The Sound of Music...

The Salzburg Festival is one of the wonders of civilisation that brings together music, drama and art. Add in 18 Michelin-guide restaurants, and superlative sightseeing, and it’s a recipe for a top cultural experience, says Lucinda Bredin.

Like taxes and the poor, The Sound of Music will always be with us. And, indeed, always with the city of Salzburg which has a constant swarm of tour groups through the Mirabell gardens reliving the Von Trapp children skipping around to Do-Re-Mi. However, every July and August there is a different kind of throng which has also come for the sound of music: these are the blingiest operagoers, perhaps only rivalled by La Scala, who have come for the Salzburg Festival.

“Festivalgoers, some of whom stay for up to three weeks, develop their own routine in preparation for that night's opera.”

Founded in 1920 by Richard Strauss, Hugo von Hofmannsthal and Max Reinhardt, the Salzburg Festival is an event that unashamedly revolves around music. This year, there have been some 180 performances in 49 days – and those were just the core events. In short, the city is marinated in music from mid-July to the end of August. Festivalgoers, some of whom stay for up to three weeks, develop their own routine in preparation for that night's opera. They walk in the Mirabell gardens, hike in the surrounding mountains, swim in the icy Fuschl lake, eat light but doubtless expensive lunches, before walking, bedecked in jewels, to the epicentre – the Festival theatre.

This austere building makes up for its uncompromising exterior with two spectacular halls, one of which, Felsenreitschule (The former Riding School), is hewn out of rock, with the side of the mountain visible on stage. There are other venues also as noteworthy, including the Marionette Theatre – yes, it really is dedicated just to puppets. This year, it featured a production of The Soldier’s Tale that brought together two great names. Granted that Stravinsky, the composer, is dead – so interference from that quarter was one less thing to worry about. The sets – and, deep breath, the puppets – have been created by none other than Georg Baselitz.

“Stravinsky’s tale was conceived after the First World War and was designed to be toured around Germany to carry its message to the battered population: don’t sell out to the Devil.”

Stravinsky’s tale was conceived after the First World War and was designed to be toured easily and cheaply around Germany to carry its message to the battered population: don’t sell out to the Devil. Baselitz’s puppets inject an unforgettable edge of menace. Characteristically rough-hewn in blocks of vibrant primary colour, it is revelatory to see Baselitz’s sculptures  move and interact with each other against backdrops also designed by the artist. In combination with Stravinsky’s throat-grabbing score, it was one of the landmark productions of this year’s festival.

The resulting Salzburger Dom and the nearby Residenz for the Archbishop are impressively huge and lavish – the Residenz has an enfilade of reception rooms with much gilt, but little furniture. It doesn't really become diverting until you reach a series of Wunderkammern with collections of exotic shells, bizarre scientific instruments and geological specimens. The star of the show is a bronze Eucharistic dove with Limoges enamelling. The nearby Abbey of St Peter and its cemetery swap pomp for atmosphere. The catacombs, which look like anchorite caves, have been clawed out of the mountain. It is well worth going in. A claustrophobic flight of stone steps leads you up into caverns with rough-hewn slabs that serve as altars.

Salzburg is one of the very few places in the world that has spectacular car parks, which – like the catacombs – have been tunnelled out of the Mönchsberg Mountain. One way of travelling inside the mountain is to take a high-speed lift that was cut through the rock for visitors to the Modern Art Museum. Built in 1998, this defiantly hideous building is like a grey storage unit, plonked on the summit as if rebuking the city below for its beauty. God knows how it was nodded through planning. But, as they say, the best view in Salzburg is when you are inside, since you can't see it. The fragmentary and transformational installations of Nika Neelova, an artist based in UK, are currently on show until 12 April 2026. The show, Cascade, features works created from reclaimed materials that imply a timeless universe.

