Last Updated on October 6, 2026 by Sarah Wilson
My sister has loved The Sound of Music for as long as I can remember. I, on the other hand, have always been Team Grease.
So when she suggested we go to Salzburg together, it was largely because of The Sound of Music. My sister had always wanted to go there, and I was happy to go along for the ride. The only problem was that I realised I could remember most of the songs, but very little of the actual film.
Fortunately, two days before we left, I managed to find and download the film and watched it.
And I’m very glad I did. If you haven’t seen The Sound of Music for years, I’d definitely recommend watching it before you visit Salzburg. It made such a difference to our trip because I recognised the locations and even remembered the scenes. Suddenly, places that might otherwise have been just pretty gardens, buildings, or countryside actually meant something.
And, of course, it was an excuse to hear the songs and sing along too.
Salzburg in September
My sister was adamant that we went in September. She thought that if we left it any later, Salzburg would be too cold.
As it turned out, September was a very good choice. We had lovely weather for most of the trip, with just one slightly drizzly afternoon.
Our dates were a little restricted, however, because I’d spent such a huge chunk of September in Turkmenistan. We noticed that accommodation seemed a little more expensive than we’d expected. Then we discovered that the Rupertikirtag, Salzburg’s traditional St Rupert’s fair, was taking place while we were there. So at least we knew why we were paying more.
On our first evening, the fair looked fairly small and traditional, with a few stalls and a charming merry-go-round. But it seemed to grow the longer we were there.
As we wandered into town the next day, we found market stalls stretching along the river, along with more food stalls, music, beer tents, and plenty of people in traditional dress.
One drizzly afternoon, we ended up in the beer tent, watching the bands and people dancing. Then, completely unexpectedly, they jumped onto the tables with long whips and started cracking them above their heads. We really weren’t expecting that!
Everyone we met was incredibly friendly and welcoming (possibly the beer made it feel that way)— and remarkably tolerant of our terrible attempts to speak German.
Exploring Salzburg
We spent plenty of time wandering around the old town, doing a scavenger hunt, seeing Mozart’s birthplace and generally taking in Salzburg.
We even attended a Mozart concert, which we’d booked in advance.
And we drank coffee at Café Tomaselli, Salzburg’s oldest coffee house, dating back to the 18th century. It’s right in the old town and has been serving coffee for a very, very long time, so obviously we had to try it.
We also had schnitzel at Restaurant Zum Eulenspiegel, located very close to Mozart’s birthplace, but I’m still not a schnitzel lover.
The strudel, however, was another matter. We had some fantastic strudel in Mondsee from a woman who seemed to have turned making strudel into an art form.
The Sound of Music Tour
By the time we went on the Sound of Music tour, we were fully hyped.
My sister had brought along tops that looked suspiciously like they had been made from curtains, just like Maria’s famous creations in the film. If I hadn’t watched the film again before coming, I honestly wouldn’t have had a clue why we were wearing them.
A few other people on the tour had dressed up too, so we weren’t the only ones.
Our guide, Kylie, was great. She made the whole thing fun, with plenty of stories and film gossip alongside the locations.
I had expected the tour might be a little bit cringey. I was imagining a bus full of people being dragged around Salzburg while reluctantly singing along. Well, some of the husbands did look like they would rather be elsewhere.
Instead, we absolutely loved it.
We sang every song, laughed at the jokes and drove out towards Mondsee through some gorgeous countryside. The tour takes you to the church where Maria and Baron von Trapp’s wedding scene was filmed.
The tour also came with plenty of stories and gossip about the cast, which added another layer to it all.
And yes, afterwards we did the inevitable Do-Re-Mi recreation in the Mirabell Gardens.
My videos from this trip are mostly of us giggling, crying with laughter and pavement slabs, because apparently I am not naturally gifted at filming while having fun. So I will spare you that torture.
The Sound of Music Museum
We also visited the Sound of Music Museum at Hellbrunn, which had only opened on 20 September 2026, so we were there just a few days after it opened.
The museum is fairly small, but it was definitely worth seeing. The famous pavilion from I Am 16 Going on 17 is also in the Hellbrunn gardens, just around the corner from the museum, so obviously we had to go and have a look at that too.
We had visited Hellbrunn and the museum the day before our Sound of Music tour, and the tour took us back to the pavilion. So if you’re planning a visit, you will see the pavilion as part of the tour, but you’d need to make a separate trip to Hellbrunn if you also want to visit the museum.
Bus 25 makes it very easy to get there from the old town, and the gardens are lovely to wander around too.
More than just The Sound of Music
Although the film was the reason we chose Salzburg, it turned out there was plenty more to enjoy.
We took the funicular up to the fortress, wandered around the old town, visited the nunnery and generally explored without feeling that we had to tick off every attraction.
We also popped into the Hotel Sacher, where Julie Andrews stayed, and the Hotel Bristol, where Christopher Plummer and members of the cast stayed.
There was the food, the coffee, the wine and the rather excellent atmosphere around the fair.
I went to Salzburg expecting to spend most of the trip being dragged around The Sound of Music locations for my sister.
Instead, I loved it too.
I would happily go back to Salzburg — even without Maria, Captain von Trapp or a curtain being turned into children’s clothing.
Although I’m fairly sure my sister would insist on doing the tour again. And so might I.
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