We caught up with our very own personal travel manager, Kylie Gretener, who is one travel advisor who knows Austria and the Sound of Music very well.
Kylie’s first international adventure was as a Rotary Exchange Student at 16 years old when she lived in Austria for a year – a huge step into the world for a young country town girl from Queensland Australia! This opened her eyes and heart to the world and there was no going back from there.
Kylie has lived in Salzburg and has also worked as a tour guide for the Sound of Music. To say she is a Sound fan is an understatement, and we are here for it.
I met an exchange student from South Africa in high school and thought it was the most amazing idea to be able to live in another country, so I applied through Rotary and was accepted after many rounds of interviews. And, they decided on Austria for me – my family and I had to look it up in an atlas as we had never travelled and didn’t know too much about the world!
Pretty major culture shock! Everything was so different. The language (I had learned German in school, but due to the Austrian dialect, I didn’t understand anything!), the food (which I loved!), all the history and culture and traditions – and of course the beautiful scenery with the snow capped mountains.
So much is the same! While they are definitely getting more variety in international food choices, there are still a lot of Austrian dishes that are exactly the same – served with the same side salad and dressing as 35 years ago. The landscape doesn’t change much and is still just as beautiful. I find there are so many traditions passed through generations as well – be it making elderflower cordial or picking wild mushrooms, to celebration traditions such as the May pole festival or carnival parades.
If we can take them to spin around on the mountain where the opening scene was filmed – but that is a farmer’s private property in Bavaria – and they took Julie up on an Ox cart on the day of filming, so the farmer doesn’t want hundreds of thousands of fans trampling his grass 60 years later. And I also get asked a lot if I have met any of the actors or real Von Trapps, which I have!
The best part of the tour for me are the stories that people share with me about what the movie means to them. For 60 years this movie has been creating memories with families and friends and given people strength in difficult times and joy in celebration times. I absolutely underestimated the impact it has had on so many people’s lives, and understand now much more why it is a bucket list tour and the number one thing to do in Salzburg.
My personal favourite part of the tour is when we head out of the city into the Salzburg lakes district to go to the village where the church is that they used for the wedding scene. The scenery is so breathtaking, and timed with the music from the movie, is very impressive. I love to see people’s WOW faces as we come around the corner to a particular lookout where we stop for photos. It is also fun to see the excitement when they see the 16 going on 17 gazebo.
I honestly have no idea – I remember watching it a lot as a kid as it was one of the only VHS tapes in our collection, and I have always loved musical theatre and musical movies, but I know that my emotional attachment developed more after my exchange year as I loved watching it to see Salzburg and Austria.
I was lucky enough to pick up Nicholas Hammond (who played Friedrich) from the airport in Munich and bring him back to Salzburg when he came to do some promotional filming for the 60th anniversary. He lives in Australia and has done for around 40 years, still appearing on stage and screen! He was very generous with his stories about the time making the movie in Salzburg and how it impacted their lives after the movie was released.
He also still receives a lot of fan mail with stories about what the movie means to them. My biggest takeaway from my time chatting to him was how special the relationship was which developed during and after filming – they are still one big family.
There are many fabulous restaurants – biggest tip there is to make reservations as most of them are small!
A great way to find other things to do in the city is do get the Salzburg card – a fantastic value tourist card valid for 24 or 48 hours which gives you entrance to most of the attractions and includes your public transport. One of the best inclusions is the cable car up to the top of the Untersberg which is a mountain almost 2000m high right at the edge of the city, and you have views forever from up there!
Some other things to see – the Mozart museums (he was born in Salzburg in 1756), the old town – UNESCO heritage listed since 1997 as it is so well preserved. A visit to the fortress of Salzburg is a must as it is the largest fully in tact fortress in middle Europe and also offers fabulous views over the city. You can take tours to the Salt Mines and see how the ‘white gold’ was and still is, mined, and get to experience being a salt miner going right into the mountains. Summer offers fabulous days by the lakes in the area.. there is the Red Bull Hangar 7 which houses a lot of their planes, helicopters, formula 1 cars etc which they use in sports and stunts – the list goes on and on.
There are several events happening throughout the year. The musical will be back in the state theatre later this year. In October, there will be a charity gala at the Schloss Leopoldskron hotel (which was used for the back yard and lake in the movie), and they have a small exhibition there too of memorabilia. I believe the actors who played the children will be visiting later in the year too, but details are still being finalised. IN 2026, there is a Sound of Music museum opening at the Hellbrunn Palace too – it may have taken 60 years, but they have definitely worked out now that this movie will be bringing people to the city for many more years.
If you are a Sound of Music fan and have this on your bucket list, we are here to help you tick this one off the list. LINK to the Salzburg page.
TravelManagers respects and honours the Traditional Custodians of the land and pay our respects to their Elders past, present and future. We acknowledge the stories, traditions and culture of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples on the lands where we work and gather, and those we visit.
