With its swirl of baroque palaces, lavish live performance halls, masterpiece-packed artwork galleries and fancy motels, Salzburg may not be the primary place that leaps to thoughts for a funds break. However even excessive tradition doesn’t value the earth right here. With some cautious planning, although, you may get a real expertise of Austria’s Alpine capital for little or no.
It’s no cliché to say that the very best issues in Salzburg are free: whether or not you’re exploring the Unesco-listed Altstadt’s baroque plazas, church buildings and abbeys, mountain climbing as much as wooded hills that gaze dreamily out to the not-so-distant Alps, or watching college students carry out classical music for nichts (nothing). Learn on for our prime 10 recommendations on learn how to reduce prices in Salzburg.
E-book funds flights and practice tickets nicely forward
Numerous funds airways (Ryanair and easyJet amongst them) fly to Salzburg, and you’ll snag some terrific offers if you happen to dodge the excessive season and e-book nicely forward. When costs spike, think about flying to greater cities that may simply be reached by practice, akin to Vienna (2½ hours) and Munich (1½ to 2 hours).
If booked nicely upfront, ÖBB Sparschiene tickets will be an absolute steal; you possibly can journey to Vienna for as little as €20, for example, so long as you’re versatile about trains and occasions. The nightjet evening practice is an efficient possibility for rushing to 25 cities in Central, Southern and Jap Europe. Tickets go for as little as €30.
Keep away from touring to Salzburg in peak season
Salzburg has two peak seasons. In the course of the summer season holidays (July and August), the town will get swamped, reaching bursting level throughout the Salzburg Festival, when even customary rooms are uncommon. Charges undergo the roof and the crowds are massive. In December, when the town brims with Christmas markets and competition sparkle, it may get busy and costly too.
To save lots of euros, are available in spring or autumn for cheaper flights, decrease room charges and much fewer crowds.
Stroll, cycle or put money into a journey move
Cut up in two by the Salzach River, Salzburg’s sight-crammed Altstadt is a pleasure to roam on foot (and certainly, that is the one technique to actually get a really feel for its pedestrianized backstreets). Except you’re venturing additional afield, you want by no means set foot in a bus or practice when you’ve arrived. A dependable community of cycle paths additionally makes this certainly one of Austria’s most bike-friendly cities, and the routes that run alongside the river are a dream, supplying you with a seamless transition between the town and the mountains. Hire your wheels at aVelo for €20 per day.
As you would possibly anticipate in such an environment friendly land, getting round by public transport (SVV) is a breeze and really reasonably priced. It’s all the time cheaper to purchase tickets on-line or on the ticket machine than on board. When you’re planning on zipping about city, a Tageskarte day move (€4.50) tends to work out higher worth than shopping for single tickets (every €2.10).
Hook onto a free metropolis tour
If it’s your first time in Salzburg, Free Walking Tour Salzburg is a terrific technique to get your bearings, contextualize the town and tick off among the trophy sights. Excursions final an hour and a half and whizz previous main landmarks akin to Schloss Mirabell and Residenzplatz. Guides are clued-up, enjoyable and stuffed with attention-grabbing tales. Whereas technically the excursions are free, a tip actually doesn’t go amiss. See the web site for time slots and bookings. The assembly level is the Spirit of Mozart sculpture close to Staatsbrücke.
Get a slice of historical past for the value of a pint
Again within the seventeenth century, Salzburg’s Augustinian monks liked their house brews and a little bit of a celebration. Their legacy is the Augustiner Bräustübl, based in 1621. With its vaulted, beamed corridor and 1000-seat beer backyard sprawling lazily beneath the chestnut bushes, it is a cracking spot to absorb an actual taste of Salzburg life. Fill your tankard on the lobby pump and go to the good-value snack stands for beer grub together with Stelzen (ham hock), pork stomach and large pretzels.
Camp, keep in a hostel or go the additional mile
A easy Google seek for motels in Salzburg will be scary – lots of the motels within the middle are luxe four- or five-star pads, with worth tags to match. As a rule of thumb (with treasured few exceptions), if you wish to lower your expenses, keep away from the Altstadt. Costs leap an additional 10% to twenty% throughout the Salzburg Pageant.
Moosstrasse, a fast bus journey south of city, has a flurry of charming, cheap, family-run B&Bs, the place you possibly can typically snag a double for as little as €80, with a hearty breakfast thrown in. These embody Haus Ballwein, Haus am Moos and Haus Steiner.
Within the hotter months, you might pitch a tent as an alternative. Simply north of city, there are a few scenic choices, together with Salzburg Panorama-Camping-Stadtblick, with a cycle lane making it doable to roll into city in simply quarter-hour.
When you favor a correct mattress, Salzburg has a few good hostels, amongst them A&O Salzburg Hauptbahnhof, with coolly trendy digs in a revamped bread manufacturing unit close to the principle practice station, and hip-and-happening Yoho Salzburg, with pluses like low cost bike rental (€10) and free day by day screenings of The Sound of Music. Yup, that’s daily!
Browse market stalls for picnic fixings
Solar’s out? That’s your cue to affix the hungry Salzburger on the Grünmarkt on Universitätsplatz for picnic goodies: from fruit and veg to ham and cheese from the Alps, and pretzels as large as your head. For a sourdough loaf contemporary from a wood-fired oven, nip into close by Stiftsbäckerei St Peter, a 700-year-old bakery that’s a part of the abbey advanced of the identical title.
Go for lunch – not dinner
It can save you a small fortune by benefiting from the lunchtime Tagesmenü (fastened menu) served at most locations. A two-course lunch at many eating places and bistros will set you again as little as €10, a fraction of what it prices to eat out within the night.
Tucked down pretty Churfürststrasse within the coronary heart of the Altstadt, college café Mensa Toskanatrakt presents among the best offers on the town, with its courtyard setting and walled-friendly 2-course lunch for €6.30 (or €5.40 if you happen to go for the veggie possibility).
Save with the Salzburg Card
When you’re planning on visiting all of the big-hitters, you’ll save masses by investing in an all-in-one Salzburg Card, which supplies you limitless use of public transport, entry to all the principle sights – from the lavish state rooms of the Residenz to the city-in-a-nutshell Salzburg Museum and clifftop fortress Festung Hohensalzburg. The cardboard additionally will get you a cable-car journey as much as the Alps at Untersberg. You’ll save time too: merely flash your card to skip queues. The 24-/48-/72-hour card prices €30/39/45; kids aged six to fifteen pay half worth.
Discover excessive tradition on a budget
Salzburg punches excessive culturally and you’ll tune into a few of its most memorable experiences for little or no. Mozart, you say? Make for the Mozarteum, the place it’s free to attend the weekday rehearsals of extremely proficient music college students (see the web site for particulars or ask at reception). Opera and ballet? On the grand 18th-century Landestheater close by, under-30s can reap the benefits of last-minute tickets bought on the field workplace half-hour earlier than performances, which go for simply €6.
Even summer season’s colossal Salzburg Festival doesn’t must be costly so long as you aren’t choosy in regards to the efficiency. Order standing seats (costing roughly between €10 and €30) as quickly as they go on sale in mid-January, or really feel the excitement watching free screenings of opera on Kapitelplatz, as locals drift previous dressed as much as the nines.
