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To be honest, a Sound of Music bus tour wasn’t on my bucket list, but it ended up being one of my favorite activities on our mother-daughter trip to Austria! So today, I want to share the fun Sound of Music Tour in Salzburg that Abby and I took last summer.
In this post, I’ll share my photos, highlights, links to the book this Salzburg Sound of Music Tour, and tips for your tour. Let’s jump right in!
Our Trip to Salzburg, Austria
Last summer, my teenage daughter and I took a trip to France, Austria, and Germany. We flew from Paris to Vienna and then spent the rest of the trip traveling within Austria and Germany by train.
The train ride from Vienna to Salzburg took about 2.5 hours, and as usual, we booked our tickets via Trainline. I really like how easy it is to monitor our train travel and manage our tickets via their app. It’s well worth the minuscule service fee.
We spent only two nights in Salzburg before hopping back on the train bound for Munich, Germany. On this trip, we had planned quite a few activities and lots of walking in the larger cities, so we left our two days in Salzburg open in case we just wanted to relax a bit.
When we arrived in Salzburg, we spent the first full day walking around this charming European city, visiting Mozart’s birthplace and dining at a cute outdoor cafe. We strolled through the gardens from The Sound of Music and decided to take a tour the next day.
And it ended up even better than we imagined!
Taking a Sound of Music Tour in Salzburg
Our favorite part of the Sound of Music Tour in Salzburg was the time spent outside the city. If we hadn’t taken this tour, we would never have seen the gorgeous lake and communities of Wolfgangsee and Mondsee.
The tour even gave us free time to explore the community of Mondsee on our own, which is home to the Church used for the wedding in the movie. These Austrian lakes and towns are beautiful, and it’s a region I would love to visit on a future trip to Austria!
Of course, it also took us to numerous beautiful and interesting places within Salzburg. We loved seeing Schloss Leopoldskron, Nonnberg Abbey, and the Hellbrunn Palace garden. During our Sound of Music tour in Salzburg, we stopped at several locations and drove past others.
Another really fun part of the tour was the actual bus ride with Panorama Tours. I hadn’t expected singing!
But at times, a movie played, and an older Julie Andrews narrated it, sharing more about the places we were visiting. And, at times, the whole bus broke out into a musical song, as you can see in this Instagram reel I made!
We sure felt like the Trapp family singers while on this Sound of Music tour in Salzburg!
What Is the Best Sound of Music Tour in Salzburg?
We did the original Sound of Music Tour with Panorama Tours, and it’s definitely the most popular.
We booked our tickets on GetYourGuide, which is my favorite site for booking tours and tickets around the world. Their app is super easy to use!
We also really appreciate the free cancellation up to 24 hours in advance that comes with booking this Sound of Music Tour via GetYourGuide, especially when we need to change our schedule because of the weather.
This is the exact Sound of Music Tour we took! It has great reviews, with 4.8 stars from over 6200 people! Use the widget below to check current tour prices and availability for your visit to Salzburg, Austria.
What Do You See on a Salzburg Sound of Music Tour?
While the movie was actually filmed in many different locations, you get to see quite a few on this Sound of Music tour. Most are memorable locations from the movie, such as the Gazebo!
Our tour started and ended in Salzburg, with a trip to the countryside in the middle. Tours last 4 hours and begin at either 9:15 a.m. or 2 p.m. I like the earlier tour because then you still have the rest of the day. Plus, you will be full from breakfast, and places may be less crowded earlier in the day.
As I mentioned before, some Sound of Music filming locations are drive-by, like the bridge they filmed “Do-Re-Mi” on, while others allow stops. At a few places, it’s a quick photo stop, and other times, it’s a full walk-around tour or free time.
We stopped at an area across the lake with views of Schloss Leopoldskron Palace, whose exterior served as the Trapp family home. We also stopped at Hellbrunn Palace, St. Gilgen for a photo, and Mondsee for some free time. In Mondsee, we walked inside the cathedral where Maria got married.
The tour ended at Mirabell Gardens, where you’ll remember the children singing most of Do-Re-Mi. It was fun to see everyone hopping on the steps and reenacting this precious scene from the Sound of Music movie.
During our Salzburg Sound of Music tour, we didn’t get out of the bus at Nonnberg Abbey because of an event happening there that day.
But it’s centrally located in Salzburg and easy to return to on your own for photos if you find yourself in the same situation.
4 Tips for Your Sound of Music Tour
Here are four quick tips for your Sound of Music Salzburg tour. It is very easygoing and doesn’t require extensive mobility or pre-planning. But these little things will make your day as great as possible.
#1 Bring Water & Snacks
This is a 4-hour Sound of Music tour, so bring plenty of water and some snacks. You will have the chance to grab ice cream or a snack in Mondsee, but you will likely need water well before then.
#2 Watch The Sound of Music Movie
This seems like a no-brainer, but we didn’t do this and wish we had! We had seen The Sound of Music movie numerous times, but it has been a while. So, it would have been even better if the scenes and story were fresh in our heads.
#3 Bring Cash to Tip as Desired
While tipping is not required or even standard practice in many situations in Europe, we always like to tip a little on tours – especially if we have a great time! So, if you like to do the same, just make sure to have some euros on hand.
RELATED POST: Top Tips for International Travel
#4 Use a Portable Charger
We always travel with portable phone chargers, and I highly recommend you do the same. Here is the link to the portable charger we like most because the cables are built in.
Book Your Sound of Music Tour in Salzburg
Experiencing The Sound of Music in Salzburg was incredible! This was a wonderful mother-daughter activity, but I think our whole family would have actually enjoyed it!
If you are ready to book your Sound of Music Tour in Salzburg, Austria, here is the link to buy your tickets: Panorama Original Sound of Music Tour.
Especially during summer and peak school breaks, I highly recommend booking your Salzburg Sound of Music tour in advance, especially if you have a family or larger group. We got lucky and found a few last-minute spots when we booked. But this is the best Sound of Music tour in Salzburg, with the highest reviews, so it’s quite popular for any Salzburg itinerary.
And don’t just take my word for it! Read all of the Sound of Music Tour Salzburg reviews on Get Your Guide.
More Things To Do In Salzburg, Austria
If you are looking for some more fun things to do in Salzburg, I highly recommend browsing Get Your Guide Salzburg to see what other options there are. We enjoyed seeing Mozart’s birthplace, and the fortress is very popular. Here are a few additional activities that you may enjoy on your trip to Salzburg!
More Europe Travel Inspiration
We love visiting Europe as a family, and either on our own or with just one kid, as Abby and I did on this trip!
We have been to most European countries and share many of our first-hand travel experiences here at Our Little Lifestyle. You can browse all travel guides or click here to read our Europe travel blog posts!
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Follow along on social media to see where we are heading to next! I save most of our trips to my Instagram stories highlights, so look there for footage from a specific city or country, including videos of our Sound of Music Tour in Salzburg, Austria!
PIN Sound of Music Tour in Salzburg
