An Easy One Day in Salzburg Itinerary: Films, Fortress + Food!

Here is an easy one day in Salzburg itinerary to follow if you only have a short amount of time in this Austrian city.

Follow the same itinerary I did to see the very best of Salzburg like exploring a fortress, eating Austrian food and following in the Von Trapp family’s footsteps.

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Contents

How to Get to Salzburg

Salzburg is located in North-Central Austria and is easily accessible from major cities in Europe.

Bus: There are routes to Salzburg from all over Europe via Flixbus like Prague, Amsterdam, Berlin and Ljubljana.

Car: If you’re on a road trip through Europe, you will have probably already got your rental car and the road to Salzburg is a beautiful one if you go past the Austrian Alps. They drive on the right hand side in Austria.

Train: I use Trainline for all of my train journeys within Europe and travelled from Erfurt in Germany to Salzburg via train. Salzburg main station is called Salzburg Hauptbahnhof and can be reached by local transportation and international destinations in Central Europe and beyond.

Flight: The main airport is Salzburg Airport W. A. Mozart which is the gateway to all Austrian ski trips and the airport transfer is just 15 minutes from the city centre. Major flights to Salzburg include London, Frankfurt and Dublin.

Getting Around Salzburg: This one day trip to Salzburg is tailored for walking to help you get around although there are usual public bus routes plus Uber is available in Salzburg.

Where to Stay in Salzburg For a Day

I stayed in Hotel Modusduring my two days in Salzburg and I consider it one of the best places to stay to see all the things to do in Salzburg in 1 day because it is located in the centre of the city as everything is within a 10 minute walk.

The hotel is modern with a self-check in and combination-locked door. The rooms are spacious, clean and come with a handy terrace equipped with table and chairs. There is a communal area to cook, chill or leave luggage.

One Day in Salzburg Itinerary

Morning

Nonnberg Abbey

Before the sun rises, around 6.30am, head to or near Nonnberg Abbey (also known as Stift Nonnberg) where you will hear the nuns singing.

Nonnberg Abbey is one of the oldest working Abbeys in Europe dating back to 715 and was made an UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996.

If you can’t make it this early, head back between 4.30pm and 5.30pm each day to hear the nuns singing again.

This is a great introduction to the first (and best) things to do in Salzburg in one day, going on a tour about The Sound of Music.

The Sound of Music Tour

The Sound of Music follows Maria becoming part of the Von Trapp family and escaping the Nazis. The historic-fictional movie was set and filmed in Salzburg, Austria and is the sole reason I visited Salzburg.

If I was asked what to do in Salzburg in one day, the original Sound of Music tour by Panorama for the morning followed by seeing all the other locations by foot would be my answer.

The tour was the best tour I did in my 4 month Europe trip, I owed it to my childhood self who grew up on this movie and seeing all the filming locations including travelling to Mondsee in Austria was a huge tick off my bucket list.

Read My COMPLETE List of The Sound of Music Locations Here

Lunch

If you’ve read my itineraries before you’ll know that food is very important to me and influences lots of my travels (I would go back to Naples for their pizza in a heartbeat for example). So I had to incorporate some local Austrian food in my Salzburg 1 day itinerary.

Find a local cafe for a typical Austrian experience of coffee and Cremeschnitte (a vanilla custard cream cake) or go for a spicy hot dog (which includes two sausages).

More typical Austrian foods are very similar to German foods such as Schnitzel, Knodel, Salzburg chocolate known as Mozartkugel, sheep’s milk ice cream and strudel.

Salzburg One Day Itinerary: Afternoon

Hohensalzburg Fortress

Now we’ve seen the main event of The Sound of Music, is there anything else for what to do in Salzburg in a day? Of course!

My top recommendation for places to see in salzburg in one day would be hiking and exploring the Hohensalzburg Fortress.

The Hohensalzburg Castle is one of the largest existing castles in Europe dating back to the 11th century. It was built to protect the city and the prince bishops from attack although it never came under serious threat.

The views at the top of the fortress are spectacular looking over Salzburg city, river and distant mountains. Although there is a funicular to ride to the top, I highly recommend hiking up as it’s well-signed and can be broken up by exploring the inside to learn the history. As an alternative, you could do a skydive over the fortress!

City Top Sights

Salzburg is a fairly small city which makes seeing everything so easy by foot. Start the walk at Mirabell Gardens to see the palace, beautiful flowers and fountains (plus it’s another Sound of Music spot).

Next head to Getreidegasse which is a stunning street known for its shopping and all the signs fit with the street’s aesthetic, especially the McDonalds sign.

Within this street you’ll also see a big yellow building with a ‘Mozarts Geburtshaus’ sign which is the house where Mozart was born and is now a museum dedicated to the famous Austrian composer.

Lastly walk over Makartsteg bridge which is a lovelock bridge like the one in Paris where you can secure your one day trip Salzburg with a note on this city landmark.

Dinner

There are many Traditional Beer Garden and Restaurants located in Salzburg to choose from. I went to Augustiner Braugasthof which had a rustic and historic theme juxtaposed with a serene garden to enjoy food and drinks.

Augustiner Braustubel is part of the Munich chain and has over 1000 seats in their beer garden. You’ll get beer and pretzels that will make you feel like you’re celebrating Oktoberfest. For something extra, you can take a guided tour of their brewery to learn the history and sample some beers.

After dinner, we finished our 1 day Salzburg trip by heading to O’Malley’s Irish Pub for a Karaoke night with strangers. I love the care-free side of travelling!

And that’s how you spend a day in Salzburg, Austria!

Best Salzburg Tours

Prefer to do a Salzburg one day tour? Check these top-rated tours out on Viator:

2 Day Salzburg Itinerary

If you want a Salzburg 2 day itinerary then some of the best things to add to this list include visiting Salzburg Cathedral, watching a puppeteer show at Marionettentheater, St. Peter’s Abbey and cemetery, cruising on the Salzach River, learning how to make Apple Strudel in a Salzburg cooking class or going to the Salzburg Museum to learn about the history of the city.

After 1 Day in Salzburg

If you’re travelling in this corner of Europe then ideal places to visit either side of Salzburg within 2 hours include Vienna (Austria’s capital city), Hallstatt (Austrian Alps), Nuremberg or Munich (Germany), Ljubljana (Slovenia), or Zurich (Switzerland).

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