Salzburg Sound of Music Tour? Fraulein Maria Bike Tour? Hop on Hop Off Bus?

We did the Panorama Tour 1A during the winter time frame and enjoyed the tour with the bonus attraction of a tour of the country side surrounding Salzburg. The bike tour version sounds like a good thing during dry (and warmer) weather. Bike touring is especially attractive in being able to do your own photo stops in places where a bus or van isn't allowed to block traffic flow.

https://www.panoramatours.com/en/salzburg/tour/original-sound-of-music-tour-tour-1a-28/

Salzburg Lake District Area - St Gilgen After touring the
film-locations within the town of Salzburg, you will drive to the Lake
District, passing Lake Fuschl and Lake Wolfgang, where panorama shots
and scenes of the picnic were filmed. Enjoy the wonderful view down on
to St. Gilgen and Lake Wolfgang at the photo stop!

There are some SOM do-it-yourself options using transit (or a rental bike). I'm sure someone will be able to give you the do-it-yourself details.
http://www.bigboytravel.com/europe/austria/salzburg/soundofmusicfilmlocations/
http://www.visit-salzburg.net/travel/soundofmusic_locations.htm

Salzburg is such a walkable town with car free zones that I would wonder about the utility of hopping on and off buses.

I visited Salzburg for a long day trip in late August, arrived via train and immediately got on a HoHo bus. It was a cold, rainy day and while I could have walked to the Old Town I would have missed all the SOM (and other interesting things as well) sites in the outlying areas. You get headphones so there is guidance and explanation in that regard, I exited the bus at Mirabell and walked the gardens and park, then at Hellbrunn for a couple of hours to tour the house and gardens. Other sites I just saw from the bus, but I thoroughly enjoyed exploring the Old Town, had a great late lunch at Triangel, really loved visiting Mozart's Gebursthaus (birthplace) and there was a craft fair going on along the river.

I expect in June you'll have good weather, so it becomes a matter of what suits you best, sounds like a bike tour, though I don't know the logistics of biking in the congested old town area, some roads are very narrow. I was more interested in Salzburg as Mozart's birthplace than as the setting of the SOM.

We did the Fraulein Maria Bike Tour and really enjoyed it. Some of the places were fairly easy to find locations in town but we also went outside the historic center to places that would not be as easy to walk. We were there in early October and it was rainy and a little cool that day but we still had fun. We were drenched by the time the tour ended though! The bike ride was mostly level and easy for us and neither of us had been on a bike in years. We would recommend it.

...arrived via train....
To illustrate the walkability of Salzberg, the direct walking route from the Central Train Station to Alter Markt in Old Town is a bit over a mile (1.7 km) and basically flat. That walking route would take you past Mirabelle Garden and the SOM Panoramic Tour kiosk.

In many respects Salzburg is more pedestrian and bike friendly than car friendly. Old Town is a car-free zone. I don't know about bikes, but you may have to walk your bike in pedestrian zones.

"... Lake Wolfgang, where panorama shots and scenes of the picnic were filmed."

As usual Panorama Tours is taking license with the truth. Some of the opening (aerial) shots of the movie are of Lake Wolfgang, some more are of Königssee, in Berchtesgaden. In the scene where they are headed to the picnic, they are getting on the Schaffberg cog train in St. Wolfgang, but the picnic scenes were actually filmed miles away, south of Salzburg, outside Werfen. That's Hohenwerfen castle, which I have visited, in the background.

In my opinion, having listened to the commentary on the DVD by producer/director Robert Wise, except for what you can easily see by yourself walking around Salzburg, there are not enough authentic venues on these tours to warrant their time or cost.

Leopoldskron never appeared in the movie. The Von Trapp home in the outdoor scenes are outdoor shots of the Frohnburg, which is not on a lake. The lakeside patio scenes were filmed on a temporary, no longer existing, set built elsewhere on the same lake as Leopoldskron. The singing and dancing scenes at "the gazebo" were shot in a sound stage in California. The gazebo they show you was only used for distance shots on that temporary set.

When I went there, I had no problem finding Mirabell Palace, the old town, the Residenz Square, or Nonnberg Abbey.

I want to thank all of you who took the time to reply to my forum question. It's great being able to draw upon the deep well of experience of fellow travelers.

Based on your responses, I think I will take the Fraulein Maria Bike Tour, mostly because I find it fun to bike through European cities. I don't feel the need to make a pilgrimage to the various SOM film locations, but if I happen to run across a location that looks familiar from the film, it's icing on the cake.

Thanks for your generous replies.

Hey, look at the excerpt I found in Rick's Travel Articles --> Across Europe --> Eccentric Europe: Off Beat but On-Target Sights

In Salzburg, Austria, a favorite activity for many Americans visitors is a big-bus, drive-by tour of locations made famous in the classic Julie Andrews movie, The Sound of Music. The quirky alternative: "Fräulein Maria's Sound of Music Bicycle Tour," run not by a singing nun but usually by a burly young man named Rupert. The bike tour is very family-friendly, and includes lots of stops for goofy photo ops at locations used in the film.

Good to know my instincts are correct. Fraulein Maria's Bike tour it is! Thanks again, everyone, for your suggestions and insights.

My daughter and I were in Salzburg at the beginning of May this year. We took the Fraulein Maria Bike Tour. We both enjoyed it and it was so much fun. The guides are very knowledgable and they will break you into groups of about 12 or so (there were three groups the day we went). It was really fun to ride out of the city and see the countryside. One of the best parts is as you stop at the various places, the guide takes photos of you and the group which you can access online a few days after your tour. Highly recommend! Enjoy Salzburg!