Salzburg Sound of Music tour

Unless you just happen to have a lot of money lying around you want to give away, or you get off riding around with a bunch of Americans singing "doe, a deer ...", don't bother. Get the CD of SOM, the one with commentary by director Robert Wise, and listen to it. Most of what was actually shot in Salzburg can be seen without the tour. They'll show you Leopoldskron and say it was the Von Trapp home from the movie, but that's not true. Nothing was shot there. The house you see behind the reconstructed lakeside set is the Frohnburg, which was not on a lake. The gazebo was used at the lakeside set only for distance shots, later moved to Hellbrunn. The actual singing scene (16 going on 17) was shot in a sound stage in Hollywood, in a bigger gazebo. The courtyard you see at the Nunnery, with Marie arriving late for prayers, was a set in Hollywood. Note, I am a real SOM fan, having gone to Salzburg and visited some of the authentic sites on my own, and having three recordings of it, the last being the CD with Robert Wises commentary. After finding out the facts of how and where the movie was made, and how contrived the tours are, I would never take a tour. However, some tours do take you to Mondsee to see the actual church used in the wedding scene. That's good.

Stay at the Der Salzburger Hof. Sound of Music is on a loop available on the television set. If you're lucky you can hear it all night through the wall from the next room.

If you're going to do a SOM tour definitely get one that goes to Mondsee. The church is wonderful and the town itself makes a nice cafe stop.

In 2009 I visted Mondsee as part of my trip through the Salzkammergut to Hallstatt. The bus fare from Salzburg to Mondsee was 5,60€ one way. The Basilica at Mondsee is a few block's walk from the bus stop.

I enjoyed Bob's Special Tours SOM Tour. The SOM places from the movie in the old town you can see easily on your own. On the tour you do see some of the actual places used in the movie. Two locations were used for outdoor scenes at the house in the movie. The one you see on the tour with the lake was used in the outdoor scenes in the movie that were not looking at the house. A different house exterior was used if that makes sense. The tour guide did explain all of this to us. You see the gazebo that was used for shots in the film. The dancing inside the gazebo was done in a Hollywood set. I thought the tour was a great way to take in some of the sights around Salzburg. Bob's tour went to Mondsee and you visit the church used in the film. We stopped for a snack at a cafe with beautiful views. Anyway, different people have different opinions on what is worth doing, but I am a SOM fan and I did enjoy this tour.

We took Bob's SOM tour last November. There was just one other couple in the minivan and they were from Britain. None of us chose to sing Do Re Mi or anything else. It wouldn't have bothered me if they had. (I didn't sing because I cannot sing on key.) Anyway, the tour was expensive, but pretty good. We decided to take it because we didn't have a car and it seemed like a easy way to see a little bit of the outskirts of Salzburg. It was fun, and I didn't regret it. However, if I had a car, I would do it on my own. Mondsee was great -- there was a Christmas market when we were there and it was enchanting.

Do it on your own if you can. The scenery in western Austria is beyond reproach so anyway you can get there will work but I always try and avoid the pre-packeged experiences in favor of making my own way through the country. Enjoy!

Just did the SOM tour with Bob's last week. We knew it was going to be campy and it was. Our tour also continued on to Hallstadt. There was only one other couple in the minivan, a newly married couple from Hong Kong with only limited English. I kind of wish there had been more people along for the ride: perhaps the tour that was only for the SOM sites was more crowded. The larger tour buses certainly seemed busy. There was no singing on the minivan (good!) but the driver did play music from the movie in between stops. The driver did did give us excellent background on both the movie and the real Van Trapp family. I don't have any regrets at all about taking the tour: as I said, I expected kitsch and enjoyed it with those expectations in mind. At home here in the US, I drive all the time. It isn't a vacation if I need to drive and so we travel all over Europe by train. Sure, we could have seen the sites outside of Salzburg by car, but like I said, I really don't see the need to rent a car in Europe. On rare occasions, we sign up for one of these canned tours rather than take multiple buses or trains (and waste much of a day traveling between places). This was one of those times. So if you take the tour with the right expectations in mind, and remember the SOM fondly, it can be a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

I enjoyed Bob's SOM tour. As already pointed out, it was in a van. For my tour there were seven of us. Our guide was a hoot, but she wasn't completely corny. We enjoyed the sites. She did point out that all the filming didn't happen in Salzburg. And, we got to do a luge run! Pam

We did the Fraulein Maria bike tour and really enjoyed it. (2 euro discount with RS book!) Not too strenuous (we had a 9 year old girl in our group) and we preferred the fresh air and exercise to a bus tour.