When I decided to run a half marathon in Salzburg, I didn’t know what to expect of. I had a clue about the town, about being the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and, of course, of Red Bull. But, not too much more than that. A small town, of around 150K, but which I was about to discover. Being at the edge of the Alps increases its charm even more.
You can buy cheap train tickets thru Lufthansa
The first surprise was when I made the booking, thru Lufthansa. I am not sure if you guys know, but thru this company you can buy mixed tickets, plane + train. Which are very interesting, and generally much cheaper! For example, for a return flight from Bucharest to Vienna, and then a train connection to Salzburg, we paid only 250 euro for two! It is impressive, and also a great experience. We did live it in 2025, when we followed the same “drill” from Zurich to Geneva, but this one was even more special.
230 km / h speed
Austria is not necessary renewed to have high speed trains, unlike France, Spain, Italy, or even Germany, but the trip between Vienna airport and Salzburg train station is about 2 hours 51 minutes, even if there are 332 kilometers of distance! With a top speed of 230 km / hour, I really enjoyed the ride. Our first day in Salzburg was rather clumsy, as we didn’t sleep the night before. But since the race was scheduled on 17th of May, and we arrived on 16th of May, we needed to pick up our race kits.
Ganslhof hotel, great place to stay in Salzburg
It was then when we first discovered how green and clean is this border town. Many, many, many huge green trees all around, a lot of shade, the air so fresh, even if cars are quite a lot, comparing to our expectations – of course, you can’t compare with what is in Bucharest – but in general everything seemed so clean. The pick up was easy, on a rather gray day. We are going to eat something, and after walking in total around 11 kilometers to get a glimpse of the town, we “retire” in our room at Ganslhof hotel, a splendid accommodation, which I highly recommend!
1:32:17 for a half marathon, not bad, but not of what I dreamt
After a long night sleep, at quarter to six we are awake, and ready to prepare the race. The weather is perfect. No rain, not too much sun, cool fresh air. The race is rather flat, so normally you can set a PB there. I did my best, but only 1:32:17 came out, my third time at halves (second official), but still not under the 1:30 mark I crave for, which breeds, indeed, some frustration. But considering what landscape I’ve encountered, with the Alps on sight for a long time, the time detail became second.
FC Red Bull Salzburg, of course, on the list
Once I finish – the start was at 8:30, to capitalize even more the coolness of the air for our lungs and heart, made it easy for us to have all the day ahead of us. We leverage that with a real beef burger lunch, and then went to enjoy the last match of the season, FC Red Bull Salzburg – Hartberg, enriching our knowledge about Austrian sport in general. From the stadium, we took the decision to walk back to the city center, mostly on a pedestrian 3 kilometers long path.
Salzburg is endemically clean and green
When travelling, we do walk a lot, and taking random paths help us better understand really the place in which we are located. You can keep up in the city center with cleanness and order, but it is hard to “pretend” at town level. In Salzburg, everything looks clean, quiet, peaceful and, again, very, very green! While returning and entering the center, we did discover a small forest type park, surrounding, in some way, the fortress. Not only we did enjoyed the multitude of threes, but we did also had some belvedere points to the Alps.
The charm of Salzach
Salzburg is a town that has an astonishing number of churches! In the downtown you can practically see almost a dozen next to each other, I would say they have more churches than bridges! They are big, but also modest. They integrate into the landscape perfectly, and give a unique air to the town. The Salzach river looks small, but it gives an additional charm to the city. It basically matches its size, and for a quite small town as Salzburg is, the Salzach seems to match perfectly. The grass on the shore is cut perfectly.
A day for the Alps
Actually, another thing you acknowledge very easy when it comes to Salzburg is that not only it is very green, but the grass and trees are very well maintained. There are no burned / dead spots. Practically everything is fresh and alive. The sensation to be here in May is unbelievable! On Monday, 18th of May, we enjoy too less of Salzburg, as we are heading in the German rural Alpine area to immerse in that landscape, but still we have time to go for an evening walk.
Check out Zum Mohren if you want to eat well
Also, to eat at Zum Mohren Restaurant. With Austrian, Italian, and Indian specialties, we choose a schnitzel, of course. And we like it so much, that we returned the next day to try some more dishes. I highly recommend this place, if you are undecided where to eat in Salzburg. It won’t fail your expectations! A full day, so some rest is needed, especially 19th of May is our last whole day in Salzburg and we want to take full advantage of it! Main objectives: Mozart’s birthplace and Hangar-7.
