Trip Plan
All 22 Churches of the Old Town
The old town of Salzburg is about 1.5 square kilometres. How many churches can there be? Twenty-two. You find one on every corner.
This is the route I would walk to see all of them, and it doubles as a tour of every part of the old town. It starts at the entrance to Mirabell without going into the garden, takes in both banks of the river, and climbs two mountains: the fortress, whose chapel needs a fortress ticket and can be skipped, and the Kapuzinerberg at the end. The order has nothing to do with how important each church is.
Ordered route
22 stops, in walking order
The sequence and every stop note are preserved exactly as authored. Hover a stop to see it on the map; click a marker for the details.
- Start
Dreifaltigkeitskirche (Trinity Church)
Right outside Mirabell, one of Fischer von Erlach's four churches here. Remember its facade, curving inwards, when you reach the University Church, which curves out. For the ceiling, ask at the seminary guesthouse on the left to be let past the fence.
- Church
Loreto Church
The door is in the wall by the bus stop on Paris-Lodron-Straße; you would never guess a convent is behind it. The nuns keep a jewelled 17th-century doll that people come on pilgrimage for, and the blessing with it is not free.
- Church
Andräkirche
On Mirabellplatz, built to replace the St. Andrew's lost in the fire of 1818 and badly damaged again in the war, which is why it is plain inside. Mass is in Croatian, and the Schranne market fills the square on Thursdays.
- Chapel
Schlosskapelle Mirabell
Just a door in the Mirabell Palace wall, opposite St. Andrew's: Wolf Dietrich's private chapel for his mistress, now the Old Catholic church. Almost always closed except for Sunday mass.
- Church
Christuskirche
The red-brick church on the river from all the postcards. Protestants could only build in Salzburg from 1860, once the archbishops were no longer in power.
- Church
Mülln Church
The Augustinian friars' church, joined to what is now the biggest beer hall in Austria. The church up its staircase is as worth a visit as the brewery.
- Church
Johannesspital Church
Another Fischer von Erlach church, built with the hospital around 1700, with an old city gate beside it. It is part of the state hospital now and open to the public.
- Church
Markuskirche
On the site of the church crushed in the rockfall of 1669, which killed 200 people in Gstättengasse. Dedicated to St. Ursula, still called St. Mark's, and today the Ukrainian community's church.
- Church
Bürgerspitalkirche
One of the few Gothic churches in Salzburg, and one of the darkest I have seen. Look at the old hospital arcades next door, with gravestones under them; the church is better from outside than in.
- Chapel
Sacellum
A door in the old university wall, the university's chapel since 1620. Closed except for Sunday mass, which is one of the few masses in English in Salzburg.
- Church
Kollegienkirche (Collegiate Church)
One of my favourite churches: Fischer von Erlach's last, with no paintings and no pews, and criticised in its day for looking more like a palace. One of the fifteen must-sees in my book, even if few tourists go in.
- Church
Franziskanerkirche
You barely notice it from the alleys. Inside, a dark Romanesque nave from the 13th century opens onto chapels whose style changes from left to right; the windows on the left let the archbishop hear mass from home.
- Abbey
Stift St. Peter (St. Peter's Abbey)
Where Rupert founded Salzburg in 696. An art historian once told me churches are like onions, a layer for every change of fashion, and St. Peter's is the best example. Walk through the cemetery to Nannerl Mozart's grave.
- Church
Salzburg Cathedral
The first baroque church in Austria, built while the rest of Europe fought the Thirty Years' War. The dates over the doors: 774 for the first cathedral, 1628 for this one, 1959 for the repairs after the war.
- Church
Michaelskirche
Tiny, and the oldest church in Salzburg, with roots in the 8th century. The stucco and the iron gate look like St. Peter's because the same artists did both.
- Chapel
St. George's Chapel
Inside the fortress, so you need a fortress ticket. Small and skippable, unless you want to count Keutschach's beetroot, his coat of arms, which turns up 58 times up here.
- Abbey
Nonnberg Abbey
Rupert founded it for his relative Erentrudis, and the nuns still live behind the fence, so be respectful. Put a coin in the box on the left to light up the Romanesque paintings.
- Church
St. Erhard's Church
Just below Nonnberg, raised on steps because of floods, with a fountain once said to heal. One of the last two churches Italians built in Salzburg.
- Church
Cajetan Church
The other of those two, by the same architect, finished with donors' money after the archbishop stopped paying Italians. The Holy Stairs inside, 28 steps to climb on your knees, are rarely open.
- Chapel
St. John's Church on Imberg
Halfway up the Imbergstiege: go straight on at the first corner instead of into the tunnel. You would not climb the stairs for the church, but the mountain above is worth it.
- Monastery
Capuchin Monastery Salzburg
The Capuchins' plain church at the top, with the stations of the cross along the road. Go up by the stairs and down by the road. If you have an hour, keep going to the top of the mountain first.
- Church
Sebastianskirche
The road ends on Linzergasse at St. Sebastian, burnt out in 1818. Go round the right side into the cemetery behind: Wolf Dietrich's mausoleum, the Mozart family grave, and one of my favourite places in Salzburg.
Ready when you are
Walk it yourself, or walk it with me
Every stop above links to its full guide, so the route works without me. If you would rather have the stories told out loud, the daily free walking tour covers the heart of it.
