The Sound of Music in Salzburg

Salzburg, Austria is alive with the sound of music. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born there and the city will forever be linked with the 1965 film The Sound of Music starring Julia Andrews as the headstrong novice governess Maria. More than 300, 000 people visit the city every year to relive their childhood memories and visit the sites depicted in the film. There are numerous guided and self-guided tours available. Many of which are located within the city center and can be visited in a single day.

Head to Mirabell Palace Gardens, a pretty little park where the beautiful Pegasus Fountain takes center stage. Channel Maria and the von Trapp children (Liesl, Louisa, Friedrich, Kurt, Brigitta, Marta, and Gretl) as they dance around the fountain singing Do re mi—one of the most memorable songs in the movie. Don’t leave the gardens before visiting the stairs where they created a musical scale or the pergola vine tunnel and hedge maze at the Southwest corner of the royal gardens. All were featured in the film and will make a memorable backdrop to your photographs.

But none more memorable or authentic than the von Trapp home where the family actually lived from 1923 to 1938. They left the villa after losing everything in a bad investment and fearing reprisals from the Nazi when the patriarch refused to serve.

Maria taught the children to sing (to make ends meet) and they began touring around the world as the Trapp Family Singers, the basis for the book and movie loosely based on the colorful family’s life.

The 19th century mansion has gone through many transitions since the family left it more than 80 years ago. It served as both a refuge for an Order of Missionaries, a summer residence for the German SS Officer Heinrich Himmler, only to be returned to the Order in 1947 when it underwent an extensive renovation to restore it to its former glory. It was converted into a hotel in 2003 where you can live as a von Trapp for as little as $150 per night.

Daily tours are offered at noon. The tour price includes a short film and a walk through the house and gardens and costs 15 Euro for adults and 7 Euro for children over 14. Click here for rates and reservations. Mirabell Palace Gardens are open Monday, Wednesday, & Thursday 8am-4pm; Tuesday & Friday 1-4pm.

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