Salzburg Introduction

With its city center on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1997, Salzburg is brimming with history and culture. This charming alpine city is famed for being Mozart’s birthplace, but its significance goes well beyond even his unrivaled musical genius. This historian-led Salzburg walking tour introduces you to the major sites and local customs of a city renowned for its breathtaking Gothic and Baroque architecture, medieval salt commerce, medical innovations, exceptional musical heritage, and as the setting of the global movie classic, The Sound of Music.

This 2.5-hour Salzburg city tour starts with an exploration of the Burgher Town with its narrow, crooked streets and the unique passageways of the so-called “Getreidegasse,” while your historian guide illuminates the salt mine economy that gained the city its prominence in Medieval Europe. Salzburg’s commercial center still remains intact in its medieval charm, contrasting the great spacious Baroque squares of the district where the Archbishops presided over the city in their Residenz. Here we also consider the extensive influence of Italian Baroque on Salzburg and the teams of Italian architects and landscapers who were imported to give the city its grand new look in the 1700s.

To enhance our appreciation of Salzburg’s glorious Baroque heritage, we stroll through the legendary Mirabell Palace and Gardens with elaborately designed flower beds, mythologically-inspired statues and fountains. The complex is listed as a protected cultural heritage monument by UNESCO, along with Salzburg’s historic city center.

We pass by Mozart’s Birthplace and visit the Mozart Residence, where he lived until the age of 17, exploring the exhibit showcasing his musical genius and dramatic life. Moving on to the Festival Halls, we take in St. Peter’s, the monastery of the Benedictines dating back to 696 AD. Along with stories of Salzburg’s medieval salt commerce, archbishops, and medical innovations, we follow the childhoods of Wolfgang and his sister, Nannerl Mozart, as well as the life story of the great second musical son of the city, the composer Michael Haydn.

By the end of our tour, visitors will know Salzburg’s local customs and traditions, cultural and political history, and enviable musical heritage. Last but not least, you will learn the true story of the global movie classic The Sound of Music’s Trapp family, one of the authentically great refugee tales from the Second World War.