Given the small size of Salzburg, it is to its credit that it has so many art galleries showing contemporary art – it says something about the tastes of the clientele for the opera, too. The international gallerist, Thaddaeus Ropac, has his HQ in Salzburg, at the entrance of the Mirabell gardens. It is a byword for elegance. This season, he has had exhibitions of Daniel Richter, Hans Hollein and Erwin Wurm (until 27 September, 2025).

One of my favourite works in the city is the Salzburg Panorama. Early in the 19th century, the artist Johann Sattler made the vertiginous journey to the Hohensalzburg Fortress that dominates the city's skyline, and drew a detailed outline of the city from five different angles. He transferred the drawing to a vast, 85ft-long canvas, which was fixed to a drum. The result was a painting that captures Salzburg, just as it was on that autumn day in 1824. All the clocks show 4 o'clock.

“The catacombs, which look like anchorite caves, have been clawed out of the mountain.”

There are no railway tracks, and there are cows where one would expect to see Würstel stalls, but apart from that the astonishing surprise is that Salzburg has lived through 200 years of upheaval, including a pair of World Wars, and still looks more or less the same. Always fragile, it has been off games since 2023, but reassuringly it is stored in a climate-controlled box in the Schwarzenberg Military Barracks. However, in 2026 for its 200^th anniversary, it will emerge to become a centrepiece for a new museum in the south wing of the Orangery in the Mirabell Gardens.

For more information and tickets visit www.salzburgerfestspiele.at

When in Salzburg...

Where to stay:

Salzburg has a number of hotels that fall into the category of Grandes Dames. The Bristol is a stately presence in Makartplatz, overlooking the house in which Mozart spent his teenage years – when he wasn’t in a carriage jolting between the capitals of Europe. The 68 rooms are all chic and individually furnished, some with terraces overlooking the fortress.

Its rival, The Sacher, is only a stone’s throw. Resplendent on the River Salzach, it stretches along the banks like an ocean-liner. Although not as deftly decorated as The Bristol – ‘timeless elegance’ probably sums it up – the Sacher does have its own cake, the Sachertorte, and its bar is where all the musicians and operagoers congregate to share opinions and views after performances at the Salzburg Festival. 

The 5* Hyperion Salzburg, which opened in 2022, has a more modern appeal, despite being set in the handsome Palais Faber, built in 1874 by local brewery owner, Moritz Faber. Set opposite the far end of the Mirabell Gardens, it has a calming location away from streams of tourists. Inside it has a huge screen in the foyer for newshounds, complete with bowls of sweets for those needing an extra injection of energy. Excellent restaurant, terrific breakfast.

Goldener Hirsch in the Aldstadt. This is housed in a 15th-century building on the Getreidegasse, Salzburg's equivalent of a high street, if such a vulgar concept could exist in such a place.

For a more country-estate feel, try Schloss Leopoldskron. Formerly owned by Max Reinhardt, one of the original founders of the Festival, it has become more famous now for its lake and ornamental ironwork, both of which feature in The Sound of Music. There's no point pretending that these hotels are anything but humongously expensive during the Festival. In spring months, however, they are surprisingly reasonable.

Where to eat:

Austria has a reputation for restaurants that offer little else than Wiener Schnitzel, Frankfurter Würstel and liver dumplings. This turns out to be almost entirely true – except in Salzburg. In keeping with the sophisticated palates of visitors to the Festival, there are 18 entries in the Michelin Guide, two of which – SENNS.Restaurant and Ikarus – have two stars each. But eating after the opera is always a challenge. Four courses at 10.30pm? Really? Esszimmer, set a tram ride away from the centre, has one Michelin star and a set lunch for €72. For a place for lunch, go for a fabulous view.

Both the Modern Art Museum and the Hohensalzburg Fortress have excellent restaurants and sweeping panoramas. For a traditional schnitzel experience, the historic landmark Stiftskeller St Peter is one option. In operation since 803, it is the oldest restaurant in Mitteleuropa. There’s also the excellent Zum Zirkelwirt which is charmingly – and knowingly – rustic. Think gastropub. Think Wiener Schnitzel. L.B.