I don't know why I felt like singing Do a Deer, a female deer, as soon as I entered and kept…read morelooking up at the trees! Famous for the filming of the Sound of Music, these gardens are beautiful. Definitely a must stop when in Salzburg. I was here in November and they were so well maintained. I can only imagine how beautiful they are in the spring and summer with all the flowers.

This is a beautiful garden in the center of Salzburg. I love to visit not only because of the…read more"Hollywood" connection but also because it is a well kept and expansive green space in the city. Several important scenes in the world-famous movie "The Sound of Music" were shot in the Mirabell Gardens. Maria - played by Julie Andrews - and the seven children danced around the Pegasus Fountain while singing the song "Do Re Mi". The Mirabell Palace and Mirabell Gardens are one of the most important sights of Salzburg. The complex is under monument protection and was declared a world heritage site by the UNESCO. Just enjoy walking around the flowers, trees, statues and gardens...you will love it....

Since we had the 24 hour Salzburg Visitor card, we stopped at the Hellbrunn palace on the way back…read morefrom the Untersberg cable car experience. I wanted to come here since the Gazebo from the Sound of Music (where Liesl sings 16 going on 17) is here. The tour of the palace highlights the "Trick Fountains" which are really interesting, fun and surprisingly artistic. As you walk around these fountains, there are times when they suddenly spew water, getting unsuspected guests a bit wet.... The palace was built in 1613-19 and named for the "clear spring" that supplied it. Hellbrunn was only meant for use as a day residence in summer, as the Archbishop usually returned to Salzburg in the evening; therefore, there is no bedrooms in Hellbrunn. The place has plenty of beautifully landscaped green spaces and it is just a marvel of what hydraulics can do. There's a cute cafe and a souvenir shop on the grounds.

The honest draw here is the Sound of Music gazebo, and it does deliver, though it's worth knowing…read moreupfront that the pavilion was actually relocated to make it easier for the public to visit. So it's not technically where they filmed the scene, but it's the real gazebo on very beautiful grounds, and standing in front of it in Salzburg still feels cool The palace and park themselves are a bigger win: a 17th-century pleasure palace with enormous, well-maintained grounds that are genuinely gorgeous to wander on a good day. The trick fountains are a legitimate reason to come, although they were off on the day of our visit which was a bummer. If you're in Salzburg and have any interest at all in the film or just want an afternoon outside the old town, this is worth the trip.

The dwarfes made of Untersburg marble were created in 1690, making it the oldest dwarf garden in…read moreEurope. They are located west of the Pegasus Fountain up some steps flanked by two stone lions. They are on stonoe plinths and there are a few vacant plinths of missing dwarfs so you can pose alongside. Benches to sit on and ponder.

High on a Hill there's a lovely Fortress. Funicular up in 30 seconds as opposed to a 35 minute…read morewalk. The view from the Observation Tower is spectacular, an alp or two is always good eye candy. We spend about 2 hours wandering around, through the museum and courtyard. Look through every window you find and you can see why this Fortress was impenetrable. Also have a go with the bells on way out and if you have time come back to the bell area at 11.00am to hear the original mechanism working. A final drink and snack in the restaurant will afford those great views once more. We arrived early with few people around. Yes there are a lot of steps but they are well designed and shallow. The way down from the tower is separate to the way up so you don't get blockages. The rest rooms are fantastic just at the end of the Museum.

We took the funicular up and walked around the different museums in the fortress. The views of the…read morecity and the mountains were beautiful. Some of the major highlights of Fortress Hohensalzburg are the magnificent Princes' Rooms, the Magic Theater on the High Level, the Great Armory in the castle courtyard, the various museums (like the marionette museum, the tower and the historical museum) were all very interesting and detailed. Go up for the breathtaking views over the rooftops of the city. It was really interesting to learn how this fortress had evolved over a period of almost 500 years. If you want to do all, it would take 3-5 hours...it's huge.....

