1 Most of The Sound Of Music was shot in Salzburg and though few Austrians have seen the film, the city knows a good tourist trap when it sees one. Several companies run van tours round the film sites but if you’d rather go it alone the Pavilion outside Hellbrunn Palace was Rolf and Liesl’s gazebo; the gardens of the Schloss Mirabell featured in the Do-Re-Mi song, and Nonnburg Abbey is the convent where the original Maria was a novice.
2 In the city where Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born you don’t have to walk long to find some mention of the musical prodigy. There are 16 streets named after him and several houses laying claim to a connection. At No.9 Getreidgasse you’ll find Mozart’s Geburtshaus, his birthplace and childhood home, and No.8 Makartplatz is where he lived aged 17 until 24. There’s his statue at Mozartplatz and the Mozarteum is a world famous Academy of Music.
3 One of Austria’s six Unesco World Heritage sites, the Old Town (Alstadt) is a storybook maze of cobbled streets with the Salzburg Cathedral (Dom) at its heart. Getreidgasse is the main thoroughfare – look up for the famous wrought iron shop signs.
4 Easily visited on a day trip from Salzburg, the Salt Mine is a series of connected caverns and levels forming its own little underground world. Wearing traditional miners’ clothes, you take a train into the heart of the Bavarian mountains, ride a raft across a salt lake and slide down the original miners’ shoot.
5 Haul yourself up the narrow cobbled streets or jump in the funicular to Hohensalzburg Fortress and you’ll find an unbeatable view of the city. The castle, one of Europe’s largest, took 600 years to complete.
The essentials
Time from London 1 hour, 45 minutes
Getting there RyanAir fly from to Salzburg twice daily.
What to say Was ist Der Klang der Musik?” meaning, what’s The Sound of Music?
Price of a beer: About £2.50
– AMY ADAMS”
