Sound of Music Tour

I think Rick Steves mentions Bob's Tours in his Germany/Austria guidebook and Europe Through the Back Door. Have you considered taking Fraulein Maria's Sound of Music Bicycle Tour? It is three hours and is not strenuous at all. 22 Euros. www.mariasbicycletours.com. They take you to the Fountain, the Gazebo, the Von Trapp family home (the mansion used for the movie),the riverside bicycle path along the Salzach River and of course to the hills that are alive with....you guessed it...the Sound of Music!
Enjoy your tour, whatever one you choose!
Donna

Before you waste your money on one of the Sound of Music traps in Salzburg, I suggest you get the DVD of Sound of Music with the commentary by Robert Weiss. I am a great fan of the movie, but after seeing how it was made, I realize how phony all of those sights on the "tours" really are. The mansion was only filmed from the outside; the inside shots were in a soundstage in Hollywood. Likewise, the gazebo was a set in a soundstage in Hollywood; that was how they could control the lighting and the rain. The scenes on the lakeside patio were actually filmed on a temporary set on the lake, because the owner of that mansion would not allow filming on his property. And, those scenes after Maria tipped the boat over on the lake, when she had her conversation with Capt von Trapp. She was on the fake set on the lake, and the shots of him with the house behind him, the house that was nowhere near the lake, where filmed separately.

Yes, I went on a Panorama tour 7 years ago, so things may have changed. I had a great experience! The reply that you recieved about the partial fake sets and filming half of houses, etc is correct. However, I still found the tour enjoyable and worth it. I always enjoyed the musical and the tour helped it come more alive. It was worth the money. I really don't know anything about Bob's tour.

We went on Bob's Tour summer of 2005. It was one of the best tours we have taken. As the previous poster says, not all scenes of the moview were filmed in Salzburg, but that does not take away from what you will see. I enjoyed all the sights, the lake house, gardens, the gazebo and the church where they were wed. The tour also takes you to the lake district with the beautiful scenery with a stop at a toboggan run. We had a wonderful tour, the guide was very informative and had a touch of humor. There was no way we could have seen that much on our own. I would definitely recommend it.

Lindsay- An alternative tour which will only bring you many of the scenery sites but which are so gorgeous, is the Lake and Mountain Tour. I went on both & this is the only one that I'm going back on with my daughter. I must say though, that to see the gazebo and the church where the wedding were filmed was fun. Wherever you go, you'll have fun too! Carla

I did a Panarama tour a couple years ago and just did a Bob's Tour last week....BY FAR....Bob's is the best. It was fun - casual and a great time! Panorama is the typical big bus style...it may be 5 euro less expensive for Panorama - but it isn't worth it...take BOBS!

Last October we took both the Sound of Music tour and the next day the tour to the Eagles Nest through Bob's Tours. They were excellent and we certainly would have gone on their tour to Hallstadt had we had a third day to tour. We liked Bob's because there were only 8 people and you had a chance to visit a bit and compare notes with the others on the tour about where they had been, where everyone was next headed to and places to see.

I have been on both tours. I hated the small van tour. We were on a brand new van that had no A/C. We were so hot that we thought we would faint. When we went in the church we hugged the columns to try and cool down. It was way too hot for all the walking we did.
I loved the Panorama Tour.
No matter the parts that were "Hollywood" the family Von Trapp supports it. It is about freedom. The sister Rosemary came to my school and my classroom in Ft. Lauderdale and played and sang with my class. I heard an interview given by next to oldest girl while at the Von Trapp Lodge in Vermont. The family totally supports this movie. Have you heard the "Von Trapp Children" sing. They are great. Google them.

I recently (this month) took the Panorama bus tour and had a marvelous time! The bus is air conditioned and a smooth ride; the guide was rather quirky but funny, and we saw a good mix SOM sights and Lake Country sights, which were actually my favorite. You stop at an postcard-esque overlook in St. Gilgen, and at the wedding church in Mondsee, where we got 45 minutes or so to look around the quaint village. If we hadn't taken the tour we never would have seen the countryside, and the gorgeous locations that stood in for the von Trapp family homes. Yes, the guide debunks some SOM myths, but I knew most of them already. The tour also begins and ends near the Mirabel Gardens, which is full of SOM filming locations. So do Panorama, because you also get 5 euros off with Rick's book!

As HUGE Sound of Music fans, we took a tour but wish we did not in retrospect. The scenery, etc. was absolutely gorgeous but you do not need a tour for that! It was disappointing. Now every time I think of the SOM I cannot help but to think of the cheesiness and tackiness of the tour - wish I could have remembered it as it was before going on the tour.

I would definitely recommend going on your own driving tour of the area. The scenery is not to be missed!

I have taken Bob's SOM Tour and loved it!! It was a small group and the tour guide was excellent. The tour takes you to some places that I may not have gotten to on my own. I would highly recommend the tour. The countryside is just amazing.

I lived in Salzburg while I was a college student in 1976. My school was on the grounds of the Schloss Leopoldskron, the house whose back they used for the scenes shot near the lake, when Maria falls out of the boat. Contrary to what the earlier poster says, the Schloss is ON the lake, not far away from it. The location they used for the front of the house is not near the lake -- perhaps that is what the earlier poster is referring to. And the gazebo was in the yard of our school, right next door. Some of shots may have been done in a sound stage, and the gazebo is no longer in that location (it has been moved), but it was built there for the movie.

We enjoyed the tour very much, even though we understood Hollywood must piece together the film. We chose Bob's tour because it is a small van rather than large bus. The driver took great care to try to avoid getting to the sights at the same time as the bus. The church at Mondsee and the views near St. Gilgen are unforgettable. I believe the owner of the house, at the time of the film, was Harvard University. The gazebo was on that property until Harvard requested it be moved to where it is now. Who knows if any of it is real, just sit back and enjoy. Salzburg is a marvelous place. There is a b and b there called Bloberger Hof, which is well worth the stay. If you are a WW2 fan, Hitler's Eagle Nest is a very short drive from Salzburg. Very interesting, just dress warmly as you go up to about 9000 feet, where the air is thin and the temperatures cold. I believe the Germans call it Kiehlstein. Busses are provided to get you up the mountain. Have fun!

Nancy,

yes, Leopoldskron IS on a lake, but it was never used to film the movie. Listen to the commentary by Producer/Director David Wise. I am sure he knows the facts better than you do. They wanted to use Leopoldskron, but the school would not give them permission to shoot there, so they built a duplicate set of the terrace and boat landing elsewhere on the lake.

Look at any video or DVD of SOM and compare the building in the scenes following the boat dumping to a picture of Leopoldskron. That building in the scene is obviously NOT Leopoldskron. It is smaller and the wrong color. It is the back of Frohnburg, which was used for the von Trapp mansion in the movie (it's the same color). David Wise also specifically mentions that the scene was shot in two locations - at the temporary set that duplicated the lakeside boat landing at Leopoldskron and at the back of Frohnburg.