Salzbergwerk and Königssee, Germany

My main reason for visiting Salzburg was to visit Königssee. When I was doing my Masters in Germany, my then colleague showed me a picture book on Königssee. It is so scenic! I have to visit it one day!

From Salzburg Hbf, take bus 840 to Salzbergwerk, which is a salt mine in Germany. Bus 840 leaves every hour at .15 from Salzburg Hbf and the journey takes around 40 min. Tickets can be bought from bus driver. Purchase a Tageskarte (All Day Pass) at 9.80€ which also cover other local buses around Berchtesgaden. Note: Salzburg is in Austria but Salzbergwerk is in Germany.

You can check the schedule for bus 840 here. http://www.albus.at/files/2011/12/2015-05-24-TFP-S_840.pdf

Present your Tageskarte at the salt mine and you would be given a 10% discount. The tour takes around 1.5 to 2h. It is 12 deg C the salt mine and every participant given a set of salt miner costume to wear during the visit. The tour is conducted in both German and English (live commentary in German and recording in English). The explanation in German and English are rather different. Personally, I found the German commentary more informative. 

Me in salt miner costume

The slide was certainly a highlight!

From Salzbergwerk take bus 840 to Berechtesgarten Hbf and change to bus 841 to Königssee (King's lake). Take a boat ride at Königssee. 

There are 2 options for the boat ride. Either you take to St Bartolemä (35 min one-way,  €13.90 return) or if you have more time, take to Salet (1h one-way, €16.90 return). Both have pubs and walking trails, so it’s easy to fill up a bit of time. Take note of the timing of the last return journey. If you miss it, you either have to stay in the hotel there or pay a premium for your private boat ride back.

Hearing echo

Biergarten at St Bartolemä

Salet

Salzburg, Austria

Salzburg is well known as the filming site for Sound of Music. One could take a direct train from Munich Hbf to Salzburg Hbf and the journey would take around 2 hours. Unfortunately, when I was there last October, the border between Germany and Austria was closed to prevent refugees from crossing over. Hence, everyone on the train had to alight at Freilassing, the German border and take a free shuttle bus to Salzburg Hbf. That was not too bad as instructions were clear and everyone knew what to do. 

The return journey from Salzburg to Munich was not as smooth. From Salzburg city centre, I had to take a bus (and pay bus fare) to a station, and walked quite a distance (with no clear directions) to Freilassing. Luckily, there were other travellers on the same bus and they knew how to get to the station so I simply followed them.

Alright, back to Salzburg. My main aim of visiting Salzburg was to taste the original Sacher Torte. And so, I went to Hotel Sacher and ordered a piece of the original Sacher Torte! There are many cafes which were selling Sacher Torte, but the original one is by Hotel Sacher. Note that Sacher Torte was not in the display panel. I ordered the cake from the waiter/waitress directly and it cost 5.60 Euro for a slice. I found the cake too sweet for my liking. I preferred to eat it with the whipped cream to make it less sweet.

Original Sacher Torte at Hotel Sacher, Salzburg

I stayed at Yoho International Youth Hostel and it was a pleasant stay. The main draw was its central location which meant I could walk to the attractions. Every night, there was free movie screening of the Sound of Music at the hostel. Unfortunately, I only managed to catch less than 1 hour of the movie before I succumbed to jetlag.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's birthplace was in Salzburg. Hence, you could visit Mozart's house in Salzburg and purchase Mozartkugel as souvenirs. 

Mozart's birthplace

Mozart's souvenirs

Of course, a visit to Salzburg is never complete without visiting the Salzburg fortress. 

Salzburg Fortress