Sound of Music Tour
The hills were alive with the sound of my delight at getting to experience the Sound of Music tour in and around Salzburg, Austria!
As I mentioned in part one of my Austria trip blog, I have wanted to take this tour since 2002 when I found out it existed. 23 year later, I got to make my dream come true and my husband was a good sport to come along with me.
I have loved The Sound of Music since I was a little girl. It was on TV every year around Christmas and I would watch it at my grandparents house. I wanted to be Liesl (probably because my name is Lisa and that is close enough) and loved all the music and specifically the puppet show part of the film.
While there are several tour companies that operate this type of tour, I decided to go with the one branded as the original Sound of Music tour. It was a large group, but once we were off the bus, we didn’t really have to stay too close together. Our guide was funny and informative and gave us most of the information on the bus via a microphone so it was easy to hear. He did talk a bit in the actual locations, so those hard of hearing would have a difficult time since there were no headphones provided.
We met the tour across from Mirabell Gardens, which was an easy walk from our hotel. The streets are very quiet in the mornings. Many places don’t open until at least 9am.
Our first stop was the Schloss Leopoldskron, which is where the scenes in the back of the house and the famous boating scene took place. The building is privately owned so we had to view it from across the lake only.
Fun fact: they filmed the house in 2 different locations. The actual Von Trapp family villa does not have a lake in the back.
Next, we drove past the actual Von Trapp family villa. You cannot drive right up to it, it is a walk and bike path only, so this is the best picture I could get from the bus.
The next stop was Schloss Hellbrunn, which is a castle but also where they moved the famous gazebo that was used in the movie.
Anyone can see it here, however you are not allowed to go inside. It had always been my dream to leap across the benches like Liesl does in “Sixteen Going on Seventeen” but alas, I just had to settle for a picture.
We also got to see the tree lined street the Captain drove down (it does actually lead to the Von Trapp family villa!) with the Baroness and Max when the kids were up in the trees.
We passed by the Stift Nonnberg, which is the Abbey where Maria was a novice. No picture here, but it was where the real Maria lived and married Captain Von Trapp.
Side note: do you know the real story of the Von Trapp family? It is vastly different from the movie and also fascinating.
Next, we took a drive to the lakes and mountains region. We stopped for a quick picture in St. Gilgan, which is a beautiful small town and also where Mozart’s mother was born. I would definitely consider coming back to stay there! It was lovely.
Our ultimate destination was the town of Mondsee, where we visited the Basilika St. Michael. This is where the wedding of Maria and Captain Von Trapp was filmed. It is a stunning church!
We had about an hour, so we grabbed a quick pizza lunch and I definitely bought a Liesl the goat souvenir. It was a lovely town and easy to get around.
After our time was up, we boarded the bus and took the autobahn back to Salzburg. The official part of the tour was over, but since we were right by Mirabell Gardens, I went to show Aaron the spots where they filmed the song Do Re Mi.
It was pretty crowded by the gate and fountain, but when we came back early the next morning, I finally got my picture!
I loved every minute of the Sound of Music tour. I highly recommend it to any fan of the film!
Is Salzburg, Austria on your list? Are you ready to start planning or do you have questions for me about the process? Let’s chat soon
