Tours in Salzburg, Austria

I suggest you get the DVD of Sound of Music, with the commentary by director Robt. Wise, and learn the truth. Then you will never even think of doing a phoney "Sound of Music" tour in Salzburg. Most of the sights in the movie were sound sets in Hollywood; almost nothing of what you see on an SOM tour is authentic.

Save your money, enjoy the DVD, but don't ever be sucked into an SOM tour.

BTW, I am a huge SOM fan. That's why I am giving this advice.

Well, I like the SOM and I loved the SOM tour--I did Bob's tour. I did the morning tour and we were back in Salzburg between noon and 1 PM. I certainly didn't take everything that they said as gospel, but it was in a small van and was a lot of fun. We were all just doing this to see the places, have good luge ride, and have some fun. I would suggest that you contact Bob's Special Tours that Rick references in his book and ask them about the feasibility. By all means get the DVD too. Pam

I also found the Sound of Music tour to be quite fun.

The one I took certainly didn't try to pretend that the film was realistic and at times made fun of some of the implausible scenes. I found it very entertaining. I got to see some beautiful scenery outside of Salzburg. And we made a stop to ride the rodelbahn which was also a lot of fun. I never thought it was a waste of money.

I know this doesn't answer your question ... it has been a few years since I was in Salzburg so cannot recommend a particular tour. I just wanted to add my opinion.

Hopefully someone else on this board will be able to help you with your question.

Perry, you do not have to tell people that you sent them a private message, there is no reason to. They will see it when they sign in.

Linda, I went on the SOM tour, and absolutely loved it. They are VERY up front and honest about what was, and what wasn't in the movie. They give you the background on the movie, and tell you exactly what was real, and what wasn't.

They stop at the grand locations that were used as the front and back of the house (two separate buildings), you get a brief city tour, you go down the road that Maria skipped down with her guitar, and the children climbed the trees on, and if the weather is nice you can even do one of the mountain luge tracks.

They also take you to the church of the wedding, and up into the Austrian lake country - it's a beautiful bus ride, and well worth seeing. Even Rick Steves himself recommends it - in all it's tacky gloriousness.

The tour is a lot of fun, but the most fun is sitting in the bus, and singing all the sound of music songs with your family/friends or even complete strangers. :)

We did Panorama Tours, which runs near the same tour as Bob's, just on bigger buses, and I believe they have a combo salt mine tour as well.

Hope you enjoy, was the most fun thing I've ever done in Europe.

I'm not as hard core as Lee. The SOM tours are cheesy and, yes, most of the sites from the film aren't authentic. I have never chosen to take an SOM tour but many take them and love them. If it's something you are likely to enjoy, go for it.

I have never heard of a combination tour. I've done a salt mine tour at Berchtesgaden by car from Salzburg that could be a half day. I'm not sure if you could make a half day tour of one and a half day tour of the other.

Does anyone know the church where the wedding scene from SOM was filmed? Just wondering if it was a real church in Salzburg area or one especially for the movie elsewhere. It was on television last night and I happened to catch the wedding scene and thought the church/cathedral was really beautiful

Thank you for all your suggestions. Just realized that Panorama does have a combination tour.

The wedding scene was filmed at the church in Mondsee, which is, I believe, NE of Salzburg. Since all other venues in an SOM tour are either completely phony or easily accessible in Salzburg, the church in Mondsee is the ONLY thing I could possible see that would make a tour worthwhile, but the tours charge too much just for that one venue.

I'm an SoM fan, and loved the tour by Bob's Tours. The van seemed much better than the large tour buses we saw. Even my BF liked the tour, and he could take or leave the movie. Bob's also has the "Bavarian Mountain Tour", which includes a salt mine. Both the SoM and Bavarian tours are half day tours. You could take one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. Contact Bob's to see if it's possible to combine these two tours.

The Mondsee church is indeed on the Bob's SOM tour. The tour also took us out to the yellow wall and the house that is out in that direction. Our tour guide was very careful to say that only the external view was used. I have to say that the places she showed us sure looked like what was in the movie. And it was easier to get to these spots on tour than trying to see them on my own. I did walk up to the convent on my own. But, our guide pointed it out to us and told us it was an easy walk. Pam

Linda,

As the others have mentioned, Bob's Special Tours would be a really good choice! Have a look at Their Website for all the details and costs.

With only one day in Salzburg, using a guided tour is really the best and most efficient choice for touring.

If you have time before or after the tour, have a look at the Hohensalzburg Fortress above town. It's accessed by a Funicular, and is quite impressive. One can spend many hours (as I did) exploring the different parts of the Castle. It provides an awesome view of Salzburg also!

Happy travels!

Curious - has anyone who said they don't like the tours actually taken them?