Having read some of the reviews of the SoM tour, I am now confused as to how and who to book with. I am a huge Sound of Music fan and do not want to be disappointed with this tour.
Does anyone have recommendations for a good tour? I don%26#39;t mind paying extra for a better quality experience.
Thank you
Sharon
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Hello, Sharon
I%26#39;m sure someone else will come on and recommend a tour. I haven%26#39;t taken either of them but hear good reports of both. What I wanted to say, as you say you%26#39;re a huge fan, is that not every location is featured in the tour. There are some that they don%26#39;t bother with and some are simply drive-bys, so you may want to seek them out yourself.
Nonnberg Abbey can be reached by walking up the very steep path from Kapitelplatz, along in front of the fortress. The abbey is signposted. If you follow this all the way round you come to the gate where, in the film, the children go to try and talk to Maria after she leaves them and returns to the abbey. You can also go inside the little church there which is ancient and beautiful.
When Maria is teaching the children to sing do-re-mi there is one point at which they are putting words to the notes. They are leaning against a wall with glorious views of the city behind them. This spot can be reached if you go on the Monchsberg lift up to the museum of modern art. The wall and view featured in the film is just outside the doors of the museum. The bottom of the lift is quite close to the horse pond, also featured in the film, so you can see two sights close together there.
Frohnburg, the house which is used when Maria arrives at the Von Trapp%26#39;s place (singing %26quot;I have confidence%26quot; is situated on the Hellbrunner Allee, behind the fortress. This lane is not accessible to coaches so I think the tours view the house from quite a distance. If you wanted to see it up closer just ask for directions to the Hellbrunner Allee and enjoy the walk along this ancient path (which Maria dances along with her guitar, in the film).
Please don%26#39;t get too excited about the %26quot;Sixteen going on Seventeen%26quot; summer house. It is now located at Schloss Hellbrunn but you%26#39;re not allowed inside it. To be honest it looks like a conservatory like you%26#39;d see on sale at a garden centre :-)
The great thing about the SOM tours is that you get to see something of the lovely Salzkammergut region, a real treat. I%26#39;ve heard that the atmosphere on the tours is really good too.
If you%26#39;re interested in seeing the real Von Trapp family%26#39;s house it is in Aigen, a lovely suburb to the south of Salzburg. You can get the No. 7 bus to Aigen and then walk along a leafy street to the house. It is not open to the public and is, I think, owned by a religious order. But they are used to people coming along and photographing it.
A couple of years ago we bought a Sound of Music Keepsake booklet which gives all the film locations. I can%26#39;t remember where we bought it but it might be available in the tourist office (in Mozartplatz). It is printed by a local company so you could email them and ask about it:
officecolorama.at
Hope some of this is helpful.
Liz.
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Thanks Liz - that is all really useful to know. We have plenty of time to sit down and plan the excursion so it might be better to do it ourselves. I have noticed a lot of people have been disappointed with the not being able to see the house etc, so a diy one might be preferable.
Thanks again
Sharon
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Hi, we took Bob%26#39;s Tour last December and enjoyed it very much. That being said, we also did the big sights on our own a few years ago and it was easy as Liz said. I can%26#39;t speak for Panorama Tours - which is the larger bus tour, but Bruno from Bob%26#39;s Tours slowed down as much as possible when we went past the Frohnburg house on Hellbrunner Allee, and we also passed it again when we took the bus to Hellbrunn Palace. I was able to get a couple pictures of it.
I wanted to take the tour basically just to see if I learned any additional information that I was not already aware of. and there were some interesting tidbits that we enjoyed.
You don%26#39;t say when you are going but I do know in the summer all the tours stop at a spot when you ride down the mountain and then have apple strudel. Personally, I could do without that and have more time at the specific places, but as Liz said there are so many you can do and even right there in town just by walking around. The book Liz has sounds wonderful and if you could get your hands on that it would be a great help.
Either way, you will really enjoy being at the actual places.
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Hello again, Sharon
You could certainly do a tour on your own. You%26#39;d need transport to get to the Salzkammergut region. It is relatively close to Salzburg so not difficult driving. We always hire a car but you could do it on public transport. The benefit of the organised SOM tour would be that the transport is arranged for you. I would say the disadvantage of the tour, apart from not seeing all the sights close up, is that you are restricted by time pressure. I suppose a compromise would be that you could go on the tour and still visit some of the other sights at your leisure. For instance Hellbrunn is very interesting to visit but I believe when you go there on the SOM tour you don%26#39;t have time to really see the palace or water garden as the summer house is in the grounds close to the car park. If I%26#39;m wrong in this assumption I do hope someone who has enjoyed the tour will let me know :-)
Most of the SOM sights are in relatively close proximity to each other. Mirabelgarten - a must for SOM fans, is just across the river from the old city (a five minute walk). Walking up to Nonnberg Abbey takes a while as it%26#39;s a steep climb, but well worth the effort. We usually combine it with a visit to the fortress. We go up to the fortress on the funicular (to avoid the steep walk) then we walk down. As we%26#39;re walking down the signpost to Nonnberg shows the way so we usually do a quick detour and see the abbey. There are also nice views towards the mountains from the abbey. Then the steep walk is downwards rather than upwards!
Please ask if you have any other SOM queries, or send me a private message.
Liz.
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