My family and I will be visiting Salzburg from Dec 28 to Dec 30, please help with any itinerary suggestions. I'm afraid it's going to be really cold and we'll need indoor things to do. Please help!!

It probably will be very cold - you will just have to wear warm clothes and drink gluhwein to keep warm.

The Marionetten Theater is a prime attraction and it is inside.

The fortress on the hill may be inside, but it is a cold place in the winter.

Visiting churches takes you inside, but they can be cold as well.

I am not sure Schloss Hellbrunn is worth the visit in the winter because the trick fountains are turned off.

For the next week, highs less than 40 and lows around 20 are predicted.

You might check to see if chamber music will be played in the Hohensalzburg Fortress. Really a treat, if available. Hotel concierge can help you with details and tickets.

Cheers,

Jinx Hoover

We were in Salzburg for Christmas a few years ago and it snowed everyday. We wore our long underwear, wool socks, and layered. We had a great time. A hat is a must -- hat hair is inevitable.

Have a great trip!

There are concerts every night which are great places to avoid the cold. They are advertised throughout the city. I attended one inside the Mirabell Palace which was a great setting.

A visit to the Mozart Museum is also worthwhile, as is a trip to the fortress. I visited in December and though it was cold, it was wonderful to see Salzburg from that high up. All of the buildings were capped in snow, and you have a great view of the Salzach winding its way through the city, as well as the Untersberg mountain. The tour takes you into the castle as well.

Take a peek inside beautiful Salzburg Cathedral. The baroque interior rivals some of Rome's most beautiful churches.

I also went on the Sound of Music Tour. You spend most of the time in the bus so you can stay warm, but get out at the town of Mondsee where the Wedding Scene was filmed, as well as a few other lake side stops. The lakes are beautiful, even in the winter, when they are surrounded by snow capped mountains. You also get to see some of the surrounding countryside.

My favorite sight in all of Salzburg was the gorgeous baroque Collegiate Church (Kollegienkirche). I think it's worth the trip to Salzburg all by itself.

me and my husband are going to be in salzburg from the 21st dec till the 28th dec. kateny17 can you please tellme from where you booked the sound of music tour as the one i found doesn't go in december?

We booked our tour at the train station's tourist booth, but I see from Panorama's website (the company that ran our Sound of Music tour) that you can book it online and it runs all-year long. http://shop.panoramatours.biz/en/product/63

Bob's Tours are great. I took the Sound of Music tour in March of 2004. You're in a minivan and therefor don't get lost in the crowd. They operate all winter long although some of the summer features are not available but enjoyable alternatives are available.

http://www.bobstours.com

Why pay over $20 a person for a tour when you can do it yourself? Check out the City of Salzburg's website:

http://www2.salzburg.info//soundofmusic.html

All that cold weather makes a good excuse to spend excessive amounts of time in the Augustiner Keller.

I second the visit to the Mozart Museum. We also embarked on the Sound of Music tour. Was it cheesy? Yes (They played taped "hills are alive" music throughout the drive). I loved it! The scenary was spectacular and we had a grand time. Normally, I don't go for tour groups of anything.

In response to the suggestion on doing the Sound of Music tour yourself, I would have to say that the Panorama tour made seeing all of the sights (including those that were about a 30 mins. drive outside of the city) very easy - especially if you don't have a car there! Yes it was certainly cheesy, but it was also very entertaining and a lot of fun. We escaped the city for the day and were able to see the beautiful snow-capped Austrian countryside, all while staying warm inside the bus (plus you can get out at all of the stops, wander around, shop, and most importantly eat delicious strudel!)

Our family was in Salzburg over Christmas and New Years a few years ago. Yes, it was cold = some days worse than others.

Since we live in the Middle East and were from the southern US, we just decided to bundle up and enjoy it. We got plastic shovel-sleds from the local market and went to the hill behind Mirabell Palace. My boys had a blast. We still have the shovels.

We also just cruised the streets - looking in shops, stopping for a snack, looking at more shops, stopping for some mulled wine, etc.

We did a salt mine tour (great fun), went skiing 2 days, saw a Marionette show, went to a Mozart concert, and visited several churches. I got out-voted on the Sound of Music Tour.

Have a wonderful time!

I forgot to mention..

We also had a snack in St. Peter's restaurant (not sure of name) - supposedly the oldest restaurant, near the cemetary. It was quite lovely at Christmas.

My husband and I love old cemetaries and the one near the tram up to the fortress is wonderful. THere are also some old catacombs you could peer into.

We took the tram/funicular up to the fortress and spent a couple of hours up there, quite nice. Great story about a big battle and a cow - the kids should enjoy it.

The kids also went ice skating - but my photos of them skating around a statue of Mozart didn't come out! AUGH!!!

I don't know about it - but our neighbors are going next week and there is supposed to be a nice natural history (??) museum with dinosaur exhibits. Evidently they got a lot of info from the main Salzburg tourist website.

In addition to the SOM tours Panorama and Bob's tours also offer horse-drawn sleigh rides. I thinkthey end up at the hot gluhwein gasthaus to warm you up.

There is a lot of general travel information on http://www.visit-salzburg.net/ with some details on Mozart and the musical heritage of Salzburg. But generally, the site focusses on "off the beaten track" information for tourists keen on something beyond the typical sightseeing. However, there is also good stuff on accommodation, flights and the obligatory Sound of Music fuzz.

We spent Dec. 27 to Jan. 3 in Salzburg last year (2005) and had a wonderful time. While it was snowy, it was not really cold. I wore sweaters and a winter coat but no long underwear or anything and was always comfortable. Read my trip report called New Years in Salzburg.

I spent a week in Salzburg last December and am going back to Salzburg and Munich over Christmas this year for my honeymoon.

It was cold but not that cold, and I live in FL. I never took my long underwear out of the suitcase.

I went for runs along the river in the mornings and watched the town wake up. Wandering the streets and stopping often for a coffee or a gluhwein was distration enough.

I sent my mom on the SOM tour and she loved it. I went to the salt mines instead and had a blast. I remembered them from my college days at the Univ of Salzburg and enjoyed them as much this time around.

A daytrip to St. Gilgen was spectacular!