2025

With a route running through Salzburg’s historic old town and along the Salzach River, the Salzburg marathon proves to be a scenic one. But there’s not just a marathon – over the course of a whole week, there are all kinds of running events, such as relays, family runs, and a half-marathon.

Three smiling women with narcissus crowns wearing sashes naming them Narcissus princess standing in front of a parade float with a panda made of plants — Narzissenfest. © www.narzissenfest.com/jakubgrill

Narzissenfest – May 29 to June 1, 2025

In the countryside beyond Salzburg, the Alpine hills bloom with flowers and the grasses green and lush with life. What better way to celebrate the transition from spring to summer with a festival that celebrates flowers in full bloom? Guided hikes, traditional dances, flower decorating, fashion shows, and parades make up this flower festival, taking place in Bad Aussee, near Hallstatt – no better place to celebrate the arrival of warm spring days.

Seasonal spring openings

Salzburg - Austria - August 14th 2012 : Waterpark at the Summer Palace (Schloss Hellbrunn), One of the Famous Tourist Attraction in Austria

Hellbrunn Palace Gardens reopen – March 29, 2025

Spring’s arrival also marks the reopening of the Hellbrunn Palace and Gardens. Flowers burst back into bloom, the trick fountains offer whimsical water displays. So don’t miss the chance to explore the unique history of this onetime pleasure palace. With 60 hectares, you could spend an entire day at the Hellbrunn Palace and Gardens!

Hike the Gaisberg

While many mountains in the Alps may still have snow-capped peaks through the spring months, Salzburg’s own little mountain, the Gaisberg, has all trails open by spring, allowing everyone from the mildly active to the great outdoorsmen to hike for incredible views of Salzburg and the not so distant Alps.

Make your trip to Salzburg complete with an Insight Cities tour. Get to know the history behind the Baroque gems of the old town, as well as Mozart’s formative years, with a local expert guide, who will take you through Salzburg’s most beautiful and notable sites. The tourist season really kicks off in spring, so contact us and book your tour today.