Salz means “salt” and Burg means “fort”. As the name suggests the city is about its huge salt mines and the rulers who suddenly became rich by owning these mines. At one time this city was one of the wealthiest in Europe owing to these mines and the huge demand that salt had for use as a preservative. The locals used to call salt as “white gold” which made Salzburg a powerful trade center. It is located at the foothills of the Alps. The city boasts of beautiful buildings and has produced one of the greatest composers of all times: Mozart. People say that once one of the old fortress caught fire and when the Archbishop Wolf Dietrich came to know about it he reacted very casually (even though he was known for his short temper). It was because he wanted to build new castles and fortress using the abundant wealth he had accumulated from the salt mines. Salzburg was a good stop compared to the other crazy party towns of Europe as it gave us some time to unwind ourselves.

Accommodation: We booked our stay at Airbnb located near the Old Town. The riverside was 2 minutes’ away and the old town was a 15 minutes’ walk. There was a supermarket right next to it and many big and small eating joints were at close proximity. The place was well connected with city buses which made our stay very convenient. The photo below is our room from Airbnb. The host was also nice and polite.

Things to do in Salzburg:

• City tour: Exploring the city by foot is the best way to get the feel of the city. We did that during the evening hours at Salzburg. As its summer time, the days were longer and sun sets at around 9 PM. We went to the top of the monastery to get the city view and see the beautiful sunset. We explored the shops, the old town, Mirabell palace, Mozart’s residence, Hohensalzburg castle etc.

• Mirabell Palace: It is a beautiful palace built by Prince Archbishop Wolf Dietrich in 1606 for his beloved Salome (whom he knew that he could never marry). The word Mirabell comes from “Mirabile” which means admirable and “Bella” means beautiful. The palace truly deserves that name because of its beautiful marble hall and baroque garden. This was one of the halls where Mozart used to perform during those days. The palace was a token of love from the archbishop for the only woman in his life and to keep their relationship a secret.

• Old Town and Mozart’s residence: Salzburg’s old town is in the UNESCO’s world heritage list and is known for its baroque architecture, alpine setting and beautiful Salzach river flowing through the heart of the city. The city has its own historic charm and is a delight for the visitors. The old town has narrow cobblestone streets which all meet at the city squares containing all historic buildings. The architecture here is from Middle Ages, Romanesque, Baroque and Renaissance periods. The Salzburg cathedral is also very beautiful.

• Stroll by the Salzach river: A leisurely walk along the bank of the river is something we used to do everyday during our stay at Salzburg. There are many bridges on the river and the most beautiful one is Makartsteg with “love locks” on both sides of the bridge. Salzach river runs across the entire city in a bended curve shape. The river is 225kms long. It used to be the transportation route for salt from the salt mines in the Austrian Alps region to various places. The name Salzach also refers to Salz means “salt” and Ache means “river” in German. This river is also the natural border between Salzburg and Bavaria (which is a part of Germany now).

• Hohensalzburg Castle: This is located on the top of the mountain and gives the best view of Salzburg city. It will take 20 mins to hike to the top or you can take a train as well. The train ticket will cost around 12 euros one way. We preferred to hike up to the top. We were glad to find out that the entry ticket to the castle included the return train ticket which will drop you near the old town. It also came with audio guide. The audio guide will give a 30 mins castle tour and will explain in detail about the various rulers of Salzburg and the construction of the beautiful castle. The fortress was a residence to various archbishops and was originally a simple bailey and a wooden wall but has grown extensively during the Hungarian war and Peasant’s war in 15^th and 16^th century. The photo below is the beautiful city of Salzburg as seen from the top of the castle. Needless to say the view from the top of the castle was impressive.

• Hallstatt: It’s a beautiful village which is around 1.5-2 hrs away from Salzburg city. The village gives a glimpse of the local people of Austria and their cultural background, their beautiful cottage like houses and lovely gardens. As we visited in July, every garden was full of colorful flowers. It has one of the biggest salt mines of Austria. Hallstatt also has two beautiful churches: One Protestant and the other Catholic. Both were really good with the catholic one located at the top of a hill. We took a day trip to visit Hallstatt village and also did a cable car ride from there to the five fingers. We booked a day trip through Edelweiss Tours for Hallstatt, five fingers and Salzkammergut lakes. The total cost for two people was around 195 Euros and we were satisfied with their service.

• Kings lake or Konigssee lake: It’s a beautiful island village near Salzburg. The island is so lovely that it will be hard to leave that place. We took another day trip to spend few hours at this island. There are few cozy restaurants and take away options to have your lunch at the lake side. The ferry ride to the island also includes a short music show by the crew. They play a lovely tune with trumpet and you hear the echo coming from all the mountains around you. It felt really great. Here also we booked a day trip through Edelweiss Tours for King’s lake, Berchtesgaden national park (which is just next to the lake) and Durrnberg salt mine (details below) The cost for two people was around 200 Euros.

• Salt mines: It was our first experience to visit a mine (Durrnberg Salt Mine). Whole salt mine trip is a 2 hr tour where they will make you wear clothes like miners and take you inside the mine in an open train (cart style train which was used by the miners). The mountains in Salzburg contains lot of minerals and has abundance of sodium chloride in it. It is famous for exporting rock salt throughout the world. Inside the mine there was a small projector where they showed us a movie from those times – how the miners used to live and work, how the Prince Archbishop Wolf Dietrich became rich because of the salt mines and how the war between Austria and Germany started because of the salt mines ownership. For more stories on the salt mines wait for our next blog.

• Places to eat: We prefer to eat local food wherever we go. There are many restaurants in the old town area for this. One of them is Zum Zirkelwirt – a nice cozy restaurant located in the old town and serves delicious Austrian cuisine. This was one of the highly recommended places by our tour guide for local food.

Quick tips:

1. If you want to explore the city by foot then wear proper sports shoes. The roads in the old town area are mostly cobblestone streets. Sandals will make you tired soon.
2. Stay close to the old town as everything is in walking distance from here. And you will end up staying out pretty late. Without Uber, walking is the best option that you have at those hours.