By Nicole Damiano, ASTA Verified Travel Advisor with FG Luxury Travel · Updated June 2026
Salzburg, not Salsburg or Salzberg is in Austria, not the United Kingdom and if you plug it into your GPS you may be in for a surprise should you drive to the wrong one.
For those of you who are fans of The Sound of Music, yes some of it was filmed here in downtown Salzburg, we even visited the abbey where Maria was first found. Salzburg was a quaint town, quite large, clean and full of open squares. I had no idea that Mozart too was from Salzburg. The old city was fairly easy to navigate through, and find parking. The weather was a little grey, but almost fitting for the town.
We arrived on a Sunday, which has become one of our favorites to visit cities on. The tourism is light and most of the locals are hiding away somewhere. The shops are mostly shut and the town is really just yours to walk around and see the roots of it. Salzburg had huge churches, bells and many large statues in the center of all of the squares. You were able to take a ride on a horse drawn carriage or catch some children in leiderhosen. (I think that is what its called) You can even find huge pretzels for sale along with chocolate with Mozarts picture on it.
There were many museums, we did not go in any, just looked in from the outside. One of our favorite things to do has been to stroll the streets and just stare at the architecture in each city. Each one really does have its own feel to it.
This part of Austria seems to be a pleasant place to be. There were no weird feelings or non smiles. Everyone was helpful, which we have not found everywhere. Just outside the old city is a great countryside to drive through. The grass is super green and the colorful old homes really make the area stand out.
How do you build a life around adventure and travel?Intentionally and incrementally. Most families who live this way did not leap from conventional to adventurous overnight. They built remote work capacity, paid down debt, tested longer trips, and had increasingly honest conversations about what they actually want from their lives. The leap feels bigger from outside than from inside.
What does an adventurous family lifestyle actually look like?Different for every family. For some it is long-term travel. For others it is weekend adventures close to home. What connects them is intentionality about how time is spent and a preference for experiences over accumulation. The version that fits your family is the right one.
How do you balance adventure with stability for kids?By finding stability within the adventure rather than treating them as opposites. Routines, rituals, and family rhythms travel with you. Familiar foods, bedtime routines, and predictable family dynamics provide stability even when the location changes. Kids need consistency in relationships more than consistency in geography.
What has travel taught your family?That people are fundamentally similar across cultures in what they want for their families. That comfort zone is a smaller circle than it feels from inside. That the things worth having in life require effort and discomfort to get. And that time together doing hard interesting things is the most reliable source of family closeness.
How do you handle the pressure to live conventionally when you have chosen differently?By getting clear on why you made the choices you made and returning to that clarity when the outside noise gets loud. Most families living unconventionally describe an initial period of explaining themselves that gradually gives way to just living the life. The explaining becomes less necessary as the results become visible.
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[…] love this photo. Adam took it when we were in Salzburg. The water is frozen in time and you can feel this man’s weight and life through the […]