One look at Salzburg’s fanciful baroque palaces and domes, its mountain backdrop and its insanely turquoise river, and it’s love. We get it – you received’t wish to depart. However do. When the streets heave in peak summer time, there’s loads to see (and way more peace available) only a fast practice journey or drive away from the town.
The surroundings round Salzburg is a knockout, whether or not it’s the looking-glass lakes of Salzkammergut – inspiration for everybody from a paintbrush-wielding Klimt to Hollywood administrators – or the colossal snow-capped mountains that slide into your rear-view mirror on the Grossglockner Highway.
And there is extra. Celtic heritage, ice caves, salt mines with 7000 years of historical past – you’ll discover the lot proper on Salzburg’s doorstep. Here is our information to the most effective day journeys from the town celebrated because the ‘Stage of the World.’
Werfen
Why go? To delve into ice caves and absorb Sound of Music vibes
Werfen is a heart-stealer, with the limestone spires of the Tennengebirge vary punching excessive above the river-woven Salzach Valley. Even within the top of summer time, you’ll get a frosty reception on the world’s largest accessible ice caves at Eisriesenwelt, a Narnia-like wonderland of twinkling ice burrowing deep into the center of the mountains.
A cable automobile hoists you as much as the path to the caves, however sling on an additional layer earlier than becoming a member of a tour – it’s like a fridge inside! Kitted out with a carbide lamp, you’ll get to discover pitch-black tunnels and cavernous halls, the place frozen sculptures, columns and curtains of icicles glitter when a magnesium flare illuminates them.
The caves are simply the tip of the iceberg, nevertheless. Get an early begin so you may as well go to cliffhanger fort Burg Hohenwerfen, which has lorded it over the valley for 900 years. Or skip and sing your coronary heart out, Maria-style, on the 1.4km (0.9-mile) Sound of Music Path, which weaves by means of lush meadows from the village middle to the Gschwandtanger viewpoint.
For those who can, squeeze in lunch or dinner at Obauer, one of many area’s high tables, which leans on its fabulous kitchen gardens to create dishes that sing of the seasons, like Werfen lamb with nettle dumplings and smoked beans.
The way to get to Werfen: Quick trains run hourly from Salzburg to Werfen (€9.30, 40 minutes), and buses depart Werfen practice station at 8:18am, 10:18pm, 12:18pm and a couple of:18pm and cease at Eisriesenwelt automobile park, a 20-minute stroll from the underside cable automobile station. The final return bus leaves at 4:32pm. Enable at the least three hours for the return journey.
Hellbrunn
Why go: For a dip into the lavish way of life of Salzburg’s royals, Austria’s authentic celebration folks
Lots of Salzburg’s prince-archbishops have been preoccupied with issues of a divine nature, however not Markus Sittikus, Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg from 1612 till his dying in 1619. Markus had a frivolous streak and naughty humorousness and beloved nothing greater than throwing a raucous celebration, and Schloss Hellbrunn was a advantageous place to just do that.
On the fringes of Salzburg, this lemon-fronted Italianate palace is the sort of place a Disney princess would possibly dwell, however this was the place the prince-archbishop got here to flee his non secular duties, inviting the clergy over to feast, drink and make merry in unique gardens stuffed with citrus timber, muses and fountains.
You will get a taste of those hedonistic occasions on a guided tour of the Wasserspiele (trick fountains) within the grounds. Select a heat day and be able to get soaked as you wander previous mock Roman ruins, grottoes and mechanical theaters.
Don’t rush straight off after seeing the palace. The encompassing gardens are an excellent spot for a picnic and stroll, with tree-canopied avenues, ponds and sculptures. Right here you’ll discover the beautiful pavilion that fashioned the backdrop to the music Sixteen Happening Seventeen in The Sound of Music.
The way to get to Hellbrunn: Hellbrunn is 4.5km (2.8 miles) south of Salzburg. Get right here through a scenic 20-minute bike journey (largely alongside the Salzach River) or a 15-minute journey on Bus 25 (€2.20, each 20 minutes), departing from Mozartsteg/Rudolfskai within the Altstadt.
Hallein
Why go? Historical past, mining relics, and museums dedicated to Celtic historical past and music
For some mysterious cause, Hallein has managed to keep away from popping up on the vacationer radar, regardless of its evident late-medieval charms and proximity to Salzburg. You would simply spend a full day right here because the city packs in a heck of numerous historical past. Dive in on the deep finish at Salzwelten, the city’s historic salt mine, which has been in operation for 2600 years.
Salzburg grew excessive and mighty on the salt – or ‘white gold’ – mined right here, which crammed the princely coffers for a lot of centuries. Pop on a boiler swimsuit and also you’re prepared for a tour deep underground, main by means of darkish passages on trains, miners’ slides and a raft throughout an atmospherically lit salt lake.
