Salzburg Trip

Before you do a Sound of Music tour, get the DVD, the one with commentary by director Robt. Wise, and, after listening to the commentary, you might not want to take the tour. SOM is one of my favorite movies, but I wouldn't take the tour. It's a tourist trap of the first degree.

Salzburg is a pretty town, and there are a lot of venues from the movie Maribell palace (Do-Re-Mi steps, troll garden, arbor), Fortress, old town, Abbey that you can readily see on your own. Sadly, some of the most memorial scenes (inside the Von Trapp home, gazebo) were shot on sound stages in Hollywood. The house used for outside pictures of the "Von Trapp" home is not on a lake. The lakeside patio was a temporary site, no longer existing, on a lake near Leapoldskron. The scene of Marie and Von Trapp talking after the boat capsized, was shot at two different locations, with Marie in front of the Von Trapp home and Von Trapp at the lakeside set, and then splice together. They didn't even see each other when the scenes were shot. The singing and dancing scenes with the gazebo were shot in a sound stage in Hollywood where they could control the lighting and rain.

The only thing that might be worthwhile would be if they take you out to the wedding church at Mondsee, but that itself wouldn't be worth what you would pay for a tour.

The Eagles' Nest is outside Berchtesgaden, an hours bus ride from Salzburg. Dachau is a Munich suburb.

I went there on a day trip from Munich in 2002. I had prepared in advance and saw the Maribell Palace, the old town, went up the incline to the Fortress, went around to the abbey. One day was enough for that.

Well, I'm a huge fan of the movie and loved the tour. It's a 'do it only once' kind of thing and I'm glad I did it once and I probably won't do it again. The tour guide shared little tidbits of info (similar to the RS post that is linked above) that were really interesting. Yes, you can read all these trivia tidbits if you buy a book about how they made SOM, but it's much more fun to be hearing them on a tour, listening to the movie soundtrack on the bus. The bus ride to the church was fun and we got about an hour and a half or so to tour the little town, visit the church where Maria's wedding was filmed, and sit in a cafe eating cake and coffee.

Cost was about 35 Euros and it lasted about 4 hours, I think.

We stayed at the Hotel Elefant, just around the corner from the famous 'Getreidegasse' where Mozart's birth house is located. Touristy, yes, but wonderful. And the hotel will drop you off at the SOM bus meeting place; you will have to walk back to the hotel when you're done.

Wish I was there now. Have fun!

We took the Bob's Special tour and had a blast! They use a small van instead of a bus some other companies use. Sure, its a bit corny with SOM music playing in the van, but it was great to see some of the sites where the movie was filmed and go thru the countryside. They drive out to Mondsee which is a pretty town in its own right, stop by the hill where the famous opening scene was filmed, visit the pretty palace/park where the gazebo is presently located, stop for a bite to eat at a place with a great view. I Depending on when you visit they also stop at a summer luge run (you can see a sample photo at http://salzburg-land.lofer.co.uk/summer-toboggan-run.html) which is something your daughter might really like. The tour doesn't stop at the sights in town since they're better accessible on foot, but they ended the tour at the Mirabell gardens. You can get a 5E discount with Rick's book.

They have 2 tours daily and I'd recommend going on the 9am one so that you're back with plenty of free time left. It fills up before the afternoon one, so reserve in advance. We called the day of the tour and the morning one was filled. You can't wander as freely in the morning when you need to be back in time for the tour, but take the morning tour and the rest of the day is yours.

All excellent advice so far. I particularly like Lee's recommendation to watch the commentary on the SOM DVD before going.

Depending on how much time you have for your trip, I'd recommend spending at least 3 full days in Salzburg. 1 day doing Sound Of Music until your head spins, 1 day doing Mozart madness ad nauseum, then one day actually soaking up this exceedingly relaxing city.

You could then do 3 days in Munich. One as a side-trip to the Nueschwanstein / castles / luge, one split between Dauchau and musuems of your choice, and a third day slowing down and soaking it up.

Re-read everyone elses advice -- I cannot disagree with any of it.

In addition to the interesting commentary on the DVD, there are also sections about how the movie was filmed, interviews with cast members, etc. While it blunts a bit the magic of thinking the movie is completely accurate, I think most people realize that movies take some liberties, and learning new tidbits about the movie and family is fascinating.

You can find many places on the web that discuss the movie and the family; one interesting site is (should all be one string) http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2005/winter/von-trapps.html

The gazebo from the movie is at Hellbrun, in the gardens by the playground. At least Rick's book said that was the gazebo from the movie!

I've never done any of the Sound of Music stuff. I like the movie but generally avoid the really touristy stuff.

Salzburg is one of my favorite small cities in Europe. In two days you can explore the city center pretty well. There is a lot to explore but it's all easily walkable.

You should definitely see St. Peter's Cemetery and Church. I've never bothered to take the SOM tour, but I'd say St. Peter's is supposed to be the place in the movie where the Von Trapps hid from the Nazis on their way out of Salzburg.

At any rate, it's also the oldest part of town, not counting Keltic and Roman settlements. Christianity got its foothold there in the 5th century CE. The cells the first monks used are still visible, including the cell of St. Rupert who built Salzburg's first church and abbey on this site around 700 CE. Go see it.

