Draft

Salzburg is one of Austria's most well-known cities and attracts visitors from all over the world with its charm and beauty. The city is the birthplace of Mozart and is famous for being where The Sound of Music was filmed. Its Old Town is so charming it's even listed on the UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

This Austrian city has a picturesque river with several pedestrian bridges, as well as stunning gardens. Surrounded by a backdrop of beautiful mountains, you can't make this quaint little city up. Then throw in an incredible castle overlooking the town, and you have a place resembling somewhere taken straight out of a fairytale. 

You only need a day or so to explore Salzburg, and a great place to start is at Mirabell Palace and Mirabellgarten. Several scenes from The Sound of Music were filmed in the gardens which now attract thousands of tourists every year. After pretending to be a member of the Trapp family, wander across the Staatsbrucke bridge, and head to Mozarts Geburtshaus. This is the birthplace of Mozart, which is now used as a museum dedicated to his life.

After this, check out a couple of the main squares in the Old Town, including Mozartplatz and Residenzplatz, as well as Salzburg Cathedral. The Abbey of St. Peter is also worth checking out. You should now start to make your way to Fortress Hohensalzburg. However, if you don't fancy a walk up the steep hill, you can opt to take the funicular!

Hohensalzburg Fortress was by far my favourite place to explore in Salzburg, and is Central Europe's largest fully restored castle. The views from the balconies are incredible, with the Old Town below on one side of the castle, and an amazing mountain backdrop with lush green fields on the other. We even saw a live marching band performance during our visit!

After exploring the castle, head down the hill away from the Old Town towards the lake Leopoldskroner Weiher. This is where you will also find Schloss Leopoldskron, a building famous for being featured as the home of the Trapp family in The Sound of Music. The area is so beautiful, and the lake is most definitely worth a walk around. When you've finished pretending to be in a real-life musical again, make your way back to the Old Town to wander down any of the many quaint, cobbled streets.

For a cheap, cheerful, and clean hostel I would highly recommend staying at YoHo International Youth Hostel. It's in a great location between the train station and the Old Town, which is amazing if you're doing an interrail trip around Europe. Every night at 8pm the hostel puts on The Sound of Music for guests to watch, which is a lovely way to meet other travelers.

For food, there are many restaurants along Linzer Gasse, one of the main pedestrian-only roads in the city. We visited BioBurgerMeister, which is a tiny burger restaurant (as the name suggests!) serving really affordable food. There's even a good variety of vegetarian & vegan options.

If you fancy seeing more of Austria then I'd recommend heading to Vienna for a couple of days. Here you can visit attractions such as Schrönbrunn Palace, Hundertwasser House & the Spanish Riding School. There are brilliant train services between the two cities, and the journey should take roughly two and a half hours.