Hotels near Sound of Music Sights Trail

Robert Wise filmed The Sound of Music across Salzburg in the spring and summer of 1964, and half of what he shot is still walkable in a single afternoon. Mirabell Gardens is where Julie Andrews and the children skip through Do-Re-Mi, ending at the Pegasus Fountain and up the terraced Zwerglgarten steps. Cross the Salzach on the Makartsteg bridge and climb the Nonnbergstiege to Nonnberg Abbey (Stift Nonnberg), founded around 714 AD, where the real Maria von Trapp was a novice and where the film's opening wedding was shot at the wrought-iron gates. Then head south by taxi or bus 25 to Schloss Leopoldskron on the small lake outside town, whose lakeside terrace stood in for the Von Trapp villa's back garden (the front was Schloss Frohnburg). Finish at Hellbrunn Park, where the famous gazebo now sits behind a wire fence because too many tourists were trying to sing on it. Committed fans can also stop at the Felsenreitschule concert hall inside the Festival District, where the final festival scene was filmed. Pro Tip: If you would rather not organise this yourself, the four-hour Panorama Tours bus (departing 09:15 and 14:00 daily from Mirabellplatz) costs 55 EUR, hits all the sites plus the Mondsee wedding church, and remains genuinely fun even for skeptics.