If you are jet lagged or would like to take a walk around Salzburg in Austria, I highly recommend the Salzburg Rick Steves Town Walk. I LOVED Salzburg and found to to be a walkable city and this walk a fun activity to do in town that is almost free. In Rick Steve’s town walk, he leads you around Salzburg and gives you a paragraph or two about 15 different items of significance. It was as if we were on a guided tour, but with complete flexibility. We could dip into stores we liked and stop for coffee whenever, while still learning about the buildings and history of Salzburg.
Where you go on the Salzburg Rick Steves Town Walk
The town walk is a great introduction to the city of Salzburg. Rick Steves slowly introduces you Salzburg’s historical connection to Mozart, the Sound of Music, and the salt trade – all of which I found fascinating. Once you have an overview of the town, you can delve deeper into the topics that you find to be particularly interesting. For example, my mother and I went to dinner and concert at the Hohensalzburg Fortress to honor mozart and scouted out all the Sound of Music spots that interested us. 15 items of significance might seem like a lot, but none of the items were too heavy or involved. Here’s a breakdown of what types of things that will be described to you:
- 1 Bridge
- 1 Statue
- 3 Churches (or view of Church)
- 6 Important Buildings
- 3 Important Courtyards
- 1 Cemetery
Within some of these items, he will point out fun facts of lesser importance. For example on the way from St. Peter’s Cemetery to Kapitelplatz, he points out a restaurant that is supposedly the oldest restaurant in existence – from 803 A.D. It was also on this section that we found a salt store, which provided excellent and inexpensive souvenirs from a city historically known for its’ salt trade! Who wouldn’t need some salt?
At a Glance:
- Rating: 4 (out of 4) stars – would do it again in a heartbeat!
- Intensity: Cute outfit with walking shoes
- Location: Salzburg, Austria
- Cost: Free for Audio and map, $7 for pocketbook
- Restrooms: There were at least one set of paying bathrooms that Rick Steves leads you by.
- Timing: 1.5 – 3 hours
Highlights:
- Scavenger hunt-type discovery of the town
- Historical briefing and significance given about each destination
- Seeing sights and walking through areas that you might not normally visit.
Highlights of the Salzburg Rick Steves Town Walk
The town walk took us about 3 hours to complete, but the beauty of doing the walk ourselves was that we could go at our own pace, which was quite leisurely. We didn’t purchase any entrance tickets, but stepped into the Cathedral and other churches, when appropriate.
Some of my favorite parts of the walk included: the starting bridge for it’s view of the town, the special view of the cathedral, finding a salt shop and Mozart chocolates near the veggie market, and ending up at the Alter Markt, where we accidentally stumbled upon the best seats upstairs at Cafe Tomaselli. Cafe Tomaselli was a delight, so I highly recommend stopping there for a coffee or afternoon cocktail/beer. Also, during the entire walk I felt entertained and informed… even if we did get a little lost sometimes. Rick Steves provides the perfect balance of entertaining tidbits and condensed history lesson at each place.
How to Get the List/Audio and Map
I had planned to listen to the Salzburg town walk, but my mom and I ultimately decided to read from her Rick Steves pocket book to each other. Honestly, this was a great way to keep present in the moment, and discover the town together. You can listen through Rick Steves app or you can buy the Munich and Salzburg Pocketbook on Amazon for about $7. I even found a PDF of the town walk map!
This little town walk was an excellent way to orient ourselves in a new town. This orientation came in extremely handy when going to the Salzburg Fortress Dinner and Concert later that evening. I could tell that Salzburg was a town that I was going to enjoy, but after the walk, I completely adored it.
What self-guided town walks have you done before? Let me know in the comments if you recommend any others because I am sure there are a ton of towns/cities which Rick Steves hasn’t organized the walks for.
Happy Travels,
Hanna
