A Day in Salzburg: Visiting Hohensalzburg Fortress and Hellbrunn Palace

A new day. The sun is out, and there isn't a cloud to be seen. We made our way down to breakfast and heard someone talking about magpies—not the football team, but the actual birds. Sure enough, it was a couple of Australians from Sydney.

We struck up a conversation with them and found they are virtually doing the same type of trip as us, just in reverse. They're also driving a section of their holiday, though not in Sicily.

Marionettes depicting a scene from mining salt from the mines in Salzburg (Salt Castle)

We caught the bus in and made our way to the funicular, which would take us up to the castle. Being early, we walked straight in, and within a couple of minutes, we were at the top.

A quick stop into a church and we were lucky enough to catch a group of young musicians playing in the cathedral—violins and the pipe organ filling the space. You could actually feel the sound moving around you, reverberating off the stone walls. Imagine a full orchestra playing in here. The acoustics would be unbelievable, but we might save this experience when in Vienna

Fortress Hohensalzburg: One of Europe’s Largest Original Castles

Next stop is the castle, called Fortress Hohensalzburg and was built in 1077. Many renovations took place right up until around 1500, which is when it took on its present appearance. In all the years it has been standing, it was never taken by invading troops. During the Napoleonic Wars, Salzburg was briefly taken over, but Napoleon didn’t bother to destroy the fortress as he already held the territory. Even in the Second World War, when Hitler walked into Salzburg, he only used the castle for training purposes. The Allies bombed the hell out of much of Salzburg, but again, the castle was never hit. Therefore, it remains one of the largest original-standing castles left in Europe.

Overlooking Salzburg from the top of the Castle

Why Salzburg Castle Never Burned Down

History Lesson - Most European castles were heavily damaged by fire over the centuries—usually starting in the kitchens, during wars, or even from lightning strikes. However, Salzburg Castle never suffered a major blaze in any of its upper rooms. Because of this, the timber work and gilded art in the Golden Chamber remain original, dating all the way back to 1498. Even in the modern era, when most castles were renovated and their original history lost, this fortress remained untouched.

You can't visit Salzburg without going to Hohensalzburg Castle is definitely worth a visit

Salzburg streets are famous for its wrought iron signs, and any new shops are required by law to have them installed to keep the towns medieval look. The streets have many shortcuts or as they call them through-houses because the building are so packed together. You can enter a door on one street, walk through a lovely courtyard and pop out on a completely different street, It’s easy to get turned around, but that’s half the fun of exploring the Old Town.

'White Gold': How Salt Made Salzburg Rich

The Medieval Ages were not kind. Disease and famine swept across much of Europe, and survival was often uncertain. When Salzburg discovered salt, everything changed. Salt allowed meat to be preserved, and with that came immense wealth. Salzburg became one of the richest cities in Europe, thriving for centuries on what was essentially white gold.

Hellbrunn Palace

We caught a train back to our accommodation because Leanne wanted to check out Hellbrunn Palace which is only around a 30 minute walk from there. The palace was built in 1663 by the prince archbishop of Salzburg as a summer residence. However we went for the gardens and water features, which are just beautiful—surrounded by little lakes and fountains, all manicured to within an inch of their lives. The place is huge, easily the size of a golf course, and it attracts families who wander the grounds, sit out on the lawns, enjoy a meal at the café, walk their dogs, or spot squirrels. It has everything.

And of course, there’s the bloody gazebo from The Sound of Music, where she sang “I am sixteen going on seventeen” (Yawn!)

The gardens and lakes of Hellbrunn Palace

We spent a bit over an hour here, just resting and enjoying the day with an ice cream in the café before heading back. It was a 30‑minute walk each way and our feet are killing us. Only 18,000 steps today—not as bad as yesterday. Time for a meal and a few cold beers in the beer garden.

Tomorrow we head to Bad Ischl. No transport booked, so we’re hoping we can get the bus; if not, the train will do. Let’s see how we go