Salzburg Holiday

It's not just the hills in Salzburg which are alive with the sound of music: the streets are abuzz with festivals throughout the year whilst the legacy of its most famous inhabitant - a certain Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - rings out from concert halls across the city.

Conservative, proud and quintessentially Austrian, Salzburg is a visual feast of Baroque architecture from its churches through to its ornate fountains. The city is very much a mecca for culturistas with its plethora of museums, theatres and classical music extravaganzas but those who prefer the great outdoors can easily head off into the surrounding alpine scenery.

Wandering around the Altstadt (Old Town) you can't help but feel the city is a living shrine to Mozart - once you've done the tour of Mozarts Geburtshaus where the musical genius spent the first 17 years of his life, head to the Gewohnhaus for an in-depth history of his life and music. And just to prove you've done it all, you can buy the Mozart mug, T-shirt or any one of a number of chocolate boxes adorned with his face.

Less famously, Salzburg was also home to Josef Mohr, a local pastor who penned the words to Silent Night after his organ broke down one Christmas Eve just before the midnight service.

Perched above the city, the 11th-century Hohensalzburg Fortress is one of Europe's largest and most impregnable castles given it has never fallen into enemy hands. Luckily it now opens its doors freely to visitors to explore its State Rooms and Lookout Tower not to mention the torture chambers deep underground. The fortress also offers a fantastic panoramic over the city or the Alpine peaks depending which way you look.

Below the castle, the 1300 year old Benedictine convent known as Stift Nonnberg is the oldest in all of the German speaking countries. This is also the place where the real-life Maria von Trapp, as immortalised in the Sound of Music, worked as a teacher.

And for all those who have sung along with the film, the Sound of Music tour will prove a wonderfully kitsch experience. A four-hour-long tour will whisk you thorugh the settings used in the film from the Nonnberg nunnery to the Mirabell Gardens to the church at Mondsee used for the wedding scene. Those who prefer to skip the minibus sing-a-longs can also hire a car to do the trip independently.

Music and theatre connoisseurs are best off visiting during August when the Salzburger Festspiele, the highlight of the music calendar draws in worldwide crowds. The city's other major festival, the Mozartwoche, is dedicated to the genius himself and fills the Mozarteum with the sounds of his opera, symphonic and chamber music.

For a spot of pre-Christmas shopping the bustling, atmospheric Christkindlmarkt is a good bet for intricate handicrafts. At other times, the pedestrianised Getreidegasse is Salzburg's main shopping drag lined with boutiques complete with wrought-iron shop signs.

Those who like their steak will be in their element in Salzburg's traditional restaurants whilst those with a sweet tooth can indulge in the local delicacies - Salzburger Nockerl, a mound of sugary egg-whites and raspberries and Mozartkügeln - the locally-made balls of chocolate-covered marzipan.

Those looking for an evening pint - or six - should head to the Rudolfskai area where the younger generation decimate their livers with beer and tequila against a backdrop of techno. For something a little quieter try the area around Giselakai, Imbergstrasse and Steingasse on the right bank of the Salzach. On cold winter evenings, there's always glühwein to help warm the cockles of your soul.

Salzburg is a place where old world charm and highbrow culture meets lowbrow entertainment and modern kitsch but the result is surprisingly pleasant. And with all the film and music memorabilia around, it's an easy place to do souvenir shopping.