I LOVE Salzburg! Lets just start by saying that. I had visited twice previously with my hubby but we returned for a short break with our 10 and 11 year old boys in May 2024. Sadly, the weather was not with us. There was rain, lots of rain….. Despite this, we had a fab few days in Salzburg and I wanted to share some of our top things to do with tweens and teens.
1. Make (then eat) apple strudel
You cannot visit Austria and not eat apple strudel. However, if you are looking for hands on things to do with tweens or teens, I would really recommend a strudel making workshop in Salzburg. Click here for my review of our workshop with Edelweis Cooking School where we got to make apple strudel and Salzburger Nockerl (a sweet souffle-like dessert in the shape – ideally – of mountain peaks).
2. Take the funicular up to Fortress Hohensalzburg
You can walk up on a nice day but the funicular is a fun experience and included with a Salzburg Card. The fortress overlooks the city and the views from the top are stunning (on a clear day!)
If you don’t have a Salzburg Card, you can choose 3 different levels of tickets. We went for the the mid-range which included the funicular, entry into the fortress, the marionette museum and the armoury (but not the state rooms or magic theatre). We didn’t have huge amounts of time to spend and I wasn’t sure my tweens would be interested in the state rooms so this seemed like the best option!
3. Salzburg Christmas Museum
As much as I love Salzburg, I love Christmas more, as do my tweens! My husband not so much…. Despite this, the inclement weather was enough to persuade him that we should pay a visit to Salzburg’s Christmas Museum (Salzburger Weihnachtsmuseum).
Located on Mozartplatz in the Old Town, this quirky museum is above Café Glockenspiel (a good stop off for a hot choc or slice of cake!).
In 2 large rooms, the Museum houses Christmas objects collected by one lady, Ursula Kloiber, over a 40 year period. Be aware that these are historic objects, her collection only goes up to around 1940.
The boys enjoyed finding the numbers on the little white doors of the life-size advent calendar. Each door hides a style of old advent calendar. We also had a fun game of spotting the creepiest Krampus (Santa’s evil helper!). I was fascinated by the model Christmas scenes, including models of Christmas Market stalls. Even my hubby showed some (limited) interest in the display showing Christmas ornaments in the run up to the first and second world wars (think fighter plan and U-boat tree decorations).
This is an interesting but relatively brief stop off – I can’t see anyone spending more than 45 minutes here. Entry is free with the Salzburg Card, which makes it worthwhile. However, entry for a family of 4 will be 28 Euros without the Card so doesn’t feel such good value.
4. Let your teens or tweens choose a Christmas Tree decoration
If the Salzburg Christmas Museum wasn’t enough to satisfy your festive fix, a short stroll through the old town will take you to 2 (yes, 2!) year-round Christmas shops.
We have a family tradition that I let the boys each choose an ornament for our Christmas tree when we spot a Christmas shop on our travels. My only stipulation is that the tree decoration they choose must have a connection to the place where they bought it so we can remember our travels when we hang them on the tree each year. So far, we have ornaments from Salzburg, Edinburgh and Bruges.
Even if you don’t buy anything, these shops will give you that warm fuzzy festive feeling!
5. All things Mozart!
This one will depend on your kids. My 11 year old plays the piano and is a mad on classical music, particularly Mozart, so this was the highlight of his trip. The challenge was trying to make it interesting for my 10 year old rock fan!
We visited both the Mozart Geburtshaus (where he was born) and the Mozart Wohnhaus (where he lived with his wife and family). Both are included with the Salzburg Card and I would recommend buying this. Otherwise, individual entry tickets do work out quite expensive, particularly as these are fairly quick visits.
You can download an audio guide from a QR code on your phone. Be aware that this does use a lot of data and you will need headphones for everyone (no guides or headphones are available to borrow in either museum). If you don’t want to this, the information boards in the museums do have an English translation and this covers pretty much the same information (you just don’t get Mozart playing in the background).
To try to keep my 10 year old’s interest, I downloaded a treasure hunt / puzzle trail from Questo, called Mozart’s Salzburg. The download only costs a few pounds and the app did work easily. The trail did keep the boys marching round the City (stopping off at various Mozart-related points of interest). However, it did feel as though some of the clues had been written by someone who had never visited Salzburg (for example, one of the clues at the Cathedral was guess work and even once it had told us the correct answer, we couldn’t see how it could have been answered). We managed 8 of the 10 clues but gave up on the trail after 10 minutes climbing endless stairs in the pouring rain and strong wind….. I’m not necessarily sure I would do another trail with Questo but the idea of it was good and it did keep my younger boy going without complaining he was bored. So probably £6 well spent.
