The Sound of Music Salzburg

What's the walk about?

Welcome to Salzburg, a city world-famous for a film its own citizens barely acknowledge. The Sound of Music (1965) is a cultural institution across the USA, Britain and much of Asia, drawing more than 300,000 pilgrims here every single year to retrace Maria, the von Trapp children, and 'Do-Re-Mi'. Yet in Austria it is a genuine blind spot: it flopped on its brief 1965 release, was pulled from cinemas within days, went undubbed into German for decades, and most Austrians have simply never seen it. On this walk we'll follow the famous scenes through the Mirabell Gardens, the Baroque horse ponds, the festival stage and the real convent at Nonnberg, pulling Hollywood's sugar-coated myth apart from the real history at every stop. We'll see where Maria really was a novice, learn why 'Edelweiss' is an American song and not an Austrian anthem, and why the real family boarded a train to Italy rather than climbing over the mountains. For the few iconic spots that sit off our route or behind private gates, we'll find a quiet bench, sit, and let the story come to us. Please enjoy the gentle irony: a global icon the locals quietly shrug at.

What you'll see

1. 1

   Mirabell Gardens - Pegasus Fountain & the Do-Re-Mi Steps

   Garden

2. 2

   Mirabell Gardens - Dwarf Garden & Rose Arbour

   Garden

3. 3

   The Makartsteg - Crossing the Salzach

   Bridge

4. 4

   Pferdeschwemme - the Horse Pond

   Fountain

5. 5

   The Festival Halls & Felsenreitschule

   Festival Hall

6. 6

   Residenzplatz & the Horse Fountain

   Square

7. 7

   St Peter's Cemetery (Petersfriedhof)

   Cemetery

8. 8

   Kapitelplatz & the Kapitelschwemme

   Square

9. 9

   Stift Nonnberg - Nonnberg Abbey

   Abbey

10. 10

    The Gazebo Viewpoint - 'Sixteen Going on Seventeen'

    Viewpoint

11. 11

    The von Trapp Villa Viewpoint - Leopoldskron & Frohnburg

    Viewpoint