Classical Sounds of Austria: Schubert to Salzburg Tour

Handcrafted for classical music lovers or just the curious, this ten-day tour explores the places and people that defined music and culture throughout the centuries. Traveling from Vienna to Salzburg overland, you go in search of the famous notes – like Mozart and Haydn – along with the lesser-known tales that hide behind mountains or shy away from fame. With music as a focal point, you dive into so many other aspects of Austria’s culture, like Vienna’s fine art and cafes, medieval histories along the River Danube, and The Sound of Music popularized by Julie Andrews in Salzburg. Barely a moment goes by without another note, but the itinerary balances music with all those other grand Austrian highlights, notably the majestic European Alps.

Start with three days in Vienna, the first left free, so you can rest and relax in the old capital of the Hapsburgs. Spend day two with the music. You visit Schubert, Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven’s homes, each of their houses contrast the settings where music’s great masters composed their operas. That evening, you feel the music, the State Opera House one of the world’s most enchanting venues. Visit the Imperial Palace Chapel, where the sounds of the Vienna Boy’s Choir reverberate around the walls. The Museum of Fine Arts and a famous Viennese pastry are two more highlights as you fully settle into this private cultural tour.

Travel to Eisenstadt, where a princely dynasty employed Haydn as court composer; from the palace to the composer’s house and mausoleum you take an immersive look at a legend’s history. The surrounding area has superb wine and you spend the night along the lakeshore in Neusidle. Soak into the soothing water of Baden on day five, a famous spa town where Beethoven wrote many of his masterpieces, and Mozart’s Ave Verum Corpus was both inspired and first performed. You’ll visit the small parish church that still hums with those hypnotic organ notes. There’s a delightful old-world hotel in Austria’s oldest city, a little break from the music as you travel the Danube area to discover Austria’s medieval past.

Along the shores of the Danube is the land popularized by Wagner’s operas, various places to explore as you continue to Linz, home of another Austrian heavyweight: Anton Bruckner. He was known as God’s musician and St. Florian Abbey is where he worked endlessly on the music. You’re now in the mountains, vistas all around as the private tour continues through the Salzkammergut Lake District, where the story extends to Brahms, Kalman, Oscar Strauss and Fran Lehar. By the afternoon, you’re in Salzburg, where the music revolved around one name: Mozart. It’s a blissful little city, a corner of Europe that you want to pick up and take back home.

Another musical score made Salzburg famous and even if you are not fond of The Sound of Music, a movie-based tour is a great lens from which to discover the city. So take in the palace and gardens, admire the alpine views, and see the Austria that seems to manifest itself in the imagination. An evening concert at Hohensalzburg Fortress provides a fitting final tribute to this country of classical music, the setting as memorable as the musicians that continue to breathe life into the country. From Salzburg, you will be transferred to Munich for your departure flight, a far shorter transfer than returning to Vienna.