The Sound of Music in Salzburg
The film that’s making Salzburg famous all over the world
The 1965 film telling the story of Maria Trapp, the former novice from the Nonnberg Convent, is still popular all over the world. Numerous tourists come to Salzburg to visit the original locations of the von Trapp story.
Leopoldskron Castle Maria Kutschera was a novice at the Nonnberg Convent, only a few minutes on foot from Hotel Kasererbraeu. The nuns sent her to Baron von Trapp to tend to his seven children. With her charming ways she quickly won the hearts of the children and the Baron, who married her. The von Trapps lived a happy family live until the Anschluss – the annexation of Austria by the Third Reich. Singing and dancing played an important role in the lives of the von Trapps. Maria founded a family choir, which performed at a folk music contest, which the von Trapp choir subsequently won.
Why the von Trapps went to America
The Nazis tried to force Baron Georg Ludwig von Trapp to serve in the German Navy, but he fled to Switzerland with his family. From there, the von Trapps emigrated to America. As ‘Trapp Family Singers’ they travelled the USA to give concerts. When Maria Trapp wrote down her story in 1949 she didn’t know she was writing the material for one of the most successful musicals of all times.
‘The Sound of Music’ the musical
In the mid-1960s representatives of the 20th Century Fox Studio in Hollywood visited Salzburg. With them they had the book written by Maria Trapp; Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer – the stars of the ‘The Sound of Music’. The musical film was shot at the most beautiful locations in Salzburg – Nonnberg Convent above your Hotel Kasererbraeu for instance. The lives of the von Trapps are inextricably linked to Salzburg.
Nonnberg Abbey, the Benedictine convent in Salzburg 
Mirabell Palace and Mirabell Gardens 
Salzburg Baroque Horse Pond 
Sound of Music Pavilion at Hellbrunn Locations of ‘The Sound of Music’ in Salzburg:
- Stift Nonnberg Convent: only a short walk from Hotel Kasererbraeu
- Mirabell Gardens: 15 minutes on foot from your hotel: where the von Trapps sang the famous song ‘Do-Re-Mi’
- Schloss Leopoldskron Palace
- Schloss Frohnburg Palace
- the Horsepond at the Festival Hall
- the cemetery of St. Peter Abbey: where the exciting chase sequence was filmed.
- the gardens of Hellbrunn Palace: where you will find the gazebo from the film
