abbynicole27

Does anyone know about how much a Sound of Music tour in Salzburg would be, and whether or not it's worth it? Are the key places easy to go to on your own? We are budget travellers - will be there in June

saraallison11

My hubby and I were in Salzburg June of 2003. We are a young couple and budget travelers as well. We opted not to take the Sound of Music tour because of cost. I want to say it was like 40 Euros/person for the cheapest tour, but it may have been more than that. I bet you could put it into a search engine and get some up-to-date prices. We were able to see lots of the places shown in the movie for free though, just walking aroung the city, like Mirabelle Gardens, Hohensalzburg Fortress, Nonnberg Abbey, etc. You probably should take the tour though if you want to see the houses they used and the place Maria sings at the beginning. I have heard the tour is really neat and would've liked to experienced it, but I didn't feel cheated or regret not going on it.

P_M

I'm a huge fan of the movie so I thought it was definitely worth it. I enjoyed seeing the sights and learning all about the Von Trapp family. The most interesting thing of all was learning just how different the movie was from reality. You will be very surprised at how much of that movie was pure fiction. Of course it could be done one your own, but then you won't learn any trivia about the family or the movie.

My tour included a visit to the building used for the back of the house where they filmed the scenes with the terrace by the lake. The front of the house is a different house, which you can only drive by, and the inside scenes of the house were a set in California. The real house is in a gated community and is not accessible to the public. As far as I know, it was not used in the movie.

The tour will also take you to a church in a town outside Salzburg called Mondsee, where they filmed the wedding scene. The movie would have you believe that the Von Trapps were married at the abbey. I don't know if that's true or not, but the filming of the wedding was done in Mondsee. We also visited the abbey and a few other places around town.

I don't remember the cost, but if you enjoyed this movie, it's worth it. I don't think you will get as much out of doing it on your own, and you will learn the true story of the Von Trapps, which is far more interesting and really quite different from what's in the movie.

abbynicole27

Mostly, my friend wants to see the place where Maria sings in the beginning. Does anyone know if we can go there on our own?

swalter518

We went a few years back and although I can't remember how much it was it couldn't have been that expensive as were were definately budget travellers at the time. We enjoyed it. We did not have a car on that trip and wouldn't have seen the places without the tour. Also one stop on the tour was lugeing (sp?) down a hillside which was very fun.

Amy

The "Maria field" is around Werfen, a ride up the rail line from Salzburg. That's Hohenwerfen castle in the background, which, incidentally, is the site of a terrific birds of prey show. From what I understand the field looks quite different now, of course, after almost ?40? years of growth.

The tour itself was fun for the diehards; it is just the outsides of most things, of course, as the other posters said, and Mondesee church. I think it was $33 when we went. We did have an excellent guide. If you'd like to see a few pix you can cut and paste to get to http://community.webshots.com/user/missalg and click on the Austria album. We got around to quite a few places on the train, but I really wouldn't have wanted to public transport to the Sound sites; if you're driving, you should be fine.

scbelle

I traveled to Salzburg with two girlfriends this summer. We are all "on a budget"--one in her first job, one in grad school, one in college. The company that does the "Original Sound of Music Tour" endorsed by Maria von Trapp prior to her death is Panorama tours. They offer slight discounts if you sign up for two or more of their tours. We all three went on the Saltmines Tour, two on the Sound of Music, and one (sadly not me) on the Ice Caves.

We would all say, hands down, do not miss the Saltmines tour--it was full of people of all ages, and all enjoyed it. It is the same tour my mother went on when she was in college! Much fun--cute mining outfits, mini trains, wood slides, a boat trip a la Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory (though not as scary). And the drive is beautiful. You also get to see some compound of Hitler's, but we weren't so interested. Some people are.

The Ice Caves were supposed to be fantastic--not reccommended for small children or the disabled. Be sure to dress in layers (cold in those caves) and wear sturdy shoes. The pictures were FANTASTIC and it looked like a great time.

Now, the Sound of Music tour... well, it wasn't bad, per se. THe country side was beautiful, and the anecdotes told by the driver were interesting and humourous. That said, I was mostly dissappointed--most of the magic, we learned, was movie magic. Some things are best left to the imagination. For example, you get to see the exterior location of the house, but you can't get within a fottball field of it because its owned by Harvard and they don't want tourists interrupting their studies (at the University of Virginia we welcomed tourists to our Lawn and SOMEHOW managed to study, hmmm...). And there are some random things on the tour, like a down hill luge thing which Ibasically saw as a tourist trap type thing, as all the kids on tour HAD TO DO IT. Surprisingly, kids seemed mostly bored with the rest of the tour. It just wasn't what I thought it would be.

Oh--the price of that tour is 33 Euros. www.panaromatours.com for more info--but I couldn't find the prices for combo packages.

Have fun in Salzburg! Another viable option is a day trip to Innsbruck and riding the Hungerburg Funicular to the top of the mountain for a fantastic view of Salzburg on one side and an intimate view of the Alps on the other.

Have a great trip!

Jolie

I'm not sure if the Werfen hill is the same as the one at the beginning of the movie (where Maria sings "the Hills are Alive&quot. Werfen is the place where they filmed the "Do-re-mi" song, and you can see Hohenwerfen in the background as the kids are playing around. I think Werfen is a great little town, worth visiting for the fortress and the ice caves.

It's been many years since I took the "Sound of Music" tour, but I thought the hill at the beginning of the movie was a different one. At any rate, our tour did NOT stop at the hill, so you may want to check ahead of time to ensure your tour does stop there, wherever it is.

AisleSeat

We went on the Panorama SOM Tour at Easter a year ago and throughly enjoyed it. It is cheesy (with the soundtrack plaing in the van so you can sing along) but really fun. The places in Salzburg were interesting but we really enjoyed getting out into the Salzkammergut countryside.

We stopped at a Luge track where you can ride your own luge down a metal trough on a ski hill in the Summer. That was fun.

We had another stop in Mondsee at the chruch where the wedding scene was filmed and it was in a beautiful valley. A quaint little Austrian village.

You can see the places on your own (especially the places in town) but you would have to have a car to get out into the countryside. We thought the tour was one of the highlights of our trip. We are going back to Salzburg at Christmas and we are hoping to take a tour where they take you up in the montains and you take a horse-drawn sleigh ride topped off by gluhwein at the gasthaus at the end.

Surfergirl

Everything that Aisleseat just said, including the cheesy but fun comment, I agree with 100%. Loved the luge ride!

P_M

Abbynichole, the tour I went on did not go to the hill. If that's the only thing that interests you, then it's not worth it to go on the tour.

Zeus

Werfen Castle has been mentioned a couple times - That castle was the central focus of the Clint Eastwood/Richard Burton film "Where Eagles Dare". Definetely a "Guy Movie".