was home to one of the greatest composers who ever lived, and is adjacent to some of the best winter sports resorts Europe. So it’s a little weird that the city’s biggest tourist draw is an American movie released in 1965.

The movie, of course, is The Sound of Music, the Rogers and Hammerstein musical starring Julie Andrews and based on the story of the Von Trapp family singers, who fled Austria ahead of the Nazi invasion in 1938.

From puppet shows to concerts, free walking tours and bus tours, the 60th anniversary of the movie’s release is being celebrated in Salzburg throughout the year; in Vermont, the Trapp Family Lodge, founded by the Von Trapps when they arrived in the U.S. as emigres, is marking its 75th anniversary with abundant gemütlichkeit of its own.

Salzburg was founded by St. Rupert in 696, who established the Nonnberg Abbey — the nunnery that Julie Andrews as (the future) Maria Von Trapp attends at the beginning of the film. Like many of the other iconic locations from the film, the mountaintop abbey is open to visitors, albeit just the cemetery and abbey church, where the nuns perform Gregorian chants every morning at 6:45 a.m. for early risers.

The Mirabellgarten is a Baroque masterpiece in the heart of Salzburg’s Neustadt and, while it neighbors the equally ornate Mirabell Palace and is a short stroll to the city’s Mozart museum (located in the composer’s home), may be most familiar to Americans as the place where Maria and the Von Trapp children sang “Do Re Mi” while dancing around the Pegasus Fountain. Exiting the garden onto the Makartplatz brings you to the Salzburg Marionette Theatre, which features performances of The Sound of Music as well as Mozart’s The Magic Flute and other classical works.

A downpour worthy of Austria’s Krimml Waterfall did nothing to discourage crowds of movie fans disgorged from tour buses the day we visited another Sound of Music movie location, the Basilica of St Michael in Mondsee.

Formerly the church of the Benedictine monastery of Mondsee Abbey, this is where the wedding scene of Maria and Baron Georg von Trapp was filmed. Discreetly hidden from view during the filming are the skeletons of saints tucked into niches in the gothic church’s altar, including that of Abbot Konrad II, who died defending the monastery from attackers in the year 1145.

Located about a half hour’s drive outside of Salzburg, the church is one of several suburban shooting locations for The Sound of Music, which also include the Hellbrunn Palace and Schloss Leopoldskron. Both stood in for the family home; the latter will host a year-long exhibit about the movie in 2025.

Austria isn’t all about Hollywood musicals, of course. There’s also beer. And pretzels. And schnitzels. You can indulge (or, on a rainy day, perhaps overindulge) in all three at Salzburg’s Stiegl Brewery, which has been brewing beer in Salzburg for more than half a millennia. Located in a Wonkaesque factory complex, the Stiegl-Brauwelt (brew world) includes a history museum, brewery tours, and a lively brewpub housed in a 19th century fermentation room offering dozens of beers (including non-alcoholic brews), soft pretzels served hot right out of the oven, and a variety of authentic Austrian cuisine, from classic pork or veal Wiener Schnitzel to spätzle, sausages, and soup served with pancake strips.

The Von Trapps famously hiked over the Alps to freedom in Switzerland, a reminder that while Salzburg is a river town that drew its name from the salt trade, the city is also surrounded by mountains that offer year-round recreation, including summer hiking in Hohe Tauern National Park and abundant winter snowsports in Zell am See-Kaprun, which has Salzburg’s only glacier, the Kitzsteinhorn.

As is the case throughout Austria, this lakefront ski town is easily accessed by train via the ÖBB, or Austrian federal railway. In winter, Innsbruck retains the fame it earned as the location of the Winter Olympics in 1964 and 1976. Skiers seeking a small-town experience and a deeper draught of history flock to St. Anton am Arlberg, which boasts Austria’s largest interconnected ski area and claims to be the cradle of alpine skiing; the St. Anton ski museum includes a tribute to native son Hannes Schneider, who founded the world’s first modern ski school here in 1921. Summer fun includes hiking, mountain biking, and e-biking to alpine huts that provide respite, refreshment, and lodging to active travelers.

Got clients who can’t make it to Austria in 2025 but still want to soak up the Sound of Music? The Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, Vt., is planning a variety of events to mark the movie’s milestone year as well as the diamond anniversary of the resort, which includes the first cross-country ski area in the U.S. and a brewery that features many of the same brew styles and dining as you’d find in Austria. A newly minted member of Historic Hotels of America, the Lodge recently renovated ‘a few of its favorite things,’ including all public spaces and rooms, in anticipation of the celebration.

For more information visit: https://www.austria.info/