Things to do in Salzburg & SalzburgerLand

Salzburg's old town is watched over by Hohensalzburg Fortress, reached by the FestungsBahn funicular in under a minute, with state rooms, museums and the Magic Theatre inside, while Mozart's Birthplace at Getreidegasse 9 is now a museum devoted to the composer and the baroque Mirabell Gardens, with more than 100,000 flowers, the bronze Pegasus and the Dwarf Garden, are free to enter. Start at the Orangery Salzburg – Panorama, which introduces the UNESCO-listed old town through Sattler's famous Salzburg Panorama, take children to the dinosaurs and live reptiles of the Haus der Natur, then head to Hellbrunn Palace, whose trick fountains spray unsuspecting visitors, and the new Sound of Music Salzburg Museum beside the film's gazebo. Day trips lead to Werfen for the Eisriesenwelt, the world's largest ice cave, and the birds-of-prey flight demonstrations at Hohenwerfen Castle, to the 380 m Krimml Waterfalls in Hohe Tauern National Park, over the Grossglockner High Alpine Road to the Kaiser-Franz-Josefs-Höhe visitor centre, and up the glacier lifts from Kaprun to the Kitzsteinhorn's Top of Salzburg at 3,029 m. In winter, the Mozart Week fills the city with concerts and opera, and in Advent the Salzburg Christkindlmarkt spreads over Domplatz and Residenzplatz, Hellbrunn Advent Magic turns the palace windows into a giant Advent calendar, and the Silent Night Museum Hallein opens daily to tell how the carol was created, in the house where its composer, Franz Xaver Gruber, lived and worked.

Good to knowThe Eisriesenwelt, Hohenwerfen Castle, the Hellbrunn trick fountains, the Sound of Music Salzburg Museum and the Krimml Waterfalls trail all close for winter, and the Grossglockner High Alpine Road also closes in winter, with night driving banned outside opening hours, so check road conditions before setting off. The Eisriesenwelt tour covers about 1 km and around 1,400 steps at near-freezing temperatures, so bring warm clothes and sturdy shoes and allow about three hours, and pack warm layers for the Kitzsteinhorn, which operates 365 days a year. Hohensalzburg Fortress is open every day of the year, and when the funicular is closed for maintenance a footpath leads up from the old town.