Salzburg Photo Diary

I usually make travel posts more informative, I do a 10 things to do or a how to spend three days, however, for Salzburg I decided to make the post a bit more personal and diary like. Partly because I thought I'd switch things up but mostly because I don't feel I explored Salzburg enough to be able to write a 'here's what you should do' type post.

After saying goodbye to the beautiful Lake Bled we hopped on a train to Salzburg. The first of our three stops in Austria. 

We spent three days in Salzburg. From the little research I had done beforehand it seemed like there was a lot to see. Having now visited I think we could of spent less time there but we did skip things like the Sound of Music tour which is probably one of the main attractions! 

DAY ONE: EXPLORING SALZBURG'S SHOPS 

Our first day in Salzburg was quite lazy, we'd been travelling a lot of the previous day so decided to have a lie in. We were staying in an Air BnB which meant we had a kitchen so we popped to the nearest shop and stocked up on breakfast supplies. We then had an admin morning to keep up to date with money etc. After spending way too long sorting money we headed out to a somewhat cloudy Salzburg. 

Our first stop was Mozart's House, we chose not to pay to go in but had a look at the outside and free area instead. We then headed to the Mirabell Palace and Gardens. Although it was very grey the gardens were still very pretty and nice to wander through. We didn't go inside the palace but both the gardens and palace have free entry.

We then headed over the Makartsteg Bridge to the other side of Salzburg where the castle is located.  You can leave a lock on the bridge on the way over if it takes your fancy. 

Our plan was to head to the castle, however, we got distracted by the shops. I did get a new pair of boots out of the shopping trip which came in super handy for the rest of the trip when we got to colder destinations such as Prague. 

If, like me, you're easily distracted by shops then Salzburg is a great place to shop. The usual such as H and M is there but there are a lot of local shops and a few Christmas shops which were super cute.

We ate at Nordsee which I'd never heard of until we got to Austria. Let's just say if you like seafood you'll love this place! If you don't or you're vegetarian / vegan then it's probably best to avoid as I think nearly all the menu is fish of some kind. Personally, I loved it. Plus it was very reasonably priced, especially seeing as I found a lot of Salzburg (and Austria as a whole rather pricy).

After eating we wandered around for a while getting our bearings. There was a fair/ festival going on in the main square. I think it was to celebrate Oktoberfest. We were too tired to properly check it out so decided to do so the following day and instead headed back to our Air BnB.

DAY TWO: A DAY TRIP TO GERMANY 

There are many day trips you can take from Salzburg such as a visit to the stunning town of Hallstatt. However, we were already planning on spending a couple of nights in Hallstatt so we looked for other day trips. We eventually decided to leave the country all together and head to Germany for the day. 

This is one of the great things about Europe, you can hop to another country for the day without the stress of border controls. Obviously, certain countries do have these but going from Austria to Germany didn't involve any. 

We decided to visit Konigsee Lake. In the end we never got to see it! But we did see The Eagle's Nest instead. This was a birthday present from Martin Bormann to Hitler but is now a restaurant and viewing area. 

I'm going to do a separate post with more details of this day trip, including how to do it yourself rather than pay for a tour so won't spend too much time talking about it in this post. Overall, it was a fun day out. Slightly disappointing due to there being so much fog but still worth while as I got  to explore somewhere I never knew existed until my trip!

When we got back to Salzburg we were rather hungry (to be expected after a day trip!). We decided to try out the famous Weiner Schnitzel. We headed to a restaurant called Barenwirt which was a ten minute walk from the main square. We found it on Tripadvisor, where it's currently rated the 8th best restaurant in Salzburg, when we were hunting for somewhere with local cuisine. 

I'm not sure whether it gets busy but luckily we were able to get a table straight away without a reservation. I had the pork schnitzel which I'm not sure is an Weiner schnitzel. I think that one is the veal one. It was the cheaper option and very good. The schnitzel came with potato salad which was amazing! 

After dinner we headed to the Old Market Square to explore the fair we'd seen the previous day. There were lots of people dressed up for Oktoberfest and various marquees filled with people drinking beer. We sat and had a beer whilst watching a live band perform but headed home soon after because we were exhausted. I wish we'd known about it before our visit as I'd of liked to experience a beer hall, especially as I've never been to Oktoberfest.  

DAY THREE: SUNSHINE AND SAYING GOODBYE 

Our final day was the sunniest of our trip. However, I went out in a grey skies and rain friendly outfit and not a sunshine friendly one. Probably should of checked the weather app! We decided that today we'd finally make it to the castle after planning on doing it on our first day but shopping instead... 

The fair was still going and it was nice to experience it in the day. For breakfast I grabbed a pretzel bigger than my head and then we headed up to the castle. We were going to get the chair lift up but, after looking at prices, decided we'd walk instead to save some money. 

Hohensalzburg Castle is located on the top of a hill. It's easy to spot as you wander around the streets of Salzburg. The walk was pretty easy, it's uphill but nothing too strenuous. It was rather hot though. Probably because I was dressed for Autumn! There were plenty of places to stop and snap some pictures on the way up. 

Entrance to the castle costs either €12 or €15.20 depending on whether you buy the basic or standard ticket. We chose not to pay to enter the castle. Again, we were short of money and the views from the top were enough for me. I think it's still worth walking up even if you choose not to pay for the entrance just to see the views of Salzburg. 

We then grabbed a bite to eat before getting the bus back to the station ready for our train to the beautiful town of Hallstatt.

I enjoyed my time in Salzburg but did find it quite pricy after being in countries such as Slovenia but I guess this is to be expected. The buildings were stunning and the food super yummy but I feel I've ticked it off my list and it wouldn't be somewhere I'd choose to revisit (well in the near future anyway!)

Have you visited Salzburg? What did you think of the city?

Sophie

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