During our recent visit to Salzburg, we HAD to tour a salt mine. Salzburg means "City of salt" and…read morethere are several mines in the vicinity. We settled on the Hallein Salt Mine, one of three mines operated by Salzwelten. It was the closest to Salzburg and could be easily reached by public transportation. I'd visited the Wieliczka Salt Mine outside Kraków, Poland and found it fascinating so we wanted our family to have a similar experience. For this tour, guests are required to don miners' attire, possibly to protect their own clothes but just as possibly to facilitate an easy glide down two miners' slides that we'd encounter during the tour. Once we'd pulled the white uniforms over our street clothes, we were off to the mine. Our guide, Florian, was an excellent host. He told interesting stories and was quite approachable, but still strict about keeping our hands and feet in the car at all times - important because we'd soon be hurtling through very small tunnels cut into the rock and he didn't want anyone losing a cell phone - or worse. After a short movie about the history of salt and this particular salt mine, we were taken to the mine train. Straddling the large beam used for seating, we were soon descending into the mine. Markers on the wall and ceiling showed us how deep below the surface we'd descended. Visitors walk through even smaller tunnels after the train ride is concluded. Videos that were projected onto the rock walls of the mine at various points provided more background on this 2,600-year-old facility, and explained the various processes for extracting salt from the rock. We were invited to taste the brine that resulted from one of the extraction techniques, the vacuum evaporation method. In this method, water is pumped down one well, the salt below is dissolved, and the resulting brine is forced to the surface through another well. The resulting brine, we were told, was about three times saltier than sea water. That brine would then be pumped into underground lakes where it would evaporate, leaving salt crystals behind. Along the way, we saw a shrine that the miners had erected in the underground tunnels, as well as several drawings and carvings on the walls. Shortly into the tour, we came upon our first miners' slide. Florian gave a short briefing, stressing the importance of keeping our feet off the ground and off the rails until we'd reached the bottom, and then we were off. As the tour continued, we walked through the narrow tunnels and uneven floors of the mine and remarked how it would have been helpful to bring a flashlight along, as the lighting was not especially great. A second slide took us close to an underground salt lake, which was one of the evaporation ponds. Climbing onto a small barge, we were taken about 80 meters to the other shore. Even though we were underground, international boundaries were still observed. At one point, the tour passed from Austria into neighboring Germany, and the crossing was marked by a sign similar to one we would see when we crossed back into Austria. Near the end of the tour, we were shown a tree branch encrusted with salt crystals. Toward the end of the winter season, the miners would through leafless boughs into one of the abandoned pools. The twigs become encrusted with salt crystals and are quite dazzling, especially when the sun is shining. Called Salzburg Boughs, these became gifts salt miners would give to visitors to the mine. Despite both being "salt mines," there are some significant differences between the Hallein mine and the Wieliczka mine. The salt in the Hallein mine is embedded in the rocky soil and must be extracted through a variety of techniques while the Wieliczka miners primarily dealt with "salt domes" of more or less solid rock salt. As a result, Polish miners carved out a number of underground chapels, the largest of which is often rented out as an event venue today. They also replicated famous works of art by carving into the rock salt walls, including da Vinci's Last Supper. Both mine tours offer fascinating insights into the importance of salt, both centuries ago when it was used as currency and was vital for food preservation, and its much more humble place in today's society. Either tour is well worth the time; taking both tours will provide an excellent opportunity to "compare and contrast."

First time here with a tour group! I can't say nothing but an amazing experience!! So interactive…read moreand fun to experience a half day of being a miner. Great staffs, clean museum and very well setups for everyone. Definitely highly recommended.

No trip to Berchtesgaden is complete without a boat ride through the Konigssee in Berchtesgaden…read moreNational Park. The Boat rides leave from the tip of the Konigsee, and can be taken to One or Two spots for a different affordable price. Its a beautiful ride through the lake in the mountains. The entire tour is in German so if you don't speak the language you won't really know what's going on, but no need to as the ride is a reward in itself. Be sure to get to the Docking stations early so that you have time to head out to St. Bartholomew etc. and Hike around. There is also a hofbrau haus directly next to the church to have a nice meal while you wait to return to Berchtesgaden. It's a must do while in this beautiful area of Germany. Take the ride, and listen to the amazing echo's of the trumpets off the mountain side. Highly recommended, and well worth the price.