The hills are indeed alive in Salzburg and even if you’ve never seen the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical, you’ll still benefit from the musical education.

Sound of Music Tours

When planning our recent trip to Salzburg, booking a theme tour was not a “to-do” item on our list, let alone a theme tour for a film that was released in 1965. I also must admit that I was unaware that the musical tale of the Trapp family was a true story, not that knowing this detail would have changed my mind about booking one of the many film tours available. However, one of the things I dearly love about travel is finding myself in the state of mind to “go with the flow,” which opens me up to more spontaneous experiences, and this is where our trip to Austria took a musical turn.

Much to my surprise and delight, the COVID-19 pandemic forced a delay in both the starting and ending dates for the annual Christmas markets throughout Austria, which means that many of them were still operational during our visit in late December and early January. It was while investigating a glass tree ornament stall that I happened to meet a fellow American killing time while waiting for new years eve festivities to begin, he revealed himself to be an ex-pat who had been living there for several years and made his living giving Sound of Music tours. It was still a couple of hours before midnight, and he graciously offered to help us pass the time by giving us the portion of his multi-hour tour which covered the area of town we were currently in.

To make a very long story somewhat shorter, we took him up on his offer and then decided to take the remaining portion of his tour a couple of days later. He had generously offered not to charge us, but we decided to pay him anyway given the extensively detailed nature and level of effort he invested into his program. We learned more information about this film/family than I may ever know about anything else on earth.

Comparing Trapp Family Tours

As mentioned above, I didn’t bother to research the differences in the many Sound of Music tours offered in Salzburg, but if you decide to go, you’ll find no shortage of these themed tours available to book. However, once you’re there, you'll probably notice that most of these tour groups all look the same, and they all occur by the busload, generally go to the same places, and all seem to focus exclusively on film facts and less on the real Trapp family story as it related to the film.

The tour we took was not one that you’ll probably find on the major tourism planning sites but is absolutely the one you should consider if you’re seeking a tour for either film fan or pop-culture reasons. My husband couldn’t remember if he had seen the film or not, but was fascinated by the factual elements of the family experience as it related to the war. You also see portions of the city that you probably would never notice or even take the trouble to go see, but that ultimately added to that coveted “off the beaten path” experience that all travelers crave but few achieve.

If you’re willing to invest in an education that doesn't require a student loan and that you wont regret in ten years, you should take a look at TrappFamilyBikeTours.com.

Hollywood Magic Meets Reality

I would be doing both you and John (the tour operator… he’s a hoot) a disservice by going into the nuts and bolts of what you’ll see on the tour, but suffice it to say that Hollywood magic and artistic license took HUGE liberties with the Trapp family story. One example I’ll give is that the Trapp family home (in the film) is a combination of multiple homes located in Salzburg as well as a set built on a sound stage in Hollywood. John, however, showed us not only the filming locations for pivotal parts of the film but also actual locations pertinent to the family. He went into great detail to separate fact from film fiction, which made for a very enriching experience.

If you’ve visited Salzburg and taken one of these theme tours, or have any specific questions, feel free to place them in the comments.