A visit to Hellbrunn was a genuine WOW! day during our visit to Salzburg.
Your entry ticket allows a self-guided tour of the palace (with an audio guide), plus a guided tour of the Trick Fountains – the best value ever!
The palace is located on Salzburg's southern city limits in spacious park grounds. Local busses travel by the end of the entry street, and street parking is available outside the palace.
The Trick Fountains, designed for Markus Sittikus in the 1600s, are unique; the saying "expect the unexpected" must surely have originated in this setting! Multilingual guides take visitor groups through the pathways displaying a myriad of fountains, music, grottos, and waterworks models, all designed to run on water power.
The palace grounds include the rotunda from "Sound of Music," a small zoo, and a short climb up a steep hill leads to the Monatsschlossl, a smaller palace housing a folklore museum and coffee shop. From here, a 15-minute walk over the mountain leads to the Steintheatre, a natural cavity that was transformed by Markus Sittikus into the first open-air theatre north of the Alps. From here, visitors can walk back through the extensive grounds and gardens to the palace.
The palace is beautifully adorned with elaborately painted walls in most rooms and original artworks from the time.