Pro: The view, the history, and the crazy bus ride up and down the mountain…read more Con: The history, crazy bus ride is not for the weak. You will have to get a bus up the mountain from the bus station down the mountain, we had a rental car and it was only about 20 minutes from the central bus station in town. Once you get your ticket, go to the number of the bus at the platform, it's numbered 1 to 4. Get your merch after you come back down the mountain. The new electric buses going up the side is smooth and quiet. Info on the ride is first given in German than in English. Sit on the right side of the bus for pictures going up, left side when coming back down. Once you are up at the upper bus stop, you can walk into the tunnel for the elevator or take the 30 minutes crazy hike up to the Eagle's Nest. The tunnel is damp and wet from the moisture of the mountain, quite eerie in the tunnel and the elevator have an operator going up and down. At the top, you exit out in the tea house, where you can walk around 360 degree of the tea house. Where you exit from the elevator is where you will line up to go back down. The restaurant is both inside and outside, so pick which side you would want to see and dine accordingly. We got unlucky with cloud for the 1st hour we were up at the nest, but when it cleared up, the view was out of this world.

Mark G. is my hubs, and I have to say, his review nailed it. He literally hit every point! This was…read morea must-see, bucket list destination, as we both have an interest with WW2 stuff. The views are SPECTACULAR! We stayed in Salzburg and had a rented car. The Kehlsteinhaus was about a 25-30 minute (very easy) drive from our hotel. Crossing the border from Austria into Germany was as easy as crossing state lines...no border patrol to worry about! Like Mark said, it is crowded, and you do need to decide how long you want to stay. What he didn't mention, is that the buses that take you up to the top, were specially built to handle the incline and change in altitude. This is why no personal vehicles are allowed. If you are afraid of heights, the best piece of advice that I can give you is to look at the floor of the bus. The road to the top is narrow, and there are very few, if any guard rails. Once you get above the tree line, you get great views, however! Once at the top, you still have another 100-200 feet to go, but this is in a brass elevator in the mountain! The building at the top is large, but easy to navigate through. The attraction inside is a red marble fireplace, which has numerous chunks missing due to the allies taking chippings as souvenirs. Take as much time as you need, but make sure you get outside to see the valleys all around, and catch a glimpse of the Königsee. You're in the Alps, people! Woo hoo!!!! 38/2020

Beautiful fountain with history…read more This area is where carriage horses were brought to be bathed. The ramp is still in place for the horses to walk down. It is surrounded by beautiful frescoes of horses, and is now a popular spot to take photos. The Pferdeschwemme is located on the other side of the Salzach river from most of the tourist sites in Salzburg, and is definitely worth a visit. 51/2024

My son and are were just buying some candy and we saw an archway with a narrow road going up and we…read morefelt drawn..some extra energy to burn (thanks to the candy ) and we kept walking. Much of this steep climb is on paved paths, gravel and sometimes stairs. Much of it was shaded by trees. There are benches along the way at frequent intervals giving you a chance to catch your breath.There are various paths but I suspect they all end up in the same places (I don't think it is possible to get lost). Not as crowded with tourists as other local sites, and completely free of charge. At the top is Franziski Schlössl. A local person told me there used to be a restaurant inside of the building but it appears to have long since closed. An unexpected and beautiful adventure! For those counting steps (it's not that many BUT it equates to over 50 flights of steps just going up). I would not recommend for strollers (I am sure it could be done but just a warning as it is a bit steep).

The biggest draw for us was the trick fountains versus the palace or the gazebo featured in the…read moreSound of Music. We took the bus to Hellbrunn and the stop was around 10 minutes walk to Hellbrunn. The bus was free since we had the Salzburg Pass. We obtained our timed entry tickets from the gift shop. Timed tickets were needed for the trick fountains versus the palace which could be entered anytime. We spent one hour for the walk through all the trick fountains and half an hour inside the palace. One caveat about the trick fountains, the first entry timeslot required waiting around the first fountain until enough other visitors arrived. The grounds team would then man the control boxes/valves and manually turn them on to control the fountains and the tricks. This repeated at each stop on the map. No automation just old school, hundreds of years old tech. Definitely take the time linger at each stop as some were elaborately designed fountains, grottoes, gardens, statues or water powered mechanical figures. The staff definitely caught us and many others with surprise squirts of water from hidden spouts in the ground, walls or ceiling (especially in the Neptune Grotto). The floating crown was another must experience grotto. The mechanical theatre, with its three stories of moving townsfolk figures (all powered by water), was the ending highlight of the walk. The Palace itself was well maintained and contained exhibits about the palace, fountains and the original owner the Prince Archbishop. The stuffed "unicorn" will catch your attention. Well worth taking the bus ride from Salzburg.

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.

Driving along this road will get you to see a fantastic mountain few around the mountains of…read moreBerchtesgaden, and into the valley of Salzburg. On sunny days the place to take pictures of beautiful mounains. The toll fee you got to pay is quite high, though.