Lessons from… Mozart
While about Hangar-7 and Red Bull I have already wrote a separate article, I’ll dive in directly on the “Mozart” topic. Truth being told, I am more of a profane on the subject, to develop it yet too seriously, but leaving the art aside a bit for those who have better competence in understanding it, it is important to mention some astonishing facts found out there. Maybe you all knew that Mozart was the son of a highly educated couple, but on the same time, maybe few knew that the family didn’t owned the place we visit, but it was rented. For 26 years!
300 years of history
Therefore a proof, from almost 300 years back, that not owning a house does not necessary forbids you to become a giant. Also, not even the fact that you give birth to seven children, and only two make it to adulthood. Those were the times, and not even highly sophisticated minded people could overcome the shortages of the ages. Not to mention that Wolfgang Amadeus lived only until 35, a detail that you might now.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart considered himself an European!
It was enough, though, for him to travel 3,700+ days! Exactly, with a moving speed of up to 7 km / h in the 18th century he could reach only 17 destinations in Europe, in a quite limited span, and for that he needed to travel effectively 11 years of his life!!! We sure need to understand that nothing can stop you if you are willing to adapt. Last, but not least, the greatest lesson learned from this place was that Mozart considered himself as a… European!
Salzburg and Mozart, the ideal match!
He didn’t identified himself with Salzburg, Vienna – where he spent his last 10 most prolific years of his life – or Austria. He was happy to perform wherever he could. Unfortunately, his reach still remained limited. It is a great history, that matches very well, three centuries forth, the vibe from Salzburg. I would say it is very hard to think of a different location to be the birth place of a celebrity like Mozart, than Salzburg. You know, I am a big fan of Norway, for example, but to be honest this Austrian (almost) village helped growing new perspectives.
Hangar-7 and Stiegl factory
The final piece of our Salzburger discovery was Hangar-7, and apart from meeting the famous Flying Bulls, we realized where the Stiegl beer factory stands; quite close to the airport, and how the periphery of Salzburg looks like. Of course, it doesn’t shine like the rest of the city in terms of architecture and so on, but it remains as clean and green as you can imagine. A final hamburger at the Hangar-7 lounge (remember, there is also Ikarus Michelin stared restaurant at their second floor), and then we took the bus, no. 10, back to the center.
Free public transportation in Salzburg
It is important to say that in Salzburg you get from the hotel free transportation inside the town, which is a token of respect we only experience in Geneve until now. Of course, paying the city tax, and a decent amount for the accommodation gives it sense, but still, there is no formal obligation to include this into the itinerary. We enjoy a bit more the streets of Salzburg, buy some souvenirs, and in the end we prepare for our last big experience: a couple run on the streets and, we will later find out, on the pretty close hills.
A run with a lot of elevation gain in the middle of Salzburg
As said, Salzburg has a lot of green territory and a big part of it is very close to the center. You can climb into a real size forest, almost, and you can see the main streets from above. It really is impressive. Also, once you accumulate here some elevation, you go down, cross the bridge, go on the flooded with big trees promenade, cross the bridge again, and start ascending to the fortress. We don’t have time for a visit, but we do catch its shape and wonderful corners for some quick pictures, to remember after years.
Enjoying brunch in the speedy train back to Vienna airport
At the end, we stop at the train station to have a better understanding of our trip back. Situated 1.4 kilometers from the hotel, it is a piece of cake, and so it proved to be the next day, when we arrive. The train left sharp, and arrived only 1 minute late – when returning home we had a delay of 5 minutes, for a 19 kilometers and 25 minutes trip… – but didn’t affect our connection in Vienna. I did enjoy a schnitzel also in the train restaurant, some cheese strudel with vanilla sauce, and, of course, another Linzer. 🙂 Some Mozart chocolates, and, finally, some sport magazines because, you know, the World Cup 2026 is coming fast, and Austria made it for the first time in 28 years.
Looking forward to Mozart 100 trail race by UTMB
I’ve visited Vienna twice, and it didn’t impress me, but I could say that Salzburg really overwhelmed my initial expectations, and I hope to be here back soon for, maybe, Mozart 100. A trail competition by UTMB, one week apart – as I write this, actually – from the Salzburg Marathon I have participated at. Mozart 100 was the initial plan, but being much popular, and with less slots available, it was already sold out when we decided to try the landscape in western Austria. For sure, though, at a point in time, sooner than later, this will be accessed.
Final conclusion
To wrap up, Salzburg looks much more like a place to leave in, than only to visit. But it is also a must have if you like all kind of sports, even if you consider only the Red Bull company, but not limited to this. If you are an art lover, then I should say no more, or if you are passionate about history. In fact, I think this is one of the few places in the world where reach history, fabulous art, and high class sport meet, shake hands, and live together in harmony. Especially if we are thinking of towns of 150K inhabitants!
