Salzburg is the fourth-largest city in Austria and the capital of the federal state of Salzburg.

Salzburg's "Old Town" (Altstadt) with its world famous baroque architecture is one of the best-preserved city centres north of the Alps, and was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997.

The city is noted for its Alpine setting. It is the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the setting for parts of the musical and film The Sound of Music, which features famous landmarks in Austria, but focuses mainly on Salzburg. Salzburg is a student city, with three universities.

Salzburg is on the banks of the Salzach river, at the northern boundary of the Alps. The mountains to Salzburg's south contrast with the rolling plains to the north. The closest alpine peak – the 1972 m Untersberg – is only a few kilometers from the city center. The Altstadt, or "old town", is dominated by its baroque towers and churches and the massive Festung Hohensalzburg. This area is surrounded by two smaller mountains, the Mönchsberg and Kapuzinerberg as the green lung of the city. Salzburg is approximately 150 km east of Munich, 281 km northwest of Ljubljana, and 300 km west of Vienna.

Salzburg is a tourist favourite, with the number of tourists outnumbering locals by a large margin in peak times. In addition to Mozart's birthplace noted above, other notable places include:

Main Sights

Old Town

• The whole Old Town of Salzburg was nominated as a World Heritage Site in 1996.
• The baroque architecture including the many churches are world famous.
• The Salzburg Cathedral (Salzburger Dom)
• The Hohensalzburg Castle (Festung Hohensalzburg) on a hill dominating the old town is one of the largest castles in Europe, with views over Salzburg.
• The Franziskanerchurch
• The St.Peter cemetery
• The Nonnberg Abbey a Benedictine monastery
• The "Residenz" Palace (the magnificent former Prince-Archbishop's residence)
• Mozart's Birthplace
• Mozart's Residence
• The University Church
• The Siegmundstor (or Neutor)
• The Getreidegasse

Outside the Inner Old Town

• Palace of Mirabell with its wide gardens full of flowers
• The palace of Leopoldskron is a rococo palace and a national historic monument in Leopoldskron-Moos, a southern district of the city of Salzburg.
• Hellbrunn with its parks and castles
• Tour companies operate tours of locations used in the film The Sound of Music.

Within the greater Salzburg area

• Anif Castle
• The Basilika Maria Plain on the Calvary Hill, a late Baroque church, on the northern edge of Salzburg.
• Salzburger Freilichtmuseum Großgmain, an open-air museum containing old farmhouses/farm buildings from all over the state assembled in historic setting.
• The Schloss Klessheim Palace (today a Casino) was formerly used by Adolf Hitler
• The Berghof, Hitler's mountain retreat of which only the Eagle's Nest remains, was in nearby Berchtesgaden
• The Salzkammergut is an area of lakes in the Salzburg state, east of the city and further on into the provinces of Upper Austria and Styria.
• The Untersberg mountain is next to the city, straddling the German-Austrian border, and on a clear day provides panoramic views of the city and the Alps.
• Skiing is an attraction during winter. Salzburg itself has no skiing facilities, but it acts as a gateway to skiing areas to the south. During the winter months its airport receives charter flights from around Europe.

Zoo Salzburg

• The Salzburg Zoo is in the South of the city, in the municipality of Anif.