Visiting Hellbrunn Palace, explained

Hellbrunn is a summer villa built from 1613 for Prince-Archbishop Markus Sittikus, about five kilometres south of Salzburg’s old town, and its trick fountains have been spraying guests for over four hundred years. The park is free and holds the gazebo from The Sound of Music; the ticket, about sixteen and a half euros for an adult, buys the fountains and the palace, walked with an audio guide in about eighty minutes. Here is how a visit goes, in order, and what each product adds to it.

The bus or the boat

Bus 25 runs from the main station through Mirabellplatz and the old town to the stop “Schloss Hellbrunn”, about twenty-five minutes, and the Salzburg Card covers it. The other way in is by water: the boat trip leaves the old-town dock on the Franz-Josef-Kai, takes about thirty minutes down the Salzach, then about ten minutes on a 1963 London-style double-decker bus to the palace gate, with the palace ticket and priority entry to the fountains in the price. On days of low water the operator may run the whole trip by bus. Every way there, with times.

The ticket, and who includes it

Tickets are sold at the entrance; no reservation is needed for individuals. One ticket covers three things for one day: the trick fountains, the palace exhibition and the folk museum in the Monatsschlössl on the hill, each with a mobile audio guide. An adult pays about sixteen and a half euros, a child or pupil about six and a half, and a family card covers two adults and a child. Two products include the admission: the boat trip, and the Salzburg Card, which also covers bus 25, the fortress and most of the city’s museums for 24, 48 or 72 hours. The card bought online is a voucher, exchanged in person at the Tourist Information before it is valid on a bus. The tariff, and what each product adds.

The audio guide

The fountains are walked at your own pace. At the entrance you scan a QR code and download the tracks to your own phone; they work offline, in fifteen languages, and there are traditional audio devices for visitors without a phone. The fountain tracks run about fifty minutes, the palace about thirty, and there are children’s versions of both.

The prince’s table, and the walk

The first station is the Roman theatre, with a stone dining table and stone seats. Water sprays up through the seats at the archbishop’s guests; the host’s seat stays dry. That is the joke the whole garden is built on. The palace’s own answer to “will I get wet” is only if you wish to, otherwise a few drops, and please protect your electronic devices. Jürgen, a reviewer of the boat trip, put it more plainly: “you were sure to get wet at every stop.” From the table the path leads through grottoes with figures of Greek gods and mythical creatures, past hidden jets in the paths and seats, a crown lifted and dropped by a jet of water, and the mechanical theatre of 1750, 163 water-driven figures showing the life of a Baroque town, still running on water. The largest fountain, the Altemps fountain with its star pond, is fed by a natural spring. The fountains, station by station.

The palace

The palace was a villa suburbana, a summer day residence outside the city, so it has no bedroom. The exhibition inside, “GrandDelight — the unexpected world of Markus Sittikus”, is interactive and takes about thirty minutes with the audio guide; photography is welcome. The park and the fountains are wheelchair accessible; the palace is not. The architect was Santino Solari, and the villa was essentially finished by 1615. Markus Sittikus and the villa.

The park and the gazebo

About sixty hectares of park, part landscaped, part natural biotope, open daily from half past six in the morning to nine at night, free, all year, with a large adventure playground. The Sound of Music gazebo stands near the entrance. The film was not shot here: during filming the gazebo stood in the grounds of Schloss Leopoldskron, the interiors were filmed on a larger set at the Fox studios in Los Angeles, and it was moved to Hellbrunn after filming because of visitor demand. It is locked, so you photograph it from outside. The Monatsschlössl on the hill, said to have been built in a single month, holds the folk museum and is on the ticket. Where the gazebo really came from.

The zoo next door

Salzburg Zoo is in the palace grounds, a five-minute walk from the palace, on a separate ticket that the Salzburg Card includes. Families often pair the two. Hellbrunn with children.

The concert inside the palace

The afternoon concert is the one way to sit inside the palace for music: forty-five minutes of Baroque works and soprano arias from Mozart’s operas on a historical harpsichord or spinet. The concert ticket covers the concert only, so the fountains are a separate admission the same afternoon, and children under six are not admitted. Nineteen ratings is a small base; they average 4.6. The palace concerts.

The tours, for a day without a car

The two Sound of Music tours stop at the gazebo in the free park without entering the fountains. The four-hour tour strings Leopoldskron, the gazebo, Nonnberg Abbey, St Gilgen and Mondsee together with a live guide who plays the soundtrack on the coach; the ten-hour version adds Hallstatt in the morning. For the fountains themselves the choice is the boat trip, two and a half hours with about an hour at Hellbrunn, and reviewers would have taken more; or the Salzburg Card and bus 25 at your own pace. All five, sorted by situation.

In one sentence

The park and the gazebo are free; the ticket, about sixteen and a half euros for an adult, buys the trick fountains and the palace; the boat trip and the Salzburg Card include it. The widget above has live dates.

Ready to book?

The boat-and-bus trip from the old town includes the trick fountains and the palace with priority entry, and cancels free up to 24 hours before. If you are staying two or three days, compare it with the Salzburg Card, which covers the admission and bus 25; film fans should look at the Sound of Music tours, which stop at the gazebo.

Frequently asked questions