We were going to do The Sound of Music Tour, the main reason why we visited Salzburg. We have booked the original sound of music tour from Panorama Tour.
The tour can also be bought directly in Salzburg. There was a booth in front of Mirabelle garden selling the tour and it was also served as meeting point for the tour. The tour is running twice a day in the morning and in the afternoon. We prefer the morning tour so we can have the afternoon exploring Salzburg old town.
The alternative of Sound of Music tour is the Hop On Hop Off bus which also take you to filming location around Salzburg. But the reason why we chose the tour was because the tour would also cover Mondsee town outside Salzburg, a location of the church where Maria and Captain Von Trapp got married. The Hop on Hop off Bus only covered filming spots within Salzburg area.
We took the trolley bus from the bus stop near our hotel to the meeting point in front of Mirabelle garden.
Here I’m going to share you the places that the tour cover
Leopoldskron Palace
Leopoldskron Palace is a late Baroque palace and a national historic monument in Leopoldskron-Moos, a southern district of the city of Salzburg. The palace, and its surrounding seven hectare park, is located on the lake Leopoldskroner Weiher. The palace has been home to Salzburg Global Seminar since 1947. In 2014, the palace and the neighboring Meierhof building were opened as a privately owned hotel, Hotel Schloss Leopoldskron. Total 10 outdoor scenes were filmed there portraying the von Trapp home. The interior palace was never used as the Von Trapp villa. Scenes were actually filmed on an adjacent property, including the family drinking pink lemonade (“not too sweet, not too sour, just too… pink!”) on the terrace, Maria and the Captain arguing on the terrace and the children and Maria falling off the boat into the lake. Also, only shots showing the lake were filmed at adjacent property, using a replica of Leopoldskron’s terrace and “horse-gates” that lead to the lake. Shots of the building itself were filmed at Schloss Frohnburg and the decor of the ballroom used for the interior scenes is identical to that in Leopoldskron’s Venetian Room (the Venetian Room is much smaller than the ballroom).
Hellbrunn Palace
Hellbrunn Palace which host the famous gazebo for the scene 16 going on 17 and where the Captain kissed Maria. The gazebo was originally located on the grounds of Leopoldskron Palace during filming. However to allow fans to see the famous gazebo up close, it was later relocated to the gardens around Hellbrunn Palace where it can still be found today. There was a lot to see at Hellbrunn Palace as it has its own Park and Fountain but we were only there to see the gazebo.
Nonnberg Abbey
We also passed Nonnberg abbey where the Maria’s abbey was filmed. But I didn’t get a chance to take the picture of the abbey.
Salzburg Lake District.
This beautiful lake district is not part of Sound of Music shooting places but it is on our way to Mondsee and our Tour leader gave us a chance for a photo-stop and admire the view.
Mondsee
Mondsee is a town in the Vöcklabruck district in the Austrian state of Upper Austria located on the shore of the lake Mondsee. The town is home to the medieval Mondsee Abbey, whose cloister church was used for the site of the wedding in The Sound of Music. We went inside the church and then had 45 minutes of our own to stroll around the town.
Before leaving we managed to try the Apple strudel in one the cute pink cafe in Mondsee town square
Mirabelle Garden
When we finish the tour, we came back to Mirabelle Garden so Sari could take some pictures as she hasn’t been there yesterday.
Mirabelle garden is the scene where Maria and the Von Trapp children sing Do-Re-Mi while dancing, running and skipping around. You will recognize the gnome garden and the pegasus statue.
