Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Walking Tours
Any day of the week, you can take a one-hour guided walk of the old town without a re-
servation—just show up at the TI on Mozartplatz and pay the guide. The tours are inform-
ative. While generally in English only, on slow days you may be listening to everything in
both German and English (€9, daily at 12:15, Mon-Sat also at 14:00, tel. 0662/8898-7330).
To save money, you can easily do it on your own using this chapter's self-guided walk (or
Local Guides
Salzburg is home to over a hundred licensed guides. I have worked with three who are
art historians and well worth recommending:
Christiana Schneeweiss
(“Snow White”)
has been instrumental in both my guidebook research and my TV production in Salzburg,
and has her own minibus for private tours outside of town (on foot: €135/2 hours, €160/3
hours; with minibus: €220/4 hours, €350-400/day, up to 6 people; mobile 0664-340-1757,
other options explained at
www.kultur-tourismus.com
,
info@kultur-tourismus.com
)
. Both
Sabine Rath
(mobile 0664-201-6492,
www.tourguide-salzburg.com
,
info@tourguide-
salzburg.com
) and
Anna Stellnberger
(mobile 0664-787-5177,
anna.stellnberger@aon.at
)
are excellent guides and a joy to learn from; they charge similar rates (€145/2 hours, €185/4
hours, €275/8 hours). Salzburg has many other good guides (to book, call 0662/840-406).
Boat Tours
City Cruise Line
(a.k.a. Stadt Schiff-Fahrt) runs a basic 40-minute round-trip river cruise
with recorded commentary (€14, 9/day July-Aug, 7/day May-June, fewer Sept-Oct and
March-April, no boats Nov-Feb). For a longer cruise, ride to Hellbrunn and return by bus
(€17, 1-2/day April-Oct). Boats leave from the old town side of the river just downstream of
the Makartsteg bridge (tel. 0662/825-858,
www.salzburghighlights.at
). While views can be
cramped, passengers aretreated toafunfinale justbeforedocking,whenthecaptain twirls a
fun “waltz.”
▲▲▲
The Sound of Music
Tours
I took one of these tours skeptically (as part of my research)—and had a great time. The bus
tour version includes a quick but good general city tour, hits the
S.O.M.
spots (including the
stately home used in the movie, flirtatious gazebo, and grand wedding church), and shows
you a lovely stretch of the Salzkammergut Lake District. This is worthwhile for
S.O.M.
fans
and those who won't otherwise be going into the Salzkammergut. Warning: Many think
rollingthroughtheAustriancountrysidewith30Americanssinging“Doe,adeer...”ispretty
schmaltzy. Local Austrians don't understand all the commotion.
