Hohensalzburg Fortress, Salzburg

4 more images

You can’t miss it. The castle. Perched on top of a hill on the western side of the river, above the old town.

You can walk up, or take the funicular. The latter takes 11 seconds, or thereby. I have no knowledge of the walking route. To be fair to myself, I’d walk usually. Maybe even run. But I was just recovering from tendonitis in an Achilles tendon, so the fat boy route was doctor’s orders. She who must be obeyed... But seriously, rupturing an Achilles tendon would not have made for a fun visit.

It’s worth the entrance money for the views alone, but the rest is great too. We were there in mid april, just after Easter, so it was pretty quiet. I suspect it will be swarming with touroids in the main seasons, so maybe best to go first thing in the morning.

I’ll let the photos do the talking.

1 more image

Of course it is a possibility to go up the Fortress by funicular, but if you have enough time and are not totally unfit, I would strongly advise you to walk up. You can soak in some views of the city and get to see some very interesting gates and constructions. It is quite a strenuous walk, but it's worth it, and you really get to feel how hard it was for enemies to try to capture the Fortress - and why they always failed!

The Fortress is situated 119m above the town, it was built in 1077 and further enlarged in the 12th century. More enlargements were made in the 15h century by Archbishop Leonhard von Keutschach who fought a lot of wars. It was here that the archbishops took refuge from the Hungarian War and Peasants' War. The last addition was made in the 17th century.

The walk up starts near St. Peter's Cemetary at Festungsgasse.

Here are the opening hours:
January until April and October until December: 9.30am til 5.00pm, May until September: 9.00am til 7.00pm, December weekends and Easter: 9.30am til 6pm

Concerning disabilities, the website says: "For handicapped persons, the visit is difficult and only possible by prior arrangement (no facilities for handicapped persons)."

You can obtain your ticket at the entrance of the Fortress. The fee is 7,40€ for adults, 4,20€ for children and 16,90€ for a family.

4 more images

The Fortress was like a little self-sufficient town in itself, so it had its own living rooms, pantries, stables, kitchens, schools, church and so on. There were also convicts working here, for example at the winches.

A very prominent place is the courtyard with its big linden tree. Here you also find a pretty cistern. There are tables and benches and it is a nice place to relax from exploring, having a little picnic.

You can walk around the many constructions, fortifications and walls and explore everything. The area is quite large, so bring some time! There is also a guided tour, but we found it more convenient to stroll around on our own.

There are public toilets and also a souvenir shop that is quite big, you can find both at the courtyard. If you follow the main walkway from here, you also find several restaurants and small artshops.

I really loved to discover all the little details of the Fortress, like wells and embrasures, and how the white walls looked against the blue sky as the sun was shining very bright. A beautiful excursion!

4 more images

Even if the Fortress was not such a great sight on its own, I would advise you to come here, if only for the view on Salzburg! Absolutely spectacular!!! It is so beautiful, especially in sunshine, when you see the sun glittering on the towers and cupolas of the churches.

There are three main lookouts: One at the artillery bastions, from where you have a view of the eastern town and the Salzach, one at the foot of the belfry, from where you get the "postcard view" on the old town, the cathedral and so on, and one at the stables from where you have a beautiful view on some of the surrounding mountains. Don't forget to take your camera - and enjoy! :-)

2 more images

The Georgskirche (Georg's Church) is the Fortress's religious building. It was built in 1501/02. The monument shows the Archbishop Leonhard von Keutschach blessing the country, it is made of marble. The relief on the right above the entrance shows St. Christophorus. There are also thirteen marble reliefs inside the church which depict Jesus and the Apostles. The altar is from the 17th century and shows St. George, the dragon killer.

You can access the church from the courtyard, opposite of the bathrooms.

2 more images

In the Palace you can see the very beautiful Golden Hall, a late gothic room of wooden panelling. Unfortunately there is no furniture left as this was used for heating in some severe winters in the 19th century by Napoleon's troups :-(
Especially the ceiling is stunning with its woodcarvings and blue and golden paintings that give the hall its name. Another room is the Golden Parlour where you can see the big oven from 1501. Both rooms really transfer you to earlier times when the archbishops still resided in these rooms and Salzburg defended itself against its enemies!

Furthermore, there are two museums.

The Fortress Museum displays medieval arts and memorabilia of the archbishops, as well as weapons, instruments and things of daily life in th Fortress. There are also a lot of very horrible instruments of torture. I skipped that part!
Very interesting are some of the archaeological finds from Roman times. Recently, there have been discovered Roman walls and a Roman heating system that is now on display!

The Rainermuseum shows weapons, flags and uniforms of the infantry regiment called "Rainer" that fought against the Turkish troups in 1682. It also has many things from World War One. Everybody interested in military history will probably love these museums.

Opening times: January until April and October and December 9.30am til 5pm, May until September 9.00am til 7pm, weekends in Advent and Easter 9.00 til 6pm.

Admission is included in your ticket to the Fortress.

You may encounter the turnip quite often when exploring the Fortress, and because I find it so funny, I think it deserves its own tip! :-))

The turnip is the coat of arms of Leonhard von Keutschach, the archbischop who made a lot of alterations and additions to the Fortress in the 15th century. I think it is very funny to have this vegetable as a coat of arms, so I did some research, and here is the story:

When Leonhard was a boy and visited his uncle in Pinzgau, they walked along a turnip field and his uncle was very angry because the boy had been lazy in school during the last term. But Leonhard was not reasonable at all, he laughed and joked and was very cheeky. So the uncle took a turnip and threw it at Leonhard's head, saying that from now on, he did not want to see his nephew again until he was a better student. This really inflicted a change in the boy and from then on he studied hard and was very keen on his studies, so that he got the best marks. Thus, he became archbishop of Salzburg, and as he was so grateful to his uncle, he took the turnip as coat of arms.

Hohensalzburg is one of the largest European fortresses built in the 16th century.
You can have a wonderful panoramic view of the city from its towers.
Here is fortress administration data just in case:
Festungsverwaltung
5020 Salzburg
+43 0662 84 24 30 11,
Fax +43 0662 82 24 30 20
www.salzburg-burgen.at