A Mozart & “Sound of Music” Trip to Salzburg

Our Salzburg Gay Couple City Trip to The Sound of Music, Mozart, and Conchita Wurst – Wait, Conchita who? Well, let us start with the beginning. In the wonderful warm month of June, we traveled to the world-famous Austrian city of Salzburg in the northeastern part of the Alpine country. The city, known for its fortress named Fortress Hohensalzburg, came to fame internationally by being the movie location for the American musical drama “The Sound of Music with Julie Andrews. But of course, the musical success story of the city of Salzburg, Austria started already centuries ago for being Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s birth and working place. Today, Salzburg is Austria’s fourth-biggest city after Vienna, Graz, and Linz celebrating its traditions, recognizing its cultural values, and is on a good way of evolving from the old-fashioned baroque city into a modern, open-minded place to live in and travel to. LGBT travelers from all over the world find their way to Salzburg, exploring this culturally important European destination with the sound of music. Join us on our Gay-friendly City Trip to Salzburg and see the beautiful city on the Salzach River through a couple of men‘s eyes!

– in paid collaboration with Tourism Salzburg –

Tips for a Gay-friendly City (Music) Trip Salzburg

A great example of how much the music was, is, and will influence Salzburg, was our invitation to attend the first Pitter Star Night at the recently renovated gay-friendly accommodation Hotel Imlauer Pitter. The star guest of the night was the popular Austrian drag artist and singer Conchita, formerly known as Conchita Wurst, who won the Eurovision Song Contest in 2014. But this wasn’t the only music highlight we could experience in Salzburg.

Our long city weekend in Austria started with a Mozart Dinner Concert at the baroque hall of St. Peter’s Abbey while our second night was all about the 35 churches of Salzburg during “Long Night of Churches 2018“. On our last day, we visited Hellbrunn with its trick and music fountains at the little pleasure palace south of the city. Finally, we did a gay couple-themed photo tour of the most famous “Sound of Music” spots throughout Salzburg. Undoubtedly, the self-given slogan Salzburg – Stage of the World is no overstatement!

Gay-friendly Imlauer Hotel Pitter in Salzburg

 

During our Salzburg Gay Couple City Trip, we stayed at the Imlauer Pitter Hotel located just a 10-minute walk from the central station of Salzburg. The gay-friendly hotel was recently renovated and modernized offering comfortable rooms, a roof-top restaurant, and a breakfast area with a stunning view over Salzburg, and a gym facing the mountains surrounding the city. The first Pitter Star Night was just the beginning of a series of music events coming up in the next months. Stay tuned and don’t forget to check for the next event before your visit to Salzburg. More about the Imlauer Pitter Hotel >

Gay Guided City Tour Salzburg with Roman

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Overview – LGBT History & “Luziwuzi”

We always like to get an overview of the destination we are traveling to. The best thing to do in our opinion is a gay guided city tour with information about the LGBTQ+ community, gay events, and highlights of the gay history, present, and future. Therefore, we met Roman, a real Salzburger gay guy knowing the city and its gay history and LGBT life inside out. We learned a lot about Austrian and Salzburg history including the cultural achievements of “Luziwuzi” alias Archduke Ludwig Viktor of Austria, the famous, youngest, and more or less openly gay brother of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria.

Gay Life in Salzburg today

Today, lesbian, gay, and queer people find all info about LGBT life at HOSI, the Homosexual Initiative Salzburg (website in German), that is also organizing the annual W4I, the walk for IDAHIT, which is considered to be the Gay Pride Event Salzburg. Furthermore, HOSI and Salzburg are hosting the so-called HOSI Fest, the biggest lesbian, gay, and queer clubbing events in the south German and Northern Austrian region. Finally, we would like to mention the summer party event Pride Boat Salzburg taking place on a queer party boat in early summer. Click here to email request a gay guide for Salzburg >

Mozart Dinner Concert at St. Peter’s Abbey

Karl is a huge Mozart fan. No wonder, we put a so-called Mozart Dinner Concert on our travel bucket list for Salzburg! Dressed accordingly and accompanied by our gay tour guide Roman, we made our way through the beautiful Salzburg old town to the St. Peter’s Abbey (Stift Sankt Peter) to attend our dinner performance ‘Best of Mozart’ performed by Amadeus Consort Salzburg.

While enjoying a good local beer and three-course dinner in the baroque hall lit by candles, we witnessed a wonderful evening likely to have taken place in the late 18th century back in Mozart’s time. Locals might think of it as a touristic thing, but we really liked the music performances and enjoyed the dinner based on historical recipes, adapted for our vegetarian Daan. Check here for the best offers >

Hiking on Kapuzinerberg

Gay Couple operated Franziskischlössl

You know we are always trying to find the best spots for the best view of a city. You also know, we love to hike and to do any kind of outdoor adventure in and around a destination. But we love it even more to combine both things. Therefore, we hiked all the way up the Kapuzinerberg mountain to the Franziskischlössl (website in German), a former fortress installation that was built in 1629 to protect the settlements in and around Salzburg.

Today, the venue is operated by the gay couple Anton and Wolfgang offering hikers and outdoor enthusiasts delicious dishes and drinks made of home-grown vegetables and local ingredients. Since 2017, the Franziskischlössl is offering two 70 sqm big luxurious, high-calls equipped suites for LGBT travelers. Our day-hike on the Kapuzinerberg was definitely one of our Salzburg travel highlights!

Homage-Tour “The Sound of Music Salzburg”

“Do-Re-Mi” Sing-Along

One of the most famous songs of the musical drama film was “Do-Re-Mi” chanted by Maria (Julie Andrews) and the von Trapp children while riding throughout Salzburg. Dressed in our Lederhosen (traditional Austrian Garments) we visited six of the most popular photo spots of the movie “Sound of Music“.

The Sound of Music Hot Spots

Starting with the stairs and fountains at Mirabell Gardens, the little dwarf statue at the Dwarf Garden, and the pavilion at Hellbrunn Palace. We did our photos while dancing and singing hand-in-hand getting quite some attention, especially by international tourists! Put it on your gay travel bucket list!

Bike Trip to Hellbrunn Palace

A little pleasure palace south of Salzburg

Our second outdoor adventure during our City Trip to Salzburg led us on our red rental bikes from Avelo Bike Rentals at Mozartplatz to Hellbrunn Palace. During our 45min ride over one of the world’s oldest avenue, we stopped several times to inhale the breathtaking views over the fortress of Salzburg, the Untersberg, and the juicy green spring meadows. Hellbrunner Allee, which is 2.8 km long is shaded with huge century-old and protected oaks which makes it a wonderful bike route during a sunny summer day.

Once we arrived at the baroque villa with surrounding parks from the early 17th century, we took our time to wander around, take photos of the beautiful installed fountains and statues, and joined a tour to get wet by the trick fountains of Hellbrunn Palace. Before we took our bikes back to Salzburg, we sat down at the Park Café Schloss Hellbrunn with some great vegetarian food and local beers while a small live band played some relaxing jazzy tunes that brought us in a serious holiday mood. Check here for the best Hellbrunn offers >

Please note: This trip was made possible in partnership with Tourism Austria, Hotel Imlauer Pitter, and Salzburg Tourism. Anyhow, our opinions are 100% authentic and based on our experiences, as usual.