Our small group will be in Salzburg early December. Two of us will be going on the SOM Tour. The rest of the group are trying to decide what they can do that morning/early afternoon. Are the salt mines open? With the possibility of rain and/or snow, what activities/tours would take about 4-5 hours (not the whole day) ?
HimAlexandra,
The Christmas Markets! Hohensalzburg Fortress. The Christmas Markets!
Paul
Starting point would be to pick up a copy of one of the RS guide books covering Salzburg. They are on sale on the RS shop online page. Or look at this website's Salzburg At a Glance.
The next step will be negotiating the sights/activities that the SOM tour pair are not interested in but the rest of the group would like to see/do. There's a couple of days of things to see/do in Salzburg.
Salt mine at Hallein is open.
We just spent 24 hours in beautiful Salzburg. ..the Christmas markets and shops were amazing. We went up to the fortress. ..very worthwhile. .great views and pics...and the funicular up is 5 minute walk behind the markets. ..so all easy to do in your time frame. I'd take the Christmas markets over the salt mines for sure. I had Mozart 'S birthplace on my schedule, but the lure of more glitter and grog was just too much. You'll love your visit.
Inquire about concerts in one of the many churches in town...last time I was there I went to a choral/orchestral/organ concert in the main church that was just spectacular! I've been to concerts there in December as well and they were wonderful...nothing like listening to beautiful music and then going out into the freezing cold with holiday lights strung around and hot mulled wine from a vendor. Heaven!
Thanks for the replies. I will check into the salt mine. My friend and I will be doing SOM tour while hubby and friends need something to do as well. I was hoping an excursion similar to SOM, something to take them out of Salzburg, but I know it's not hte season for ziplining and hiking. As a group we will be attending the Advent concert at St Andrew's church and of course doing the Christmas markets and wonderful shops. Great idea about the fortress too!
There are nice hiking opportunities once you walk past the fortress. A lot of green and a lot of trails with historic fortifications and so on. Stadtalm is a nice restaurant up there too - you are looking down on Salzburg from it if you lucky to get into the room with a big window overlooking the city. You mentioned hiking so I thought it might be a possibility. I was surprised and delighted to find this area years ago.
My highlight was the Eldelweiss Cooking School: www.edelweiss-cooking.com
The Bob's SOM tour that we are going on includes the apfel strudel cooking class and lunch like the link shows! Can't wait!