More Than ‘The Sound of Music’

Explore Austria’s breathtaking alpine landscapes, outdoor adventures, traditional culinary experiences, and rich cultural heritage

By Katie McElveen

I’d heard about the phenomenon, but today, standing next to the famous Pegasus Fountain in Salzburg’s Mirabell Gardens, I was seeing it with my own eyes: women, children, and even a few men skipping through an arched garden trellis, posing on the fountain ledge, and swirling through the gravel paths—all while belting out various versions of “Do-Re-Mi,” the iconic song from the film “The Sound of Music,” which was shot right here. Their enthusiasm was infectious, and if it hadn’t been pouring rain, I would have joined them.

Walking through Salzburg on the 60th anniversary eve of “The Sound of Music,” it’s hard not to get goosebumps when I pass by the Felsenreitschule Festival Hall, where the Von Trapps gave their final performance, or when I look up toward Nonnberg Abbey, where Maria lived with the nuns. Though I’ve learned by now that parts of the story were fictionalized, it’s still thrilling to see the real locations.

“Thrilling” would actually describe my entire visit to Austria. Though the country is easy to get to, a cinch to navigate, safe, and remarkably beautiful, outside of Salzburg, it feels almost undiscovered by Americans. For travelers in search of a destination that feels real and authentic, this is it.

We started in St. Anton am Arlberg, a small town in the Tyrolean Alps that’s said to be the birthplace of alpine skiing. Though we were early for ski season (winter travelers should know that the resort is part of Epic Pass), lifts, cycle paths, and hiking trails offered glorious views of the still snow-capped mountains. Even better, Austria’s trailside dining huts were still open for business. Imagine this: you’re hiking or cycling over high mountain trails when you realize you’re hungry for lunch. But instead of digging into your pack for a smashed PB&J, you can pull into one of these culinary oases for traditional Austrian fare.

Ten years ago, the huts catered mostly to cross-country skiers, hikers, hardcore cyclists, and free-skiers. These days, with the advent of e-bikes, they’re accessible to the rest of us. It took about 20 minutes of pedaling to reach Wagner Hütte, a former hunting lodge that’s been transformed into a cozy mountain hideaway, complete with heart-pine walls, beamed ceilings, and sheepskins covering the chairs. A couple of hours further along the trail, rustic Konstanzer Hütte sits in a narrow cleft, surrounded by rocky peaks. Both serve traditional Tyrolean dishes—squiggly spaetzle noodles, hearty dumplings, ethereal strudel—as well as salads and sandwiches.

The region is also home to Verwallstube, a winter-only, Gault & Millaut-awarded restaurant that sits at the top of one of St. Anton am Arlberg’s ski mountains. The food is second only to the wine list, so consider making the restaurant your last stop and taking the gondola back to town.

After three days in St. Anton am Arlberg, we hopped aboard a train for the two-hour trip southeast to the Oetztal Valley, a 40-mile-long gorge rimmed by a fortress of 10,000-foot-tall peaks. It was once so remote that it had its own dialect (it’s also where a pair of hikers discovered the 5,300-year-old Ötzi the Iceman in 1991). Today, Innsbruck is less than an hour away by car and about 90 minutes by train. The region’s mountain bike trails, whitewater rafting, glacier skiing, and other adventures attract sporty types from all over the world.

We stayed in the tiny village of Längenfeld, which is home to Aqua Dome, a 200-room hotel connected to a remarkable 700,000-square-foot spa where I joyfully exercised, swam, saunaed, soaked, and was massaged to within an inch of my life.

The town is also a jumping-off point for a number of challenging hiking trails that weave their way up, down, and over the mountains, through the woods, and past the tree line. One day, I joined a small group for a trek up the mountain, where we had lunch in one of the region’s culinary huts before making our way down the other side of the loop. Unlike other gourmet huts in Austria, the Oetztal Valley’s hike-in huts are part of a government-run program that trades funding for a commitment to serve only authentic Tyrolean cuisine made from locally sourced ingredients. Not only does it provide visitors with an authentic experience, but the program allows young families to continue to live and work on their small mountain farms, many of which have been in the same family for generations.

The largest city in the valley is Sölden, a ski resort that was also the location for several of the action sequences from the James Bond thriller “Spectre.” The site has become so famous that you can take the same gondola that Q took in his daring escape from the bad guys to the top of the mountain to visit 007 ELEMENTS, a wonderfully futuristic museum for Bond or movie geeks that details how a number of the franchise’s most compelling scenes were shot. It’s a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at moviemaking. Adjoining 007 ELEMENTS is Ice Q, a modernist restaurant that doubled as a set piece in “Spectre.” The purely Tyrolean menu offers old-school favorites like perfectly crusted wiener schnitzel as well as updated classics, including a smoked fish salad made stellar with the addition of apple, celery, and a dollop of caviar.

It’s challenging to find a destination that checks all the boxes—for me, they’re natural beauty, access to outdoor adventure, fabulous food, and thriving local culture. Austria had all of that, as well as a public transportation system that allowed me to jump from the city to the mountains in just a few hours. My advice? Go now.