5 Best Christmas Markets in Salzburg, Austria 🎄 | Perfect Day Trip from Munich

We're in Salzburg, Austria, and we're diving into the city's Christmas market magic. We'll be visiting the five best Christmas markets in town, soaking up the festive vibes, cozy atmosphere, trying seasonal Austrian foods, and seeing what makes Salzburg's Christmas markets some of the most magical in Europe. And if you're new around here, we're Matt and Nat, and we've spent the last four years traveling the world as part-time, non-remote travelers. After accomplishing our goal of visiting all 50 U.S. states in 2021, we've set out on our next big adventure, to see as many of the 1,000 places to see before you die, well, before we die. In our last video, we were in Brussels, Belgium, where we went treasure hunting at a local flea market, tasted our way through the city on a classic Belgian food tour, and explored the iconic architecture that makes this city so recognizable. This week, we're in Salzburg, Austria. 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Alongside it, we've also been using the Anker Laptop Power Bank, which Anker refers to as the ultimate high-capacity power bank for family journeys, and it's been great for editing on long flights or keeping our laptops and phones charged when we're nowhere near an outlet. And for road trips, the Anker Nano 75-watt car charger has been super useful. It's tiny but powerful enough to keep our phones and even a laptop charging while we're driving. So if you're traveling soon or shopping for stocking stuffers for the traveler in your life, check out Anker's travel-friendly chargers using the links down in the description. And a huge thank you to Anker for sponsoring this video. After a short 90-minute train ride from Munich, we are officially in Salzburg. We're here on a day trip with one mission, and that is to experience as many of the Christmas markets as possible. And if you've been following us for a while, you already know that we love European Christmas markets, so much so that we host annual Christmas market group trips. So if you're interested in joining, scan the QR code or check out the link down in the description. But this is actually our first time ever visiting any Austrian Christmas markets, so we're excited to see how they compare. And we're kicking things off at a smaller, more local market at Meribelplatz Christmas Market. We're starting things off strong. Also, this is our first ever Christmas market on a Saturday. It is going to be wild. And it's St. Nicholas Day as well. It's St. Nicholas Day, December 6th. Cheers. Got a little Glühwein, a little orange punch. Which is Austrian. It's a good, just classic Glühwein. Red wine, mulled spices. Delicious. This is really interesting. I haven't had anything like it. It's like, it's not really like an orange juice. I don't know what kind of alcohol they put with it. It could be anything from rum to brandy to cognac. It's very sweet, but I really like it. I think that's brandy. That is really good. Very different, right? It is. You can get it without alcohol as well, right? Of course. We're at the Christmas markets. Off to a strong start here. So now that we've finished our first round, we're going to go return these ceramic mugs. Because if you haven't been to the Christmas markets, you go and return these and you get what you call a Pfand back or a deposit. These specifically were four euros each. So that's enough for pretty much another Glühwein. So let's go get our money back. I gotta return the Pfand to the boss here. That's me. That was a great little local introduction to the Christmas market. It was a nice cozy little way to start it because that was very much a local market. You don't need a ton of time at that one. There was some really delicious food looking. Oh, yeah. But we're going to save our appetite for a little bit later. But now we're on to the next. Fun fact. Part of the Sound of Music was filmed here at the Mirabelle Palace and Gardens. So we're definitely gonna have to come back and do a Sound of Music tour. Oh, yippee. He hasn't even watched it. I've never even watched it, so I can't say. Oh my gosh. So let us know if we should come in the spring or the fall. We have now made it to Stern Advent Christmas Market, which is another smaller, not as small as the last one, local kind of market. I would say it's a hidden gem, but there's quite a bit of people here. So I think it maybe used to be more of a hidden gem, but it's kind of tucked away into the courtyard area of the Stern Brau Brewery here in the city. And we've got some goodies already to start with. Yeah, this is the first time we're doing a Heidel beer punch. And I'm pretty excited