Salzburg, literally "Salt Fortress", is the fourth-largest city in Austria and the capital of the federal state of Salzburg. Its Old Town (Altstadt) has internationally renowned baroque architecture and one of the best-preserved city centres north of the Alps. It has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997. The 18th-century composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born and raised in Salzburg and worked for the archbishops from 1769 until 1781. His house of birth and his residence are both tourist attractions, and his family is buried in a small church graveyard in the old town. In the mid-20th century, it was also the setting for parts of the musical and film The Sound of Music.

The number of tourists outnumbers locals by a large margin in peak times. In addition to Mozart's birthplace noted above, other notable places include the Salzburg Cathedral (Salzburger Dom), the Hohensalzburg Castle (Festung Hohensalzburg), one of the largest castles in Europe, Residenzgalerie, an art museum in the Salzburg Residenz, Mirabell Palace, with its wide gardens full of flowers, Schloss Leopoldskron, a rococo palace and national historic monument in Leopoldskron-Moos, Hellbrunn, with its parks and castles, The Sound of Music tour companies, operating tours of film locations, Hangar-7, a multifunctional building owned by Red Bull, with a collection of historical airplanes, helicopters and Formula One racing cars, Anif Castle, Schloss Klessheim, a palace and casino, formerly used by Adolf Hitler, Berghof, Hitler's mountain retreat near Berchtesgaden, Kehlsteinhaus, the only remnant of Hitler's Berghof, and Salzkammergut, an area of lakes east of the city.

The Salzburg Festival is a famous music festival that attracts visitors during the months of July and August each year. A smaller Salzburg Easter Festival is held around Easter each year.

Accommodation in Salzburg’s university residences

The city is home to 3 universities and many of the independently-owned student residences offer affordable visitor accommodation in the summer months. It should be understood that these residences are designed primarily for students and not children or adults expecting a high level of luxury. However, with this in mind, the halls do meet a level of comfort that we expect most visitors to be happy with, and we will welcome any feedback where this is not the case.

Getting around Salzburg

The city enjoys comprehensive rail connections, with frequent east-west trains going to Vienna, Munich, Innsbruck, and Zürich, including daily high-speed ICE services. The city also acts as a hub for south-bound trains through the Alps and into Italy. Salzburg Airport offers scheduled flights to many European cities, such as Frankfurt, Vienna, London, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Brussels, Düsseldorf, and Zürich, as well as Hamburg and Dublin. In the main city, the easiest way to get around is the Salzburg trolleybus system and bus system, with a total of more than 20 lines, and service every 10 minutes. Salzburg has an S-Bahn system with four Lines (S1, S2, S3, S11): trains depart from the main station every half an hour and are part of the ÖBB network.

Traces of human settlements have been found in the area dating to the Neolithic Age. The first settlements at Salzburg were apparently begun by the Celts around the 5th century BC. Around 15 BC, the separate settlements were merged into one city by the Roman Empire. At this time the city was named Juvavum and was then awarded the status of a Roman municipium in the year 45 AD. It developed into an significant town of the Roman province of Noricum, but after the collapse of frontier, it declined sharply and by the late 7th century it was a "near ruin". The Life of Saint Rupert credits the 8th-century saint with the city's rebirth. The name Salzburg actually means "Salt Castle" and derives from the barges carrying salt on the Salzach River, which were subject to a toll in the 8th century. Independence from Bavaria was secured at the end of the 14th century and the city was the seat of the Archbishopric of Salzburg, a prince-bishopric of the Holy Roman Empire.

From 1772 to 1803, under archbishop Hieronymus Graf von Colloredo, the city became a centre of late Illuminism, but in 1803, the archbishopric was secularised by Emperor Napoleon and handed over to Ferdinand III of Tuscany as the Electorate of Salzburg. By 1805, the city was annexed to the Austrian Empire and in 1809, the territory of Salzburg was again transferred to the Kingdom of Bavaria, following Austria's defeat at Wagram. In 1815, at the Congress of Vienna, it was definitively returned to Austria, but excluding Rupertigau and Berchtesgaden. Salzburg was then integrated into the Salzach province and Salzburgerland, ruled from the city of Linz. In 1850, Salzburg's status was once again restored as the capital of the Duchy of Salzburg, a crownland of the Austrian Empire. In 1866, the city became part of Austria-Hungary.

In 1918, following the World War I and the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Salzburg, as the capital of one of its territories, became part of the new German Austria, representing the residual German-speaking territories of the Austrian heartlands. However, this was replaced by the First Austrian Republic in 1919, following the Treaty of Versailles. In 1938, during the Anschluss, Austria, including Salzburg itself, was annexed to the German Third Reich: German troops were moved to the city and political opponents, Jewish citizens and other minorities were soon arrested and deported. The synagogue was destroyed and many POW camps were organized in the area. During World War II, the Salzburg-Maxglan concentration camp was also located here. Allied bombing destroyed thousands of houses and killed 550 inhabitants. American troops entered Salzburg in May 1945.