Hello Angie

As you've been reading from these posts, there's alot more to consider when planning a trip to Salzburg based on The Sound of Music than you probably thought.

May I offer the following thought/question - Are you trying to focus solely on the movie, or are you also interested in the true story of the Von Trapp family and sights related to this aspect? It really will make a difference.

What began as an similar interest in visiting Salzburg to see Sound of Music sights has now turned into a bit of an obsession for me. Rather than bore you with alot of the details, here's some basic ideas.

If you want to do a basic level of Sound of Music, I'd allow 2 solid days, but add a few more days to see more of Slazburg which is well worth it.

If you're into a more hard-core Sound of Music tour, allow 4 solid days, plus a few extra to see Salzburg. An example of the reason I suggest the extra days for a detailed tour is, for instance, if you go to Mondsee to see the church, you would also want to take the time to see things like where they played in the trees and also where they rode their bikes.

I spent 2 days trying to do it all and ran out of time. Don't waste your time with a tour (especially Bob's) unless you just want to hit the surface type tour. While they will shuttle you to some of the main sights, often they are longer than needed and they also give out bogus information and unless you've done the research, you'll think they're the experts (they're not).

If you are really into the Sound of Music and the budget for your trip isn't limited, consider staying at the actual Von Trapp home which is now a B & B.

http://www.villa-trapp.com/en/index.php/hotel/villa-trapp/

I could go into extensive detail (remember when I said it's now an obsession). If you would like to now more please let me know. I just can't fit enough info into the amount of space I'm allowed here.

Best of luck trying to figure it all out.

Gary

Angie, I had never seen the movie when I took the tour from Berchtesgaden- can you believe that! But I found the tour to be very interesting. We too were in a small van with 2 other couples so it was comfortable - and yes the tour guide did play SOM songs on the player - added to the enjoyment. I think on of the more interesting parts of the tour was going up to the church where Maria was a Nunn - saw all the sites - and I highly recommend the tour. Another great tour we took was the "Salt works" tour in Berchtesgaden. We toured an actual Salt Mine - road in on small rail cars, slid down a wood slide (about 100 ft.) took an underground barge ride over a salt lake - very intersting - you'd love it. Eagles nest was also very interesting - take the tour.

I had long weekend in Salzburg a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it. I did the SOM tour (Bob's) and had a great time. It included a stop at a luge run which you need to try! I loved the Castle, the cathedral and the town in general. If I'd been there another day or two I would definitely gone to the salt mines and looked into the Eagle's Nest tour. I think you'll have a wonderful time. Pam

Regarding the recent post above, when I wrote earlier about how the tours can sometimes take longer than they need to be, I go back to what your original question asked, that you wanted a trip focused on the Sound of Music.

A good example is Bob's tour. Can anyone tell me what a luge ride has to do with the Sound of Music? Bob's calls their tour the "Sound of Music Tour", so they could easily stick to the topic they profess to show you. The luge ride, while a fun amusement ride just takes time away from good exploration time for the SOM sights you are trying to find. (On our tour they also felt it necessary to make a souvenir stop in Wolfgangsee)

Here's another great example of how Bob's wastes time: As you probably know, or will find out as you investigate, the front and rear of the house used in the movie is a building called the Schloss Frohnburg. It is actually the Salzburger Universität Mozarteum. Bob's tour will wisk you past it, at a distance of approximately 2 blocks away, and at a speed of about 50 mph. You will see it past the field and other than to point it out to the left of the van, they will not stop, even for a photo, and even from the distance where we were.

I thought this would be mandatory place to see being as important as it was in the movie. Certainly it's more important than a luge ride. The tour guide rudely said she couldn't stop because it was a private location. So I went back on my own a day later, parked the car about a block away, walked over to it and took my photos. This was certainly something that could have been done. The path that is directly in front of it is a public path used for biking, running or strolling, so while the actual grounds inside the front gate may be private, getting close to it isn't. I couldn't imagine not seeing this.

Thanks "Bob's Sound of Music Tour"! (Might be time for them to change the name of their tour. And the guide wondered why I didn't tip her!)

Gary hits on a number of good points in his posts. I looked at a couple of the SOM tours online, and it didn't appear to me that they even hit all of the scenes and locations used in the movie. But luge runs and tourist shops? sounds like a tourist business. I think you can do better yourself, with a little preparation, add a couple of dimensions to your tour and save yourself some money.

Mondsee, where the church is located where the Von Trapps got married in the movie, is a lovely town on the edge of the Salzkammergut, not far from Salzburg. You can easily get there from Salzburg, and you will probably get more out of it visiting it on your own than with a SOM tour. The same goes for all of the other locations in the movie.

That's just my opinion. I do think that a good tour guide could help, especially if you'd like to look around Old Town Salzburg. City guides have to pass fairly extensive examinations to make sure they are knowledgeable (I don't know about Bob's SOM), and you should be able to find good ones. Ask at a tourist information office. Personally, I prefer to do my own exploration.

As for time – I know people who live and work in Salzburg, who are interested in its history and culture, and who still haven't seen it all. So I suggest, like Gary, that you define your interests, concentrate on those and do a little prep via the internet. Otherwise, you'll see a lot in a few days, but nothing much in particular.