Has anyone done the SOMT? We are taking the Eagle's Nest tour in the afternoon and are considering this tour in the morning. We will probably have a car so should we just drive to Saltzburg by ourselves?
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19232 posts
Before you take a SOM tour, get the DVD of the movie, the one with commentary by Robert Wise. If you listen to his commentary, I doubt you will take the tour.
You will find that very little of what you see on the tour, aside from what you can readily see on your own (Mirabell Palace, the fortress, Nonnenberg Abbey, etc) is authentic. Leopoldskron was not used in the movie; the lakeside patio, for instance, was a temporary set a ways away on the lake. The scenes in the Gazebo were actually shot in a sound stage in Hollywood.
Posted by
Downers Grove, IL, USA
43 posts
We very much enjoyed the SOM tour with Bob's Tours 3 years ago! We were in a van with a total of 6 people. We were picked up at our hotel in the morning about 9am and dropped off at 1pm wherever we wanted to be dropped in the city. To us it wasn't necessarily the SOM sights that we were seeing it was all the historical sights including a wonderful drive to St. Gilgen and the lake district where we stopped and had Apfelstruedel. And then to the church where in the film Maria was married. We did this tour on a Sunday and there was a wedding reception going on outside and we were able to experience a traditional Austrian wedding with Derndal's and Lederhosen. It was something you probably wouldn't see on your own. Another thing was the luge ride that we stopped for which was a big hit to us. We did not rent a car when we were there. We took trains throughout so it was something different to sight see from a comfortable van with a guide who answered questions about Austrian driving, taxes, weather, farming and many more subjects instead of just listening to the do, ri, me's piped into the van. Again, we enjoyed it and will be doing it again in August.
Posted by
New York City, NY, USA
5678 posts
Completely second the above comment's about the tour. Be sure to use Bob's special tours as the other companies use big buses and don't get to some of the smaller sites. Also, you can hear your guide and ask questions when you are only 6 or 7 tourists. I did this tour last summer on the recommendations of my tour mates on the Berlin / Prague / Vienna tour which I was on before going to Salzburg on my own. The luge ride is fantastic and the info on the SOM was fun and the scenery super.
Pam