Salzburg
47°48′ N 13°03′ ECityPop. 155,021Salzburg and the Salzkammergut
Salzburg is the base for this region in December, with the most markets, music most evenings and trains and buses out to the lakes. Weekends on the Domplatz get very busy, so save your browsing for weekday mornings.
Photo Luca Nebuloni · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0 and others, credited in the gallery
Who should base here
Salzburg gives you four Advent markets within one city, the brass of the Turmblasen on Thursday and Saturday evenings and a cathedral Christmas Mass with Mozart. The Domplatz market stays open to New Year's Day, so a trip over Christmas still finds stalls.
Eat in Salzburg
Café TomaselliCafe
The Tomaselli family has run this coffee house on the Alter Markt for more than 150 years, a short walk from the cathedral stalls. It opens Monday to Saturday 07:00 to 19:00 and from 08:00 on Sundays and holidays.
Drink in Salzburg
Augustiner Bräu Kloster MüllnBeer hall
Monks' beer has been brewed in Mülln since 1621, and here it comes from wooden barrels into stone mugs while you buy food from the stalls along the Schmankerlgang. It opens from 15:00 on weekdays and 14:30 at weekends, and it closes on 24, 25 and 31 December and 1 January.
Things to do in Salzburg
Take the train from Salzburg
- Salzburg to Munichfastest 1 h 27 min, published by Deutsche Bahn (checked Oct 10, 2026) · timetable
- Salzburg to Hallstatt · timetable
- Salzburg to Innsbruckfastest 2 h 06 min, published by ÖBB (checked Oct 10, 2026) · timetable
- Salzburg to Viennafastest 2 h 25 min, published by ÖBB (checked Oct 10, 2026) · timetable
The main market fills the Domplatz and the Residenzplatz around the cathedral, and three more run across the city: a small one in front of Schloss Mirabell near the station, a weekend market in the courtyard of the Hohensalzburg fortress and the family-minded market in the grounds of Schloss Hellbrunn to the south. All four open by late November, and the Domplatz market runs on to 1 January.
Music sets the rhythm of the day. Choirs sing in front of the cathedral every afternoon, the Turmblasen brass plays from the towers on Thursday and Saturday evenings, and the Salzburger Adventsingen fills the Grosses Festspielhaus on the first three Advent weekends. The Krampus run comes on 5 December and the Perchten on 21 December, both on the Domplatz.
Salzburg also works as the gateway to Silent Night country. The carol's author Joseph Mohr was baptised in the cathedral font, and Oberndorf, where the song was first sung in 1818, lies about 20 kilometres north.
Worth knowing
- Book the Adventsingen early, since it plays only on the first three Advent weekends.
- Take younger children to Hellbrunn on a weekday afternoon, when there's room to move.
Quick answers about Salzburg
How many Christmas markets does Salzburg have?
The city has four main ones: the Christkindlmarkt on the Domplatz and Residenzplatz, the Mirabellplatz market, the Hohensalzburg fortress market on Advent weekends and the Hellbrunn market at the palace south of town.
Are Salzburg's Christmas markets open after Christmas?
The Domplatz market stays open to 1 January 2027 and the Mirabellplatz market to 31 December. Hellbrunn and the fortress market close before Christmas.
Is Salzburg a good place to stay?
Salzburg gives you four Advent markets within one city, the brass of the Turmblasen on Thursday and Saturday evenings and a cathedral Christmas Mass with Mozart. The Domplatz market stays open to New Year's Day, so a trip over Christmas still finds stalls.
Within 12 km
Places to stay nearby
In the journal and guides