Salzburg is an enchanting city near Austria’s western border with Germany. It is nestled amongst hills and mountains and bisected by the Salzach River. Salzburg’s baroque old town is UNESCO World Heritage Listed. If you only have a single day to visit this Austrian gem follow our ideas to create your perfect itinerary to spend one day in Salzburg.
I’ve been lucky enough to visit the city many times in my life. My grandparents lived in a suburb of Salzburg when I was growing up. I spent my childhood holidays in the city, and during this time Salzburg felt like home to me. I was as familiar with how the streets were laid out in Salzburg’s old town as I was in my own local area in London.
I have revisited Salzburg a few times as an adult and last summer I took my children there for the first time. We were in Austria for a family celebration, staying in an apartment in nearby Mondsee with grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. We chose to go into Salzburg for one day and I knew exactly which highlights I wanted to show my kids. Here are my suggestions for how to spend a perfect day in Salzburg with kids.
The Sound of Music and Mirabellgarten

It’s impossible to visit Salzburg without seeing references to the The Sound of Music, whether you like it or not. I love the film. I even had my own dirndl when I was a young girl, and yes, I wore it while standing on the steps of the Mirabell Gardens pretending to be Liesl. My boys have seen the film, but they aren’t big fans. The Sound of Music connection aside, the Mirabell Gardens are a lovely place to visit for views up to the fortress, running around the Pegasus fountain and exploring the different levels of the gardens.

Cross the Makartsteg footbridge over the Salzach from the Mirabell Gardens to enter the Altstadt (old town). The bridge is lined with ‘love locks’. This is a somewhat controversial tourist activity with some claiming that the weight of so many padlocks can be damaging to a bridge’s structure.
Mozarts Geburtshaus (Mozart’s Birthplace)
Salzburg is also famous for being the city where Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born. A visit to Mozarts Geburtshaus not only gives the visitor an insight into the great composer’s early life and work, but it gives a sense of life in 18th-century Salzburg. A number of Mozart’s instruments are in the museum’s collection. With its connection to Mozart it’s unsurprising that Salzburg has become known internationally as a place to see exceptional musical performances. If your visit is in late July and August you’ll coincide with the Salzburg Festival and have the chance to join the city’s glitterati gathering at the Festspielhaus before the evening concerts. During the festival, performances happen across the city during the day and in the evenings. Check out the programme before you visit.
Festung Hohensalzburg / the fortress on the hill

No visit to Salzburg is complete without taking in the views from the castle. You can reach it by walking up the path that starts behind the cathedral, or use the funicular. (In summer the queues for the funicular take at least 30 minutes.) There are a number of ticket choices to visit the castle. It’s best to check the website before you go and make your decision based on time and budget. On our most recent visit we chose the Panorama ticket which covered our funicular ride (which the boys were keen to do), access to the castle grounds and the observation tower, but not entry into the museums.

The path up to the castle runs behind Salzburg’s cathedral, the Dom zu Salzburg, which is well worth a look inside to marvel at its early baroque interior. The copper domes of the cathedral dominate the city. This area is also near to Petersfriedhof (St Peter’s cemetery) which makes for an interesting walk-through to view its highly decorated graves and family tombs. Nannerl, Mozart’s sister is buried here. In The Sound of Music the Von Trapp family hide in the cemetery before escaping to Switzerland.
Getreidegasse

Salzburg’s iconic shopping street, the Getreidegasse, is usually jam-packed with tourists. It’s where you’ll find Mozarts Geburtshaus but people come here to look at the tightly-packed buildings and the wrought-iron shop signs which line the street. The shops on the Getreidegasse are a mixed bag of tourist items (don’t miss the Christmas shop), specialist food and drink (seek out the schnapps shop – Sporer), high-end high street and designer clothes and shoes. A number of restaurants can also be found here.
Food
Kaffeehaus / Coffee House


Your walk around Salzburg should be punctuated by at least one visit to a coffee house. My long-term favourites are Café Tomaselli and Café Fürst which face each other across Alter Markt. Tomaselli has a grand exterior, lavish interior and an upper balcony with views across the square. Fürst is smaller and more unassuming, but home to delicious cakes and the “Original Salzburger Mozartkugel” which is a speciality chocolate of marzipan, pistachio and nougat centre surrounded by dark chocolate. Grab a table outside and order your coffee from a long list (more choice than Starbucks, my favourite is an Einspänner which is espresso topped with lots of thick whipped cream) before going inside to order and pay for your cakes. Sachertorte has to be a top choice, but for me a Linzertorte comes a close second.
Würstl / Sausages
My top tip for a quick, easy and relatively cheap lunch is to head to Universitätsplatz (University Square) where there’s usually a market on and a number of sausage and pretzel stands. You’ll have your choice of currywurst, käsekrainer (sausage infused with cheese) and regular frankfurters amongst many other options. The 6yo was awed by the machine which punched a frankfurter-shaped hole in his bread bun! The 8yo had a bit of an obsession with brezen (pretzels) so we added two of those to our lunch choices.
If you don’t fancy sausages for lunch, our recommendation for a traditional Austrian meal in the centre of Salzburg is the Sternbräu. Set in a courtyard between the Getreidegasse and buildings facing the river, it has a choice of relaxed café outdoor seating and a more formal restaurant indoors.
If you have time
Salzburg is a small city and it’s possible to experience many of its highlights within just a few hours. There are countless ways to fill your time in the city including visiting one of the city’s many art museums (we especially recommend the clifftop Museum der Moderne on Mönschberg), going to a concert and checking out the Stiegl beer brewery, but if you have an additional day or half-day we suggest exploring a little further afield.
Wasserspiele / Trick Fountains – 1/2 day
Visit the trick fountains in the gardens of Schloss Hellbrunn which have been amusing and surprising visitors since 1615. Make it a really special afternoon by taking the boat from the centre of Salzburg.

