Salzburg With Kids
A white fortress on a cliff, a river through the middle, mountains at the end of every street and a palace garden with trick fountains built to soak the guests. Salzburg is small, pretty and easy, and the kids get it right away.
Nicole Damiano, ASTA Verified Travel Advisor with FG Luxury Travel
Is Salzburg good for kids?
Yes. A fortress with a funicular, a palace with trick fountains, a free formal garden with a playground, a cable car up a mountain and a small, flat old town. It is one of the easiest cities in Europe with children.
How many days do you need in Salzburg?
Two nights covers the city. Three if you want Hallstatt or a mountain day.
How far is Hallstatt from Salzburg?
About an hour and a quarter by car. The train takes about two and a half hours with a change and a short boat ride across the lake at the end, which the kids like.
When is the best time to visit Salzburg?
May to September for warm days, the gardens and the fountains, which close in winter. Late November and December for the Christmas markets on the cathedral square and at Hellbrunn.
Is the Salzburg Card worth it for families?
For two full days of sightseeing, yes. It covers the fortress, the funicular, Hellbrunn, Mozart's houses, the Untersberg cable car and the buses, and kids pay half.
The Small City That Does Everything
Salzburg has a population of about 150,000 and more to do with kids than cities five times its size. A fortress you reach by funicular. A palace with fountains that spray you from hidden pipes. Mozart’s birthplace on the main shopping street. The gardens where the Sound of Music kids sang Do Re Mi. Mountains close enough to ride a cable car up after lunch.
It is all walkable, it sits halfway between Munich and Vienna, and the Alps start at the edge of town. Two nights covers the city. A third adds Hallstatt or the mountain.
Getting Around
The Old Town is pedestrian and flat, and strollers roll fine. Buses and trolleybuses cover Hellbrunn and the station. The Salzburg Card gets you into the fortress, the funicular, Hellbrunn and the river boat on one pass.
Neighborhoods worth basing in
The Old Town, Altstadt
The left bank, under the fortress. Getreidegasse, the cathedral, the squares and the funicular all on foot. Small hotels in old houses with the whole city at the door. My default base.
The right bank, around Mirabell
Across the river, with the gardens, Mozart’s residence and the train station 10 minutes away. Bigger hotels, quieter evenings and the Old Town a five minute walk over the bridge.
Nonntal and the south edge
Just south of the fortress, residential and green, with the family hotels and the bus to Hellbrunn. A 10 minute walk into the Old Town along the cliff.
Hotel Sacher Salzburg
On the river with the Old Town and the fortress out the window, big rooms and the Sacher torte at breakfast. The splurge families remember.
Hotel Stein
At the end of the bridge on the right bank, with a rooftop bar that looks straight at the fortress, family rooms and the Old Town a minute away on foot. Comfortable and central.
JUFA Hotel Salzburg City
A family hotel in Nonntal with rooms for four and five and a solid breakfast, 10 minutes on foot from the Old Town. The price leaves room for the Salzburg Card and the mountain.
The Three I Build Every Salzburg Trip Around
Hohensalzburg Fortress
The white fortress on the cliff is one of the biggest fully preserved castles in Europe and it is the first thing the kids ask about. Ride the funicular up from the Old Town, one minute, then walk the ramparts, the courtyards, the torture room and the puppet museum, and stand at the edge with the whole city and the mountains below. Go in the morning before the tour groups.
Getreidegasse and Mozart’s birthplace
The main street of the Old Town, narrow and lined with iron guild signs, every shop sign a picture because most customers could not read when they were made. Mozart was born in the yellow house at number 9 in 1756 and the museum inside has his childhood violin. Walk it, then cut through the passageways to the cathedral square.
Mirabell Gardens and Hellbrunn
Mirabell is the formal garden across the river where the Do Re Mi steps are, free and open all day with a playground at the end. Hellbrunn, 20 minutes south by bus, is a 17th century palace where the archbishop built hidden fountains into the garden to soak his guests. The guide still does it. The kids get wet and love it.
Family Time, Built In: Salzburg With Kids
Salzburg with kids is a fortress, a wet garden, a mountain and a lot of pretzels. It is small enough that nobody gets tired and the mountains are always in view. These are the pieces that work.
Getting soaked at the Hellbrunn trick fountains
The Do Re Mi steps in Mirabell Gardens
The cable car up Untersberg
The Haus der Natur science museum on a rainy day
PARK & DOWNTIME PICK
Mirabell Gardens, across the river from the Old Town. Flower beds, fountains, the dwarf garden the kids hunt through, a hedge theater and a playground at the north end. Free, and ten minutes from any hotel in the center.
Five Things To Eat In Salzburg
Wiener schnitzel
Apple strudel
Pretzels from a bakery stand
Cake at a coffeehouse
Hot chocolate at Café TomaselliNicole’s Perspective
The stop between the big cities
When a family asks me for Munich and Vienna, I put Salzburg in the middle every time. It is 90 minutes from one and two and a half hours from the other, it breaks up the train days, and it is the stop the kids rank first when they get home. A fortress, a garden that squirts them and a mountain beats a third museum.
I plan two nights. One full day for the fortress and the Old Town, one for Hellbrunn and Mirabell, and the train on. Add a third if the family wants Hallstatt or has a Sound of Music fan, which is most families with a mom my age.
The Day Trip: Hallstatt
An hour and a quarter by car through the Salzkammergut lake district, Hallstatt is the village on the lake that is on every Austrian postcard, a row of wooden houses squeezed between the water and the mountain. Ride the funicular up to the salt mine, one of the oldest in the world, slide down the wooden miners’ slides inside, and walk out on the Skywalk platform over the lake. Then take the boat across the water back to the train station side. Go early or late, it is small and it fills up by midday.
Things I Would Tell A Friend Before They Booked
How Many Days
Two nights covers the fortress, the Old Town, Mirabell and Hellbrunn. Three adds Hallstatt or the mountain.
The fortress and Getreidegasse on day one, Mirabell and the Hellbrunn fountains on day two.
Add the drive through the lakes to Hallstatt and the salt mine, or the Untersberg cable car and a slow afternoon in the gardens.
Ninety minutes by train to Munich, two and a half hours to Vienna. Ten days covers both big cities with Salzburg in the middle and the Alps on the way.
Salzburg With Kids, Answered
Is Salzburg good for kids?
Yes. A fortress with a funicular, a palace with trick fountains, a free formal garden with a playground, a cable car up a mountain and a small, flat old town. It is one of the easiest cities in Europe with children.
How many days do you need in Salzburg?
Two nights covers the city. Three if you want Hallstatt or a mountain day.
How far is Hallstatt from Salzburg?
About an hour and a quarter by car. The train takes about two and a half hours with a change and a short boat ride across the lake at the end, which the kids like.
When is the best time to visit Salzburg?
May to September for warm days, the gardens and the fountains, which close in winter. Late November and December for the Christmas markets on the cathedral square and at Hellbrunn.
Is the Salzburg Card worth it for families?
For two full days of sightseeing, yes. It covers the fortress, the funicular, Hellbrunn, Mozart’s houses, the Untersberg cable car and the buses, and kids pay half.
Ready To Put Salzburg On The Calendar
Send me your dates and your kids’ ages and I will set Salzburg between Munich and Vienna, pick the hotel and time the fortress and the fountains.
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