Salzburg - Central Europe ABD

[Cinderella's Slipper 2015]

The day in Salzburg starts with privately guided tour of locations from The Sound of Music that goes from Mirabell Gardens to Hellbrunn. Is it mandatory to take part in this? I realize that lunch is a part of the tour day and is held at Hellbrunn but we are not big fans of Sound of Music. There is so much more of interest for us in Salzburg than Sound of Music. We'd love to see things like Mozart's house and tour Mirabell Palace etc.

 

[hilarys]

If everything is the same as when we did the tour in July 2014, I am sure you could skip this. You would just take the coach with the rest of the group from the hotel to the first stop of the day and then do your own thing. You could ask the guides the meeting time and place for dinner right in old town Vienna. I will say that even though the morning tour was geared towards seeing locations that were used in the movie, they also hold a lot of interest as beautiful gardens and buildings. The gardens at Hellbrun in particular are not to be missed and did not really feel like a "sound of music tour" until the last stop. I do agree that there was not enough time in old town Salzburg. My daughter wanted to do a carriage ride so I only made it into two chocolate shops and did not make it to the "egg shop"

 

[Cinderella's Slipper 2015]

Thanks. This is what our itinerary says:

Privately Guided Tour of Locations from the Film The Sound of Music
Take to the hills as you begin your privately guided tour at Mirabell Gardens and finish at Hellbrunn Castle. Along the way you'll see the
locations and inspirations from the classic movie.

I can't remember the last time we watched this movie so seeing the locations is really not high on our list of things to do. Would be much more interested in things like Mozart's residence and stuff like that.

 

[sayhello]

Unless the activity is an "on the way" type of thing that involves transfers from one hotel to another, you are not required to go anywhere on an ABD. As hilarys said, you'd probably want to be on the bus to get to Salzburg, but once you get there, you can do whatever you want, as long as you've arranged it with the Guides (so they know where you're at) and meet back up in time for the trip back. In Alaska, we had a few folks who didn't want to do the walk with the Naturalist in Denali (they wanted to do the long bus tour further into the park) and it was A-OK with the Guides. They even arranged for the bus driver to meet them and take them back to the Lodge afterwards, as they were getting back pretty late at night. I'm sure you'll have no issue skipping that tour.

The only issue you might have is if you wanted to skip one part of the tour, and then "rejoin" the group. They tend to not like that, as timing can be fluid during the day, and they wouldn't want to be sitting around waiting for you before going to the next stop. On my Med cruise add-on, I wanted to skip the farm/pizza making and go to Pompeii, then rejoin them to go to Capri, and they wouldn't allow that (I was willing to taxi it back). I was actually glad I didn't do that, as the farm/pizza making was great, and was a highlight of that day.

Sayhello

 

[disneyphx]

I was not that interested in the 'Sound of Music' tour - but I did really enjoy the gardens at Hellbrunn. If I had not been to Salzburg before and had things I knew I wanted to see, I think skipping the day would be fine.
They will likely play the movie on the bus one day - so be prepared with headphones!

 

[Cinderella's Slipper 2015]

Unless the activity is an "on the way" type of thing that involves transfers from one hotel to another, you are not required to go anywhere on an ABD.

The only issue you might have is if you wanted to skip one part of the tour, and then "rejoin" the group.


Sayhello

It's not "on the way" at all. We travel into Salzburg first cause the tour starts at Mirabell which is in Salzburg itself then heads out towards Hellbrunn. We wouldn't be trying to join them for lunch so rejoining them part way wouldn't be an issue. We would just want to rejoin them at dinner after the on your own time anyway.

I was not that interested in the 'Sound of Music' tour - but I did really enjoy the gardens at Hellbrunn. If I had not been to Salzburg before and had things I knew I wanted to see, I think skipping the day would be fine.
They will likely play the movie on the bus one day - so be prepared with headphones!

We've never been to Salzburg before so I think there is more for us to see there than is appealing on this particular "sub tour".

 

[sayhello]

It's not "on the way" at all. We travel into Salzburg first cause the tour starts at Mirabell which is in Salzburg itself then heads out towards Hellbrunn. We wouldn't be trying to join them for lunch so rejoining them part way wouldn't be an issue. We would just want to rejoin them at dinner after the on your own time anyway.

Then I don't see you having any problems skipping the Sound of Music tour at all.

Sayhello

 

[carpenta]

Like Disneyphx I really enjoyed the Hellbrunn garden tour. We had a great tour guide which operated all the fountains and "dining table' for us. Great history.The castle is a must especially since you can eat lunch at a small restaurant at the top which overlooks the beautiful Alps. The sausages and beer are wonderful. And the chocolate......yumm.

 

[Cinderella's Slipper 2015]

Thanks for the info everyone. I spoke with my travelling partner and I think we're going to skip this particular activity. I actually found a tour by GreyLine that is a great overview of Salzburg and includes a visit to Hellbrunn without going into any of the Sound of Music stuff. It even includes a ticket for admission into Mozart's residence at the end of the tour. The tour is offered 5 times a day and because we're going in September, which is low season for them, we can book it day of at their tour office, which is right next to Mirabell Gardens. Hopefully we get into Salzburg early enough that we can hop on the first tour of the day so that we can get a good overview of the city before heading off to explore it more on our own. Thanks again for your input on skipping activities. Hopefully the guides don't mess us up on where to meet for dinner like they did on our last ABD.

 

[carpenta]

Sounds wonderful. I (we) wish we could join you.

 

[SingingMom]

Would love to return to Salzburg another day so that we could see more! But, as huge Sound of Music fans, we loved every moment of that part of the tour.
I find ABD whets my appetite for wanting to return! Luckily we arrived in Prague two days early, so we got to see enough of that city. I would love to return to Paris and Munich! And Vienna, and even though I DID return to London, I'd do it again AND again! lol