Sound of Music

You could take an early train from Vienna to Salzburg, do a Sound of Music tour, then train back to Vienna. I recommend Bob's Special Tours. We did a SOM tour with them in June and I loved it. Their tours are in smaller vans as opposed to a big bus. We had 6 people on the tour in addition to the very informative and entertaining guide. We met the tour guide at their office, but he dropped us off at the train station after it was over. We made our reservation the day before, but we had some flexibility regarding when we could take the tour. Be sure to book in advance. Bob's gives a nice discount for paying in cash and showing them a Rick Steves guidebook. We did an afternoon tour, and had some time to walk around beautiful Salzburg before.

To get to Salzburg, take the Westbahn train from Westbahnhof. You buy your tickets on the train for 25.50 Euro. https://westbahn.at/en.

Trains run every hour and it takes 2 hours 28 minutes each way.

see all of the sound of music locations

The only real Sound of Music locations you can see on a tour, you can also see easily by yourself for a lot less money. The tours show you a lot of venues eg, Leopoldskron) that were not actually in the movie.

The SOM tour is pretty clear in separating fact from fiction (i.e. the movie). Here are the SOM movie locations:

http://www.salzburg.info/en/art_culture/sound_of_music/shooting_locations

Now, for your visit to Salzburg, here are the locations where the film
was shot:

The Benedictine Convent on Nonnberg: it is here that nuns sing 'Maria'

Mirabell Gardens and Mirabell Palace: Maria and the children sing
'Do-Re-Mi'

Residenz Square and Residenz Fountain: Maria crosses Residenz square
in a bus on her way from Nonnberg Convent to the Trapp Villa singing
'I have confidence in me'

Felsenreitschule: here, the Trapp Family performed its farewell song
and Baron von Trapp sang Edelweiss

St. Peter's Cemetery: it was here that the dramatic flight scenes were
filmed

Leopoldskron Palace: the façade facing the lake represented the von
Trapp residence

The Sound of Music Pavillon: can be found at Hellbrunn Palace today,
in the movie it was still located at Leopoldskron Palace. One of the
most famous and romantic scenes was filmed here: 'I am 16 going on
17'

Frohnburg Palace: courtyard and main front were used as a backdrop

Other scenes where filmed outside of the city, for example at Anif
Palace, Hohenwerfen Castles, Mondsee, Fuschl, St. Gilgen and Lake
Wolfgang.

You can also visit the actual Villa Trapp - it is currently a B&B and gives tours to non guests. The real story is almost more interesting than the movie.

You would not believe who lived there during the war.

"The only real Sound of Music locations you can see on a tour, you can also see easily by yourself for a lot less money. The tours show you a lot of venues eg, Leopoldskron) that were not actually in the movie."

Yes, for someone wanting to see Sound of Music sites and coming for a day from Vienna, renting a car and trying to find the sights themselves makes a lot of sense.

The tour takes you through the beautiful Austrian countryside. That alone is a good reason to take it.

That list posted above is a little inaccurate. The cemetery in Salzburg 'inspired' the one in the movie, but the one in the movie was on a soundstage in Hollywood. And the scenes that take place in the gazebo in the film were also filmed on a set in California. The gazebo you see in Austria is one that was used on location to be in the background of actual on location footage. Hopefully any tour guide will tell you those stories. We rewatched the movie after visiting there last year to try to spot the gazebo shots from the Austrian location shooting. Not too many.

This site has useful info and pictures of what you can see, although they're closer to the truth about the gazebo, even the 'exterior' night scenes of the gazebo (16 going on 17 and Something Good) were shot inside in the USA.

We enjoyed the big bus tour for the singalong aspect (well, the wife did). Up to me, I'd take a smaller tour if possible. The key part of the tour was, like written previously, the chance to get out in the country on the way to see the church used in the wedding scene. And we got a distant look at the castle seen in Where Eagles Dare.

Some of the key locations were not part of our tour, the old town and the abbey. You gotta hoof it around to see those, those areas not made for bus tours. We did a 'rickshaw' tour of some of that area (bicycle version). Looks like there's also a bike you pedal yourself tour you could take also.

The SOM tour is pretty clear in separating fact from fiction

I suggest you find the DVD of SOM and listen to the commentary by director Robert Wise. He should know where scenes were shot and has no reason to lie about it.

