Travel Log: Salzburg, Austria

Merry Christmas, everyone! Today I wish you the happiest of holidays and hope that you are able to spend time with family and loved ones. I am looking forward to celebrating Christmas with my family today, but I also wanted to share this travel log from our last European trip in September. I know this is a late post, but some technical difficulties with my laptop kept me from getting to these photos sooner. However, I very much enjoyed the short time we spent in Salzburg and I hope that you enjoy reading about it! We flew into Munich, met up with two dear friends Allie and Hayden at the airport, and drove about two hours Schloss Hellbrunn (Hellbrunn Palace) about twenty minutes south of the Salzburg city center. Hellbrunn Palace was the first stop on our Salzburg adventure. Please scroll through to see photos and read all about our short time in this gorgeous city.

Our Salzburg tour started in the southern part of the city at Schloss Hellbrunn, or Hellbrunn Palace. This palace was built between 1613-1619 by the Prince-Archbishop at the time as a summer getaway.  Fun fact: because this palace was only occupied during the day, it has zero bedrooms!

We had lunch at a restaurant on the grounds, I did a quick search and I think it was called Gassner's Gasthaus zu Schloss Hellbrun. It was such a nice day to sit outside on the patio and enjoy a lunch of salad, pasta, goulash, and local white wine!

After lunch, we took a walk through the garden and a jumping shot by the pond! It must have been so peaceful to spend hours here during those 17th century summers as a guest of the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg.

Hellbrunn Palace is also home to a famous landmark: the Von Trapp gazebo from the Sound of Music! This pavilion was featured in the song "I am Sixteen Going on Seventeen." After our tour of Hellbrunn Palace, we drove into the Salzburg city center. My friend Allie found a self-guided walking tour where we could see Salzburg's major highlights in an afternoon. Our hotel was right by the Mirabell Palace Gardens, so we started there.

The Mirabell Palace Gardens were also featured in the Sound of Music. This is where Maria and the Von Trapp children sing the song "Do-Re-Mi."

Up behind the gardens you can see the Hohensalzburg Castle, one of the biggest medieval castles in Europe! More on this castle later, we toured it the following morning.

We took a quick look inside of Mozart's Residence (Wohnhaus) on the Makartplatz just a block away from the Mirabell Gardens. Admission is ten euros, we skipped the tour to save time but if you choose to go inside you could see compositions, pianos, portraits, and more.

After leaving Mozart's house, we walked along the river and up to Stone Alley (Steingasse). This narrow, cobbled street dates back to the medieval period and was the main road connecting the Alps and Venice! The Steingasse was an important trade route for salt and other goods.

Mozart's violin was rumored to have been created in one of the shops that used to exist along this road, and Joseph Mohr wrote "Silent Night" in one of the old homes along here too!

After the Steingasse, we crossed the river via the Mozart Bridge, an art deco style pedestrian bridge built in 1903.

Once on the other side of the river, we crossed through the Mozartplatz, or Mozart Square. Since it was during Octoberfest, the square was set up with a carnival and booths with food and beer!

We finished our walking tour by crossing back over the river via another pedestrian bridge. It was such a great way to spend a few hours on a gorgeous, sunny fall day!

That same evening, we enjoyed a wonderful dinner at the Michelin-starred restaurant Esszimmer. We were only in Salzburg for one night, so it was such a treat to be able to enjoy this tasting menu together.

The Esszimmer team created a fantastic tasting menu for us, including the smores-inspired dessert above!

We woke up early the next morning because it was our first day in Europe (yay jet lag!), but decided to take a sunrise walk. The morning was quiet and beautiful - watching the sun rise above the river and the Hohensalzburg Fortress was absolutely gorgeous!

We also took advantage of the quiet morning to walk through the Mirabell Palace Gardens again. The previous afternoon had been packed with people, but this time we had the place to ourselves and it was amazing.

I loved being able to get walk through and take photos of the garden without anyone else in them! After about an hour, we returned to the hotel for breakfast and got ready for the rest of our day.

Before we left Salzburg, we knew we wanted to visit the Hohensalzburg Fortress. This is Salzburg's most famous landmark and was built starting in 1077. Tickets are eleven euros fifty for adults if purchased online in advance, and you can reach the top in fifty four seconds via a funicular at the base.

The price of your ticket includes the ride up the funicular and back down, as well as a tour of the fortress itself. The views from the top were incredible! After our tour of the fortress, it was time to catch a train to the town of Gmunden for the wedding of two dear friends. We thoroughly enjoyed our short time in Salzburg, and I would love to return to spend more time in this lovely city.

I hope you enjoyed this visual tour of Salzburg, thank you for visiting my blog today, and I hope you have a wonderful Christmas day!