Why Travel from Munich to Salzburg for a Day Trip?
- Salzburg is a short train ride from Munich – the average trip is almost 2 hours long, but if you get on the fastest train, you may arrive in Salzburg after only 1 hour and 28 minutes.
(After experiencing traffic in Manila, where bus rides take 2 hours and more just to get from point A to B within the SAME metropolis, the train ride from Munich to Salzburg is peanuts! LOL.) - Salzburg City in Austria is as beautiful as Germany, and as rich in historical and cultural offerings.
- You’re in Europe! Why not take advantage of the chance to see as many European countries as possible, right?!
How to Go to Salzburg, Austria from Munich, Germany?
- We took a train from Munich Central Train Station to Salzburg Hbf. Once you get to the Munich Central train station, it’s a pretty straightforward trip from there. Check the Go Euro website/app or the DB Bahn app for the schedule of trains and the fare prices.
What to do in Salzburg when you only have one day?
We’re sharing our itinerary for our Salzburg day tour. Good thing we were with hubby’s cousin who became our tour guide for the day. It saved us time from finding our way and asking for directions. She’s been to Salzburg before, so she definitely knows where to go! And we enjoyed every destination she took us to:
1) Mirabell Gardens
Have you ever read The Secret Garden, or watched its anime adaptation? It’s one of my favorite stories as a kid, and Mirabella Gardens is just how I’ve always imagined the secret garden in the novel would be.
Beautiful. Colorful. Mesmerizing. As if you’re in paradise.
For me, Mirabell Gardens seemed like a bigger version of the one in the novel, but as spectacular as I dreamed it would be. We enjoyed taking photos of the place, and we would’ve loved to explore the gardens more, but the drizzle got stronger so we had to take shelter.
We wanted to explore Mirabella Palace further, but didn’t get to do so because of the intermittent rain showers.
Quick Facts about Mirabell Gardens (Mirabellgarten) & Mirabell Palace (Schloss Mirabell)
- Mirabell Palace, including its gardens, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
- Mirabell Palace was built as a pleasure place of Salzburg Prince-Archbishop and his mistress, Salome Alt.
- The City of Salzburg bought the property in 1886, and temporarily used it as a governmental office after the World War II.
- The Sound of Music movie has scenes shot at Mirabell Gardens, including the one where the children were singing “Do-Re-Mi” as they danced around the fountain.
2) Mozart’s Birthplace
Mozart has always been one of my favorite musicians, aside from Beethoven. So I was truly excited to visit the house where he was born, where he grew up and showed his extreme musical talent, where the makings of a genius were made and cultivated.
I loved the museum tour at his house, where his old things are displayed, from when he was a baby until he became a man, where his piano and musical sheets are carefully preserved, where his wit, humor and sensitivity is evident in his letters to his family.
I also loved learning more about his family life, his successes, failures, and frustrations. He was indeed a genius. But he was also just human, like the rest of us.
NOTE: It’s not allowed to take photos inside the museum, so we only got to take photos before we entered the premises and right outside the building.
3) Augustiner Braustubl
We went to the Augustiner Braustubl Beer Garden to have a heavy, sumptuous lunch, courtesy of my brother-in-law and cousin-in-law. Augustiner Braustubl has a vast outdoor space for alfresco dining, but their indoor restaurant is also spacious, warm and cosy with lovely traditional interiors.
You get food and beer inside, then you can choose to enjoy it indoors or outdoors. The weather was nice so we decided to have our feast outside. Good thing we got there a bit earlier because the beer garden started to fill up with people fast!
They have A-M-A-Z-I-N-G food and delicious beer! If we weren’t going anywhere else that day, I would have drunk beer! But I was afraid I’ll get tipsy and not remember our sightseeing tour, haha!
MUST TRY FOOD IN AUGUSTINER BRAUSTUBL BEER GARDEN:
4) Salzburg Fortress
After stuffing ourselves with sinfully good food, we definitely needed to burn some calories! Off we went to the Salzburg Fortress, also known as Hohensalzburg Fortress. We walked quite a distance, but the captivating sights and sounds of Salzburg made it worth every step.
We stumbled upon a mini festival – it’s like Oktoberfest but smaller and more modest, though it looked just as fun! There were food stands, game booths and some amusement rides. Some people also wore their dirndl (for women) and lederhosen (for men).
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Hohensalzburg Fortress is located on top of the Festungsberg Hill, offering sweeping views of Salzburg City. Hohensalzburg Fortress is such an iconic and dominant structure in Salzburg that you can even see it from the Mirabell Gardens and in other parts of the city.
We got on the funicular railway (Festungsbahn) to get to Hohensalzburg. We didn’t have to pay the fare because it’s already included in our Salzburg Card (more on that later).
TRAVEL TIP: Always get on a funicular! It offers the most spectacular views of the city! This was my third funicular ride, the first in Hong Kong and the second in Tbilisi, Georgia. The experience never fails to amaze me!
Here are the panoramic views that await you at the Hohensalzburg Fortress:
How to Get a Salzburg Card & Its Numerous Benefits
What is the Salzburg Card?
Salzburg Card is like your gate pass to the city – museums, tourist attractions and public transportation. Do note that it only offers one-time FREE admission to museums and tourist attractions in the city.
Benefits of the Salzburg Card:
- Enjoy one-time FREE admission to all tourist attractions and museums in Salzburg (i.e., House of Mozart)
- It’s your all-in-one ticket to all modes of public transportation in the city, including the funicular, buses, and trains.
- It offers great discounts on cultural events, concerts and select excursion destinations within the city.
- The Salzburg Card offers flexibility in terms of use and needs, as it comes in 24, 48 or 72 hours. Because we were only in Salzburg for a day, we got the 24-hour ones.
It’s really good value for money, especially when you consider the costs of commuting in the city, on top of the tickets/admission fees for museums and other attractions.
How to Buy a Salzburg Card
- Go to the official website: https://www.salzburg.info/en/hotels-offers/salzburg-card
- Buy your Salzburg Card online – click here to go directly to the booking page.
Before you complete your purchase, make sure to double check the date for the card’s availability. - Once you’re done, you will receive an email from them, like the one below and with an attachment of your voucher.
- Print the voucher and take on the day of your Salzburg tour. However, as said in the email, it’s not the official Salzburg Card yet. You need to exchange the voucher at the places they’ve mentioned in the email. In our case, since we were coming to Salzburg from Munich via train, we exchanged our vouchers at the main station.
- After you’ve received your Salzburg Card, you can use it right away! Remember that its validity starts with your first registration at any museum.