about it. And we've got a Salzburg classic here, from what we understand. It is a Bosna, I think that's how you say it. It's two bratwurst in a white bun here. It has a special sauce, which is a ketchup, a mustard, and then a curry powder with it. I love curry powder. And he made this thing fresh right off the grill, griddled the bun as well. So I'm ready to dive into this. It originated in Salzburg, so we had to do it. I'm gonna skip the bun bite. Here we go. The mustard is sharp, just a hint of curry. I didn't get any meat, but I got bread and I got the sauce and it is delicious. The bread's got a nice like pull chew to it. Really tasty there. One more bite and I'll get some meat. This is quite different from a lot of the hot dogs or wieners in buns I've had at markets because the bun is not like so massive or a lot of times they're kind of hard on the outside broaching like a crispier outside. Whereas this one is kind of a softer bread. This might be my favorite burst or hot dog at any other Christmas market so far. It's really, really good. I love the bread. It makes it easier to eat, to be honest. Yeah, and I love the curry powder sauce. I think that's delicious. And then the burst itself has some nice flavor too. And they say it's spicy. For me, it's not too spicy. Bavarian spicy. Yeah, I love this. Definitely try. Have we tried the Heidel beer yet? Oh yeah, we have, I forgot about it. Let me give it a little sip to that. Lots of mulling spices in there. Very hot. It's almost like a cider. Is it? I don't know. That might be because that's another Austrian thing, is glumost? Glumost, yeah. And it's a hot cider. So that tastes more like a spider. Spider. It tastes more like a cider, but it did have beer in the name. So I assume maybe it's like a mulled beer of some kind. That is so different than anything I've ever had though. It is. At any Christmas market. We've had glue beer before. This is not like that. I don't know. I have no idea what this is. I don't either, but it's tasty. It's really good. It's kind of fruity. It is. That's why I think I get the cider from it, is the fruitiness of it. I wonder if Heidel beer is like a berry of some sort, or I don't know. We'll look it up, but it's really good. It's good. So we just got to meet some awesome and sweet viewers. Yeah, from Australia. So thanks for stopping and saying hello. Yeah, they came here for a cold Christmas, which makes total sense. Yeah, it was a pleasure meeting you guys. We're off to an excellent start here, but now let's go explore more of this market. Fun fact, Mozart was born here. Time for another fact. On to the next. So we just passed the Olstadt Advent Market, and it's a really cool cause because all of the things there go towards local charities. Yeah, and all of the stalls are run by volunteers, from what I understand. So yeah, if you go there and indulge in some Glühwein or snacks. It's a good cause. But we are rushing because we have something very special to go to at this next market. Hopefully we have something very special to go to. We may miss it. This is Krampus, which we'll talk about in just a second. Around the world, St. Nicholas is a beloved figure who rewards good children with gifts during the holiday season. But in the Alpine regions like Austria, he's often accompanied by Krampus, a darker, demonic, folkloric character meant to scare misbehaving children into good behavior. So we got to see St. Nicholas, which is St. Nicholas Day. So that was pretty exciting. But we also got to see a few Krampuses, which were quite terrifying. Oh yeah. So I grew up in Germany, for those of you who don't know. And Krampus, oh my gosh, gave me like such PTSD. Yeah, I can only imagine as a child how scary that would be. But it was a neat thing to experience here in the moment. We're gonna have to do a Krampus run at some point once I get past my PTSD. And we have now made it to the Salzburger Christkindlmarkt, which is the most famous and, as you can see, most popular. We have come to the famous Stand 82 because they are famous for these right here, the original Houndsburger. It is a, looks like a sausage patty of some sort with a sauerkraut, a simp, and some other sauces on it served on this roll here. It looks like maybe a Kaiser roll or something close to that. The sauerkraut is very sharp. The simp, either I didn't get a lot of it or it's really mild. Same with the sausage. The overpowering flavor is the sauerkraut. But this Brötchen, delicious. I'm the person that doesn't like sauerkraut, but I'm going outside my comfort zone. I mean, it's good. In my opinion, it'd be better without the sauerkraut, but it's not bad. Also, bring cash, a lot of it. Next up from Stand 