Salzburg · Backpacking

Walking the old town, the Mönchsberg and the Salzach banks is free. Beyond that the numbers are fixed and public: the Hohensalzburg all-inclusive ticket is €19.20 with the funicular or €14.50 if you walk up, Haus der Natur is €16, the Toy Museum €5, and a litre of Augustiner in the beer garden is the cheapest sit-down evening in the city.

Paracelsusstraße 9 on the right bank, walkable from both the main station and the old town. Reception is staffed 24 hours, and bed linen, wifi, lockers and the luggage room are all included; there is bike rental, laundry and a cheap breakfast. Dorms and private rooms.

The Mülln brewery tavern at the foot of the Mönchsberg: beer drawn from wooden barrels into stone mugs, food bought separately from a corridor of stalls, and 1,400 seats in the chestnut garden. Open Monday to Friday 15:00–23:00 and Saturday, Sunday and holidays from 14:30; closed 24, 25 and 31 December and 1 January.

Five free routes climb the ridge: the Clemens-Holzmeister stairway from the Toskaninihof by the Festival halls, up from Mülln church, through the Sigmundstor tunnel from Riedenburg, from Nonnberggasse in the southeast, and via the Bürgermeisterloch. The lift only saves the climb; the views and the meadows on top cost nothing either way.

High season (1 April to 31 October) is €38 for 24 hours, €45 for 48 and €49 for 72; low season is €35, €41 and €44, with 6–15s at half price. It gives one free entry to each city attraction plus city public transport, but not the S-Bahn. On a slow two-sight day it does not pay for itself.