7 Highlights: #rediscover Gay-friendly Salzburg

We are finally back in Salzburg! After our first trip to Salzburg in the early summer of 2018, we arrived back in Mozart City on the Salzach River. Salzburg was supposed to be our last longer stop during our staycation road trip from Sweden around eastern and southern Germany to the north of Austria. The Last time we fell in love with the charming alpine summer atmosphere of Salzburg full of music, art, and nature. We discovered a couple of entirely new places in and around Salzburg, and also take part in this year’s CSD Salzburg Pride parade through the city. We could rediscover our love for the city of Salzburg, meet old friends from our first trip, and get to know a few entirely new sides of the Austrian Sound of Music City. For example, did you know that there is a Red Bull aircraft museum in Salzburg? That a CSD Salzburg Pride has been organized every year since 2010? Or that somewhere in Hellbrunn Castle you can marvel at a ‘real’ unicorn? Join us on our second, exciting journey to Salzburg for Couple of Men, and we are sure we found a few new reasons for you to rediscover Gay Salzburg (again) soon!

– paid collaboration with Salzburg Tourism –

#1 Walk of Modern Art: Public Art Project around Salzburg

The historic center of the city of Salzburg with the uniquely beautiful baroque buildings, the Salzburg Cathedral, and the DomQuartier, received the UNESCO World Heritage title in 1996. But in addition to all the historical monuments and art treasures in the city’s museums, there is also a modern side that we could get to know better during a Walk of Modern Art. The art project comprises a total of 15 works of art spread across central parts of Salzburg. Our favorites include the Salzburg “Gurken” by Erwin Wurm – Karl loves pickles – and the sculpture “Caldera” by the English sculptor Anthony Cragg, where the viewer might even suspect a kiss between Mozart and his wife Constanze… What do you think?

#2 Arte Hotel Salzburg: Loft Hotel with a stunning view

Of course, we wanted to try another hotel for our second visit to Salzburg. True to our motto #rediscover Salzburg, we decided on the modern Arte Hotel Salzburg with its glass and steel construction. The second-tallest building in the city has an unbelievably stunning view over Salzburg, especially from its rooftop bar hu:goes14. We booked the ‘arte Original Studio‘ on the 13th floor – you know we appreciate a great view – and were really not disappointed. Good to know: The gay-friendly hotel actively supports the LGBTQ+ community and gives, for example, extra discounts when booking on their website with an LGBT promo code. Another tip: the hotel is less than a 3-minute walk away from Südtiroler Platz, the meeting and starting point for the annual CSD Salzburg Prides.

#3 Hangar 7: Museum of historical aircraft of the Flying Bulls

Not so new anymore and yet, for us, an entirely new and different Salzburg experience! The steel and glass construction of the Hangar 7 at Salzburg Airport has been home to historic aircraft, helicopters, and Formula 1 racing cars from the Flying Bulls since 2003. For travel enthusiasts, in particular, like we are, visiting the collection of historic aircraft was like traveling back in time. Did you know that Felix Baumgärtner was the first person to cross the English Channel in a special flight suit in 2019? World record, 94 years after Luis Bleriot crossed the English Channel for the first time by plane. Today you can experience the suit for free alongside other remarkable exhibits and art pieces. By the way, as the name suggests, the Austrian company Red Bull is behind the concept and collection and gave us the proverbial wings to discover even more of Salzburg!

#4 Residence Concert in Salzburg: Mozart back to life

A visit to Salzburg without some classical music is and remains unimaginable. During our second visit to Salzburg, we had the opportunity to attend a Residence Concert in the so-called Old Residence (Alte Residenz) in Salzburg. In the Fischbrunnensaal, one of the many rooms of the Residenz, where even Mozart is said to have played personally, we listened to the sounds of a true master on the harpsichord. Not only works by Wolfgang Amadeus but also pieces by his father Leopold Mozart were part of the 45-minutes program. The late morning concert really got us in the right mood to take a closer look at the exhibitions in the DomQuartier afterward.

#5 CSD Salzburg Pride 2020: Attend an LGBTQ+ Events

During our last trip, we already heard many good things about the LGBTQ+ event in Salzburg. This year the time had finally come, and we could take part in the CSD Salzburg, dressed up in our rainbow outfits and equipped with our rainbow flags. Together with more than 1,000 lesbian, gay, trans, and queer people from Salzburg and from all over the world, we marched with stops for political speeches from Salzburg’s Central Station to one of the most famous squares in the city, the Old Market square, in German ‘Alter Markt’. As one of the few CSD and Pride events this year, we were really proud and super happy to be able to attend the CSD Salzburg Pride – with our rainbow masks, of course!

More picture of the LGBTQ+ event here >

#6 Find the Unicorn: A Picnic bike tour to Hellbrunn Palace

While many visitors to Salzburg concentrate on the old town, and rightly so, there is also a beautiful castle with a huge park to admire just outside the city center. Exactly, Hellbrunn Palace located in the south of the Salzburg city center. As on the last visit to Salzburg, we put a bike tour to Hellbrunn and back on our to-do list. But this time we had a picnic basket full of local delicacies from the Salzburg Grünmarkt with us. Because enough time for a break in nature with a view of the fortress, the Untersberg, and the wide green meadows simply has to be part of a bike tour in our opinion. After we arrived at the palace, we found the mythical creature that deserves special attention among all the curiosities and fountains in the pleasure palace – the unicorn from Hellbrunn Palace.

#7 Dinner Tip SZENE Lokal: Burgers & Veggie-friendly

Last but not least, we have a particularly tasty tip for you to go for dinner, the trendy bar and restaurant. Located just a short walk away from the “Gurken” and the Salzburg Festival Hall, we found the Szene Salzburg (theatre and performance art location) with the connected restaurant SZENE Lokal on the Anton Neumayr Platz. Burgers have been served here since the 1950s, initially to fill the hungry bellies of US soldiers after World War II. The name of the restaurant changed over the years, but the tradition of serving wonderful burgers in a hip, unusually modern atmosphere for Salzburg restaurants, has remained. Whether outside or inside, you can have a really good dinner here!