Salzburg and its Festung Hohensalzburg Fortress
Summary
Salzburg is very pretty with its pedestrianised Altstadt alongside the fast-flowing Salzach River, the mountains in the distance and, of course, the Festung Hohensalzburg Fortress looming over. Its certainly worth a visit and should be included in a week-long itinerary for Austria, but, and I’m being a little brutal on the comparison here, it is also quite similar to various other European cities so doesn’t particularly have the unique factor. As I say, certainly worth a visit, but, if in the area, I would prioritise the magnificent palaces and concerts of Vienna (see Palaces, Concerts and Cathedrals in Imperial Vienna), the beer halls and nearby Neuschwanstein Castle castle of Munich (see Munich Christmas Markets, Beer Halls and visiting Neuschwanstein Castle), Prague “The City of a Hundred Spires” (see The spires of Prague and a day trip to Karlstejn Castle) and even Ljubliana with stunning Lake Bled nearby (seeWandering Ljubljana’s Old Town and Castle) ahead of it
One top tip for Salzburg – be sure to enjoy one of the Festungskonzerte (fortress concerts) in the Festung Hohensalzburg Fortress. Something just magical about listening to Mozart in that setting, but need to book ahead
Experiences nearby
The below map shows experiences nearby with a colour that reflect the Overall Score of those experiences
Other Castle and Fortress Experiences
Score Detail
Background - how many times have you asked someone what a travel experience was like and the response was "amazing" or "awesome"? That response is nice to know, but it makes it hard to differentiate that experience compared to others. That is exactly what these scores are trying to do - differentiate the experience by giving a score out of 10 based on 6 categories and then giving an overall experience score
This overall experience score is calculated by: take the highest of the "Culture" or "Nature" score (1-10) + "Fun factor" (1-10) + "Avoiding the crowds" (1-10) + highest of the "Unique" or "World Famous score" (1-10). Then convert into a score out of 100
Extra detail - the logic being that I find all of the 6 individual scores important, but I don't want to mark an experience down just because it doesn't cover both "Culture" and "Nature", or because it isn't both "World Famous" and "Unique". Take the examples of Safari in The Serengeti and walking through Rome - they both appeal at opposite ends of the nature / culture spectrum, and you can have a fantastic time without needing to appeal to both sides. So, their overall scores aren't penalized for their lack of one or the other, and I've done the same for "World Famous" vs "Unique". But . . . I do think that the "Fun factor" of an experience is important, irrelevant of other factors, and so is "Avoiding the Crowds" (or where there are crowds that add to the experience). So, both of these scores are standalone