St. Peter's Cemetery: it was here that the dramatic flight scenes were
filmed

Leopoldskron Palace: the façade facing the lake represented the von
Trapp residence

The Sound of Music Pavillon: can be found at Hellbrunn Palace today,
in the movie it was still located at Leopoldskron Palace. One of the
most famous and romantic scenes was filmed here: 'I am 16 going on 17'

The cemetery scene was shot in a sound stage in Hollywood, not at St. Peters cemetery, in Salzburg.

Nothing was shot at Leopoldskron. They wanted to use it as the Von Trapp residence, but it was being used for a school at the time, and the school didn't want the distraction. They used another building, the Frohnburg, which was not on a lake, as the house, and built a temporary set, a copy of the patio at Leopoldskron elsewhere on the lake, for the lakeside shots.

The boat tipping scene was actually shot at two locations and pieced together in the studio.

The Hellbrunn Gazebo was on the temporary set and used for distance shots, but the song and dance routines were actually filmed on a set in Hollywood.

Venues like Mirabell Palace, the Residenz square, and the outside of the convent in Salzburg are easily seen on you own. By the way, the inside scenes in the convent were also a set, designed to represent convents around Salzburg. The actual Abbey was cloistered, and they could not even get in to see it, let alone film in it.

Despite all the discussions of what was actually filmed on location, what was filmed in studios, and what was only used as inspiration and recreated for the film, the tour we took was so much fun (small group tour, not a big bus tour) that it was definitely 'worth' it. And I loved the drive out to Mondsee and seeing the church where the wedding was filmed and having a delicious strudel in the cafe (at least one of the cafes) that was frequented by the cast and crew. Sure you can do it by yourself with a bit of research and planning and it would be much cheaper, but so what, with only a day I wouldn't waste my time doing it on my own I would take the tour and enjoy myself.

Our Panorama SOM tour guide was very clear in noting the "fact vs friction" that Lee of Lakewood mentions. (Yes, the Salzburg tourist information does blur the line). That said, its a fun tour and getting out into the country side is easier and more time efficient than using transit options.

Our tour guide also noted that Austrian tend to be even more critical of the movie than Lee. If you want a downer view of the SOM: http://www.tourmycountry.com/austria/thesoundofmusic.htm

15 GOOD REASONS TO HATE "THE SOUND OF MUSIC"

Ten thousands of tourists come to Salzburg and tour the city and parts
of the nearby Mondsee in the Salzkammergut not because of the historic
architecture, the scenery or Mozart - but for the sake of worshipping
a tacky musical.

It might surprise you, but "The Sound of Music" is virtually unknown
in Austria. The few Austrians that do know it generally dislike it.
This is not only because it is full of historical mistakes - but also
because it is a genuinely bad movie.

I understand that the real Maria also disliked the movie's rewrite of her account.

All that said, we had a fun day doing the Panorama SOM tour.

even more critical of the movie than Lee

I'm not at all critical of the movie. I loved it. Although I know it was not historically accurate, it was a great musical fantasy. What I am critical of is contrived schemes to take money from unsuspecting tourist under the guise of showing you real movie venues, when, in fact, they are not. Even Panorama, although your guide might have admitted on the tour that the places they were taking you to weren't really from the movie, isn't so clear on their website. For instance, even though they don't come right out on their website a say that Leopoldskron was used in the movie, they strongly imply that it was.

The movie was inspired by the von Trapp family but certainly not factual in every manner - movies such as this rarely are. If you want another eye opener visit the Molly Brown house in Denver!

These movies are for entertainment if you want factual - see a documentary.

The woman who does the tour in the von Trapp home has the real, real story. Maria has visited the home - in fact the first time she returned she unlocked the door with the key she used to lock it all those years before when they left. There are many family photos & items from the family - it is very interesting.

Probably nobody here pointing out what was filmed where dislikes the movie. Think it's pretty clear what was on a soundstage and what was shot outside if you rewatch the movie with a modern perspective.

I just added what I knew because I found the conflicting info on the internet before we went and wanted to clear it up some for people making the same journey.

Was not disappointed in our tour at all, and wish we had the time to see all the sites you couldn't bus close enough to.