Leopoldskron Palace Tours and Activities

Originally built as a family home by the wealthy aristocrat Leopold Anton Frieherr von Firmian in 1736, the residence would go on to pass through a significant number of different hands during the course of the 1800s. The most famous of these was King Louis I of Bavaria. Later, the renowned actor and director Max Reinhardt bought it and set about returning it to the beauty and elegance in which it had begun life. Two years after this purchase, in 1920, the Salzburg Festival was born here.Leopoldskron Palace is a venue for very special events and a hotel in the present day, and is only open to guests – visitors are not allowed. If you can stretch your budget, a stay in one of the 12 suites allows you to luxuriate in splendour. There are also 55 rooms in the Meierhof, which is attached to the palace. Take your evening meal in the Marble Hall and Venetian Room, where top-class gastronomic delights are served. Then enjoy a quiet evening by the fire in the Great Hall – a real treat during the cold winters' months. There is a secret added ingredient in the Max Reinhardt suite: it has a secret passageway which takes you to the library.In 1965, part of “The Sound of Music” was filmed in the Venetian Room. Furthermore, another iconic scene took place at the Leopoldskroner Weiher – the lake onto which the palace offers picturesque views. Wintertime is particularly pretty, with the lake frozen and the landscape dressed in white.The lake is free to visit, but is often very busy, due to the fact that a large number of “The Sound of Music” tours make it a part of their itinerary. The surrounding mountains frame the area, and there are also views up to Leopoldskron Palace that demand to be photographed.The palace is a 25-minute walk from Mozart Square, following a road at the back of Festung Hohensalzburg. Buses stop on Firmianstrasse, and it's a 10-minute drive from the Old Town.