82, we have the Bauerkrampen. That's probably not saying that right at all. It also has multiple different names depending on where you get it from, but it's essentially a fried piece of dough you can get it topped with like sweet toppings like they had one with Nutella. We got it the classic savory way, which is with sauerkraut on top. I think people also call these farmer's donuts from what I understand. It pretty much just looks like sauerkraut and fried dough. Not exactly my first pick when it came to the menu, but I had to try it since it's classic and unique to this location. If you like sauerkraut, you're going to love this because that's kind of all it is really. No, I will say the fried dough is delicious. Sauerkraut's probably not the topping of choice I would go with most naturally, but the sauerkraut is at least really good sauerkraut. Now, if you don't like sauerkraut, not a chance you're going to like this. Go with Nutella or something else. This one right here grows on you. The dough is really delicious. I'm not looking forward to this. Actually, that's not as bad as I thought. It's not bad. I might have another bite. Who would have thought? Five minutes later. This has really grown on me and I actually really like both of the things. So, step outside of your comfort zone, order the local dish because it's really delicious. Both of them. I'm shocked. So, we were walking by and we kept seeing these ice cream cone things and we've never seen them at any other market. Never. And we realized they weren't ice cream when we saw them all like lined up already looking this beautiful on the counter. So, we had to try one. Apparently, it's unique to Austria. It's a Schrombecker. Nailed it. Perfect. I know I said that exactly how it's supposed to be said. But it is, I think, like a whipped cream egg foam kind of thing that's then dipped in chocolate and it's in a cone as well. It's very light. Very light. So, you gonna try it first? All right, I'll try it first. There's a marshmallow inside. Yeah, you can see how light and fluffy that inside is. That's delicious. Is it? Kind of tough to eat because the inside just collapses in but that is really good. Like you said, kind of marshmallow-y. But very airy. The lightest marshmallow you could possibly imagine. No, it's not really even a marshmallow. It's just like foam. Yeah, exactly. I like that a lot. I'm really excited for the cone part because I love crunchy. So, definitely try that when you're here. Natalie was looking forward to the cone. Ready for that crunchiness with the marshmallow fluffiness. The cone is quite stale. So, don't be looking forward to a crispy fresh cone with this. Got a nice chew to it. The cone sucks but inside is pretty good. All right, I'm gonna say if you can come not on a Saturday, I would because it is insane. Now, I will say also to add to that, some of these markets are not gonna be open on any other day than the weekends but you may be able to avoid some of the crowds. Yeah, that's crazy. So, just pack your patience. You'll be fine. Everybody's here for a good time. All right. So, so far that one is my favorite and I was expecting it to be like really, really commercialized but I didn't feel like that at all. With it being the biggest and most popular market. Now, it is crowded for that reason but as Natalie said, didn't feel like it was over commercialized and lots of unique foods that we haven't had at other Christmas markets. Now, if you wanna see us eat some of the more German Christmas market foods, check out some of those videos but we're trying to focus on Austrian and even Salzburg specific stuff for this video. But now, we are on to Christmas market four of the evening and we've got to go climb up a hill to do it. I think we might have some assistance. I was about to say, I would like to do the finocular please. This Advent market which is in the fortress is about 20 stalls, very like local artisans. So, definitely recommend checking out the shopping but we really came here for this. Sorry if I mispronounced that but this is pretty much a pizza. It's cooked in their pizza ovens which I believe is like ancient. So anyways, we got the one with speck, so with meat on it and onions and cheese. It doesn't disappoint. The crust is smoky from the fire. This is really good. Honestly, I want a beer but we have hot wine instead. Very tasty. The onions are nice and potent in a good way because they're like a red onion, so they're a stronger onion. The speck or like the ham on here is nice and salty. Like Natalie said, the crust is kind of charred a little bit on the edges which is wonderful and it came steaming right out of the pizza oven so you can't get any