To faucet into the area’s Celtic heritage, cease by the riverside Keltenmuseum, which presents an enchanting chronological romp by means of the area’s historical past. Vaulted rooms harbor a outstanding stash of finds, from Bronze Age helmets to Celtic gold torques and the “Mannes im Salz,” the mummified stays of a prehistoric salt-miner.
Hallein’s extra Christmassy declare to fame is the Stille Nacht Museum, set in a mansion that was dwelling to Franz Xaver Gruber, the composer of Silent Night time, for 28 years. Subsequent to the parish church, the museum tells the story of the world’s favourite carol – Franz got here up with the melody on his guitar, which you’ll see displayed right here, in 1818.
Break up the sightseeing with a inventive brunch and domestically roasted espresso and cake at artsy, properly chilled Pan Café.
The way to get to Hallein: Sidling as much as the German border, Hallein is situated 18km south of Salzburg through the B150 and A10 within the path of Graz/Villach. Coming by public transport, it’s a 25-minute practice journey from Salzburg, with departures roughly each half-hour (€5.10), and an hourly bus runs from the practice station to the salt mine.
Grossglockner Highway
Why go? For giddying views on certainly one of Europe’s most dramatic Alpine roads
For those who solely have time for one highway journey, make it the legendary Grossglockner Highway, which serves up 48km (30 miles) of stomach-flipping hairpin bends, glaciers, crashing waterfalls, sapphire-blue lakes and wow-what-a-mountain moments. Depart Salzburg on the morning time to beat the worst of the site visitors (the route will get crazily busy in summer time) and benefit from what’s hands-down one of many loveliest drives within the Alps.
With 9% gradients and 36 tight bends to barter, you’ll have to be a reasonably assured driver – but when driving appears robust, spare a thought for the sweaty cyclists battling their technique to the highest! Highlights abound, however you’ll be blown away by the view of a rippling sea of snow-capped peaks from the Edelweissspitze, the highway’s highest level at 2571m (8435ft).
Pause once more at Heiligenblut, the place the needle-thin spire of a Fifteenth-century pilgrimage church appears to achieve for the heavens. Wind down your window and pay attention for whistling marmots and the shrill name of eagles as you cruise on to the flag-bedecked Kaiser-Franz-Josefs-Höhe lookout. This lofty viewpoint sits proper beneath 3798m (12,461ft) Grossglockner, Austria’s highest peak, and the retreating Pasterze Glacier.
The way to get to the Grossglockner Highway: The Grossglockner Highway begins in Fusch, a 90-minute drive south of Salzburg through the A10 and B311. The highway goes with the snow and is open from early Could to early November. Choose a good-weather day, because the drive isn’t any enjoyable within the rain, sleet or snow. A day ticket for a automobile prices €38.
Hallstatt
Why go? For lake and mountain views and a deep dive into mining historical past
The Austria of 1,000,000 postcards (and Instagram posts), the lake of Hallstätter See forces you to look continuously up in wide-eyed surprise at forested mountains plunging steeply into its inky green-blue waters. You may hike, swim and gaze, or head to the ludicrously fairly village of Hallstatt, the place pastel-painted chalets tightly hug the shore. It is dreamy, however widespread too – the variety of guests may be nerve-fraying in summer time, so earmark the journey for spring or autumn as an alternative.
A funicular glides above Hallstatt to the lake’s unmissable Salzwelten salt mines. A go to leads into the cool depths of the mountain, taking you on miners’ slides, by means of tunnels and throughout subterranean salt lakes. The bottom may be tough underfoot and the temperature hovers at 8°C (46°F) year-round within the mines, so costume sensibly. Whilst you’re up right here, try the Skywalk, a platform perched 360m (1181ft) above the water, opening up epic views of the fjord-like lake and mountains.
For extra perception into regional historical past, tag on a go to to the village’s World Heritage Museum, which wings you again 7000 years to the early origins of salt mining. Come lunchtime, ebook a desk on the terrace at Restaurant zum Salzbaron for a ringside view of the lake and fish plucked freshly from the waters.
The way to get to Hallstatt: From Salzburg, take a bus to Unhealthy Ischl (€11.30, 1½ hours), the place you may join with a practice to Hallstatt (€6, 20 minutes). Boats ceaselessly make the journey from the practice station to the village (€3.50, 10 minutes). In any other case, it’s simply over an hour’s drive from Salzburg through the A1/B158.
Obertraun–Dachstein
Why go? For large caves and vertiginous, giant-scale landscapes
Obertraun’s big-hitter sight is the Dachstein Caves, a pair of staggering caverns that burrow as much as 70km (44 miles) into the bottom. A cable automobile trundles above Alpine meadows to Schönbergalm, set at 1350m (4429ft) above sea stage, from the place you may stroll to the highest in round quarter-hour.
