My husband and I are flying to Munich next week and driving straight to Salzburg. We wanted to spend some time in Salzburg, about a day or 2. This is a very short vacation for us (2 weeks) and I have a lot of family to see in Hungary. We would love to go on some tours, perhaps Sound of Music or see a Castle. We need advice on where to stay, eat, and see as well as what to avoid! Costs are not too important, as we don%26#39;t do this very often. Please help!
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You should be aware that there is a European soccer tournament starting in Austria (and Switzerland) next weekend and there will be some matches played in Salzburg so the town is likely to be full of fans and many hotels booked up. Have a look in the Salzburg and Vienna forums for posts about the Euro tournament for information.
That being the case it would probably be best to book your Salzburg accommodation as soon as possible. I would expect you%26#39;d have better luck at the top end hotels where fans would be less likely to stay so you could try the Bristol or the Sacher Hotels or (if you really wanted to push the boat out) Schloss Moenschstein which is on the Monschberg above the old town. The Alstadt Radisson is also a possibility but going at this time you might prefer to stay a little further out of the centre of the old town which is likely to be very crowded. The Bristol and the Sacher are just across the river from the old town (footbridge over to it nearby) so they would be good choices, I think.
Have a look at the Salzburg tourist information website which has an accommodation booking service that will show you what%26#39;s available on your dates. The site is http://www2.salzburg.info//
Another place I use to book for Salzburg is www.hrs.com
Other mid-range hotels with decent facilities in easy walking distance of the main sites include the Gablerbrau, the Austrotel, the Stadtkrug, Hotel Stein, and (on the quieter edge of the old town) the Weisse Taube and the Kasererbrau. I%26#39;ve stayed at most of those over the years and found them pleasant. Compared with English hotels (!) the standard is generally good.
Don%26#39;t be too discouraged about the football - I%26#39;m going next weekend to hear der Vogelhaendler at the Landestheater and don%26#39;t intend to let the fans keep me away!
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A very nice hotel in an upscale suburb is the Hotel friesacher - they have a very good restaurant too:
http://www.hotelfriesacher.com/en/
About 25min drive from Salzburg is the very nice Castle Hotel Fuschl, right at a lake:
www.schlossfuschlresort.at/hotels/index.php…
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I agree with all Roley%26#39;s recommendations and also Ulrike%26#39;s suggestion of the Friesacher. It%26#39;s in a lovely southern suburb of the city and is an excellent hotel.
The weather is looking good and the atmosphere in the city should be fantastic.
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Thank you Roley, Ulrike73 and LizR for suggestions on hotels as well as the Salzburg website! I will be booking hotels today for sure! Do you have any advice for restaurants? Also do you think we could still do the Sound of Music tour with the Championships going on? Could you recommend a tour?
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Hello, yes, the tours will still be running (can%26#39;t imagine too many soccer fans will want to do the SOM tour :-)). Panorama Tours seems to be a very popular one. See this site:
http://www.panoramatours.com/
If you also look at my long reply in the thread %26quot;Sound of Music without the tours%26quot; you will see where you can see SOM in the city that are not included in the tours.
Please don%26#39;t worry too much about the soccer fans. You can still enjoy the tourist sights (Mozart houses are closing early on the match days - see my thread on the forum about this). I shall be there myself during the tournament and am not worried.
If you like castles then don%26#39;t miss a trip up to the fortress which overlooks the city. South of Salzburg at Werfen you can visit the Hohenwerfen fortress which is like a smaller version of the Salzburg one (same 11th century architect). At Hohenwerfen there are falconry displays. It is also the location for the Clint Eastwood film %26quot;Where Eagles Dare.%26quot; You can get there quite quickly on the autobahn (less than an hour).
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There are so many restaurants in Salzburg you should find many you like. If you would like to visit the oldest restaurant in Europe go to Stiftskeller St Peter which is next door to St Peter%26#39;s cemetery, close to the Monchsberg hill. This restaurant has been serving food since the year 803 and is quite something. The Mozart Dinner concert is held here too. See this website:
http://www.stiftskellerstpeter.at/
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I can recommend the restaurant Ikarus:
http://www.hangar-7.com/en/ikarus/
A very nice sidetrip would be to the famous Salzkammergut lake area - it is just beautiful:
http://www.salzkammergut.at/en
I love the lakes Traunsee, Wolfgangsee and Hallstaettersee:
http://www.traunsee.at/en
http://www.wolfgangsee.at/en
tiscover.at/at/…home.html
A very nice hotel at the lake Wolfgangsee is the Landhaus zu Appesbach:
tiscover.at/at/…home.html
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As Liz wrote don%26#39;t worry too much about the EURO 08. Just be aware that parts of the historic city center have only restricted access in the afternoon, so plan your walking tour in the city in the morning.
Regarding hotels I would not recommend Schloss Fuschl as this is the official hotel of the Greek National Team, so on the one hand most probably you will not get any rooms, on the other hand you definitely would be unhappy with all the security procedures going on there.
If you send me your exact travel dates I can check out which hotels are available, it definitely should be no problem for one room. If you can avoid the soccer match nights (Jun 10, 14 and 18) maybe your nights will be more enjoyable :-)
Regarding the tours I fully agree with Liz%26#39;s suggestions. For restaurants you definitely do not need any reservations in advance. St. Peter is one of Europe%26#39;s oldest restaurants and worth a visit, but there are lots of other places.
Please make sure to carry your passport or ID at any time. The Schengen treaty that allows border-crossings within the European Community without any passport controls has been suspended during the soccer tournament, so police may check your identity at the border as well as in the city of Salzburg. Usually that will not happen, but it is one action to prevent the EURO 08 from hooligans, so take it as a safety point.
If you drive to Salzburg with your own (rental) car please make sure either to leave the highway before you cross the border (at Bad Reichenhall, from where you have a nice regular road to Salzburg) or you have to buy a vignette. Your car rental company should inform you about that, but sometimes they forget.
Best regards
Wolfgang
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