fresher. Delicious. So, we're about to head back down on the funicular. Yep, but this market is kind of a theme for I feel like Salzburg's markets and that is quaint. I would say one of the highlights for coming to the fortress market is the views that you get. I mean, it is absolutely spectacular panoramic views of the city so definitely take those in when you come up here. Definitely get the tart of Flem Bay. Yeah, Flemkuchen, whatever it was, it was good. So, it was totally worth the six euros each for the round-trip funicular ride because while I'm sure the walk up and down is nice, it saved us a whole bunch of time. So, if you are on a time crunch like we are, I would definitely recommend the funicular. Now, we are on to the last Christmas market of the evening. Now, this one's like a little bit out of town so we have to take public transportation to get there. This is the only market that has an entrance fee. It's eight euros per person but it does come with a glue vine ticket. So, really it's like two euros per person and we heard this is the most whimsical and I'm pretty excited about it. So, let's go explore. We forgot to mention where we're at. We are at the Heilbrunn Christmas Market which is held at the Heilbrunn Palace which is back behind me here over my left shoulder. One of the things that's really neat is that the front of the palace, the windows actually turn into an advent calendar during the Christmas season and they've got this beautiful Christmas tree forest that's all lit up with ornaments and Christmas lights. I can already tell you, I think this is my favorite market in Salzburg. Who is this? So, I misspoke earlier, you get a hot drink. Now, it does come in a paper cup with your little drink ticket. So, we paid the extra four euros so we can have a ceramic mug. We got Glumost which is a mulled cider and we haven't had that yet. I'm pretty excited to try it. It's delicious though. Burned my lips a little bit but it's really good and I just love this atmosphere. It's so cute. I love the shape of the mugs here so thumbs up for that. That is very hot but very delicious as well. It's just Christmas in a cup. An apple fruit cider with all of the spices in it. It's so delicious and so hot. Party pal, who turned the lights off? You lost the magic. What the heck? There we go. I'm not gonna lie, it wasn't near as magical without the lights on. If you didn't know that the Sound of Music pavilion where she's like, I am 16 was filmed here. So again, we're gonna have to come back to Salzburg so I can see all of the things, not just the Christmas market. Our second hot drink of the evening. This one was free. We got a Glühwein. We wanted the Glumost but they didn't have it at this little stand. We'll just have to settle for Glühwein, I guess. Oops, oh well. Guys, the shopping here, phenomenal. It's stuff that I haven't seen at any Christmas market. It seems very artisanal, more boutique kind of stuff. So if you're looking for Christmas gifts, this market's probably it. I am so glad we ended with this Christmas market. It is beyond magical. Yeah, out of the five that we've visited, I think it's safe to say that this is our favorite one. Yeah, for sure. And that's not knocking any of the other ones. I just think that they spent a little more time and effort on making these as magical and festive as possible. And we didn't even get to explore all of it. They have like outdoor paths and definitely recommend coming here. Yeah, so if you are on a time crunch like we typically are with our travels and you only have one day to experience the Salzburg Christmas markets, I would say focus your efforts on this market, the Heilbrunn Christmas market and the main market at the Cathedral Square. Those are the most bang for your buck, I would say. Yeah, and I wish we would have spent more time in both of them. Yeah, especially this one, to be honest. But we hope you've enjoyed this video. I know we look forward to coming back to Salzburg. We're going to be doing all of the sound of music things, so leave me your recs down below. Y'all pray for me. But Merry Christmas from Salzburg, Austria, and we'll see you in the next video. I'm back on the funicular, funicular? Funicular. Last bite. This other stand. Do that again. How many videos have we seen horse and carriages in that we like say we're going to do it? You never said we'd do it. You've never said it. You sure? Matt's never done it for me. My poor little life. You're watching me in there. And we didn't get any napkins either, did we? No, we didn't. There was none in the stand. Oh, yeah. Thank you so much. That was so sweet. I saw her struggling inside and handed us napkins. I'm keeping this. Good job. Merry Christmas!