Salzwelten / salt mines – 1/2 day

Drive out of the city to experience the extraordinary salt mines at Hallein. Whizz down the slides, experience what it was like to work in the mines and learn about the importance of salt to Salzburg’s fortunes. The entrance to the mines is by train, which is almost worth the entrance fee itself – that and all having to be dressed in protective gear!
Salzkammergut – 1 day
If you join a Sound of Music tour it’s likely that you’ll be taken to Mondsee to see the church where Maria and Captain von Trapp were married. This will give you a taste of the glorious lake district to the north of Salzburg known as the Salzkammergut. To see a little more of this beautiful region we suggest a day trip which involves taking a ferry across Wolfgangsee from St Gilgen to St Wolfgang, then jumping on the cog railway to the top of the Schafberg. Read more about how to do this here.

We have been planning to visit Salzburg few years ago and chose Vienna instead. It seems to be a great city to visit with kids.
It’s such a lovely, compact city – perfect to visit at any age
I didn’t know of your Austrian heritage! What a range of things to do there – I love the cog train and please tell me you only went down that slope not up it! #culturedkids
On that day we only went down it…but I’ve been up many times in my life!!
Love that photo of the boys walking down that steep hill! 🙂
Great post, the salt mines would definitely be high on my list list. #CulturedKids
The Salt Mines are fab. I remember going when I was a kid and being wowed. I was equally wowed as an adult!
Such lovely heritage and travels back on memory lane! I love Vienna and skiing in Austria but haven’t properly visited Salzburg aside on our way skiing. Hoping to fix that after this lockdown, that trick fountains in Schloss Hellbrunn and al those Unesco gems are right on our street! Hoping you are keeping well and safe in those strange times and thanks for the cool #Culturedkids inspiration! x
Glad to have inspired future travels! Keeping safe here and can’t wait to explore further than our local patch again x
Haven’t been to Austria yet,thanks for sharing this useful guide
Beautiful post! I have only been to Vienna and Innsbruck, but Salzburg is now climbing up on my list! Thanks for sharing!
Oh those are both beautiful cities too…though my heart will always belong to Salzburg
Great post, I have been thinking about visiting Salzburg for the longest time, looks like a really cool city. Thank you for sharing this I will really have to save it for later
Salzburg looks like a really charming and lovely place to visit! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Really nice and balanced itinerary to Salzburg- it’s got a bit of everything, the culture, the food, the history and pretty places for the best instagram shots! Great post!
Thanks for your kind words! It is rather picture perfect.
Salzburg looks beautiful and I would love to explore one day! Love Mirabell Gardens. Could spend hours there!
There’s definitely a lot more to the Mirabell Gardens than just the classic Sound of Music locations
I didn’t have the opportunity to visit Salzburg yet, but it looked very pretty and you shared many things to see in the city! Thank you for all the recommendations!
It looks like a very beautiful city! I didn’t have the opportunity to visit Salzburg yet but I would love to! Thanks for all the reco!
Salzburg is a place I’ve wanted to visit for a while and this just made me want to go even more. The town looks so old and quaint, my ideal day trip, I love Europe. And I’ll take a huge slice of Linzertorte while I’m at it
What a great post!!! We used to pass through Salzburg twice a year at least when I was a child on our way to Switzerland. I have been to most of these places and it was soo nice to remember all the memories when reading your post. The Salt mine was definitely one of our favorite. We have that same picture somewhere at my parents’ house.
So happy to have brought back some good memories for you. I can highly recommend revisiting as an adult!
Reblogged this on Letters From A Traveling Girl and commented:
If you are going to Salzburg, here are some things to do.
Salzburg looks sooo beautiful, and really interesting too! Great to see that you can do a lot in one day, and so cool that you’ve had the chance to spend a lot of time there.
I’m definitely the lucky one to have spent so much of my childhood in such a beautiful place
I loved Salzburg! Your recommendations are great and it’s such a charming city! We loved it for Christmas markets.
The Christmas markets are great too, especially the gluhwein!
Oh dear Salzburg is HIGH on my list of places to visit. Been to Europe thrice for over 5 months but still missed it. ANd sound of music was one of my faves growing up too 🙂
Sounds like you definitely have to take a trip next time you’re in Europe!
I’d love to go back to Salzburg. I love the places that you’ve recommended. Now I want a warm, salty pretzel.
Ah, now so do I!
We skipped past Vienna on our original trip but covid pending we are hoping to stop in for a day or so in 2021. Some great advice on places to visit.
I hope you make it there in 2021
Interesting post….and destination! Touring the salt mines would be awesome! Thanks for the great info and inspirational photos!