Excursions of every of the 2 caves final round an hour. First up is the Dachstein Rieseneishöhle (Dachstein Large Ice Cave), with its strikingly lit ice formations – costume warmly! Cease two is the Mammuthöhle (Mammoth Cave), one of many world’s largest limestone caves, an eerie labyrinth of sculpted karst formations.
From Obertraun, one other cable automobile zips as much as Krippenstein at 2019m (6624ft) the place the “5 Fingers” viewing platform juts out over a sheer cliff face. The 5 otherwise formed platforms resemble an enormous diving board, however should you’re susceptible to vertigo, the publicity could scale back you to tears. Get fortunate with the climate and also you’ll swoon over dizzying views of the lake and mountains far beneath you.
The way to get to Obertraun–Dachstein: It’s a protracted day journey so get an early begin. Hourly trains run from Salzburg to Obertraun Dachsteinhöhlen station (€29.40, 2½ hours). It’s faster by highway: roughly a 1¼-hour drive southeast of Salzburg through the A10.
Salzkammergut Lakes
Why go? For lush lake views near Salzburg
If Hallstatt is simply too far to enterprise, you will get a really feel for the Salzkammergut area by dipping into just a few lakes near Salzburg. The surroundings right here is off the charts – swimming pools in jewel-box greens and blues raise the gaze steadily to forests and cloud-wisped Alpine peaks, and church-topped villages look as tiny as toys in opposition to the backdrop. In summer time, there’s an actual vacation vibe, with locals and day-trippers mixing on the seaside over ice cream and water sports activities.
The crescent-shaped Mondsee will get numerous consideration for its butter-yellow, twin-spired basilica, which shot to fame within the wedding ceremony scene in The Sound of Music. However it maybe deserves to be higher recognized for its Neolithic pile-dwellings courting to 4000 BCE.
One lake over, Attersee is quieter. What it sacrifices in whopping mountains, it makes up for with turquoise waters that are perfect for swimming and stand-up paddle boarding. The Viennese Secessionist painter, Gustav Klimt, had an actual mushy spot for this lake and you may stroll alongside the shores he beloved so effectively on a 2km (1.2-mile) themed path with prints of his works.
Cradled by mountains, Wolfgangsee to the south is maybe fairest of all (however boy do folks understand it). Dodge the excessive season although, and also you’ll be touched by the serene great thing about the lake. Find time for the glitteringly opulent pilgrimage church in St Wolfgang and the Alpine views that unfurl from the highest of 1783m (5850ft) Schafberg, reached through Austria’s steepest cogwheel railway since 1893.
The way to get to the Salzkammergut Lakes: Buses from Salzburg serve the lakes – the journey to Mondsee (€7.30) takes 55 minutes. If you wish to see multiple lake in a day, you’d be smart to rent your personal wheels. Driving, you may attain Wolfgangsee in round half an hour.
Berchtesgaden
Why go? For a German perspective on the fantastic Alps
A day journey into Germany? Properly, why not? The place Austria slams into the limestone Bavarian Alps, you’ll discover a few of the most dramatic surroundings for miles. And who can resist sneaking over to the ridiculously beautiful district of Berchtesgaden, tucked into Germany’s southeastern pocket?
Right here, mountains of delusion – together with gnarly, 2713m (8901ft) Watzmann, Germany’s second-highest peak – throw up sheer partitions of rock round what needs to be the nation’s most ravishing lake. Fjord-like Königssee is so exquisitely turquoise it appears to be like photoshopped.
The must-do? The boat tour from Schönau on the lake’s northern tip to the bauble-domed pilgrimage chapel of St Bartholomä, in fact! Pay attention because the captain performs a horn in the direction of the aptly-named Echo Wall, which reverberates seven occasions. From the chapel, it’s an hour’s stroll to the Eiskapelle (Ice Chapel), the stays of a collapsed glacier on the foot of the Watzmann’s ferocious east wall.
Perched eyrie-like above all of it on 1834m (6017ft) Kehlstein is the Eagle’s Nest, a lodge notoriously gifted to Hitler on his fiftieth birthday in 1939. It took round 3000 employees two years to hack out the vertiginous 6km-long mountain highway and blast a gap by means of the rock for a brass-paneled raise.
The way to get to Berchtesgaden: Bus 840 runs ceaselessly from Salzburg to Berchtesgaden (€6.20, 50 minutes). In any other case, it’s round a 40-minute drive south through the B305. From Berchtesgaden, drive or take bus 838 to the Eagle’s Nest shuttle bus cease.
