this is a must-see! we took a train from salzburg to see the…read morecastle. it was rainy, which was disappointing but because of the weather our pictures came out spectacular - all the fog around the mountain and the fortress was just beautiful! From the train station it takes about 30-40min to get up to the castle. you pretty much have to walk a lot just to get to the foot of the castle, then u have to climb up. because it was raining, we decided to take the lift up instead of hiking, which was fine but the walk to the lift is still long. I would have liked to hike up there because im sure the view will be incredible on the way up. the fortress itself is very impressive. its rather big! we did the guided tour, which was interesting. I wouldn't have done it but if u wanna go inside the castle u have no other choice. if you do purchase tickets, be sure u stick around for the hawk show. its impressive to see.

Poor customer experience at the castle, not worth the trip. Just a castle after all with the whims…read moreand fancies of the employees as if they're in a real castle.

All set against a mountain. The Abbey, Church and Catacombs are well worth about and hour and a…read morehalf of your time. Steep steps up to the catacombs

This Abby is breathtaking. It was founded in around 700 making it the oldest in the German-speaking…read moreworld.The abbey features the church of course, a unbelievably beautiful old cemetery, a old bakery that still has a working mill and catacombs. Everything is free to visit except for the catacombs which cost not very much at all. The catacombs will only take you about 15 minutes to explore but there are very very steep stairs that you need to climb to get to them. Everything else you could explore in less than an hour. Does Abby is right next to the Funicular taking you up to the fortress so it's a good idea to tour both of these at the same time.

This is one of those charming European squares that you tend to find, well, pretty much everywhere,…read moreor at least in the cities and towns that tend to be older than say 200 years. The place is quite spacious, and the view of the fortress is also pretty cool. Okay, it doesn't have the pull that some places happen to have, and Salzburg isn't one of the biggest cities, but this square was till rather nice.

For those of us who can't differentiate between the plazas in Old City Salzburg, this is the one…read morewith a great fountain in it. Really sprawling with just a couple of cafe's on its perimeter facing an entrance into cathedral.

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

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.

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.

While the town of Ebensee has a nice museum commemorating the Ebensee Concentration Camp…read more(Konzentrationslager Ebensee or KZ Ebensee), this is the actual site. After the war, the area was rezoned for a housing development and much of the camp is now family homes and gardens. However, some of the site remains along with a memorial wall. The museum in town is also on yelp and called "Zeitgeschichte Museum und KZ-Gedenkstätte Ebensee" and you should start there and then come visit the actual site. Its web site is http://www.memorial-ebensee.at/ There is no website for the site, but you can get lots of great info on wikipedia or at: http://en.tracesofwar.com/article/1287/Memorial-and-Cemetery-Concentration-Camp-Ebensee.htm There is not much parking or even great signage to get to the camp location, but it is worth a visit. There are also "Tunnels" you can visit that were dug by this camp's prisioners during the war to hide underground the V2 rocket production. The museum can tell you more.

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.....

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.