In this guide
💡 The Short Version: The Salzburg Festival 2027 runs from 16 July to 29 August, and Whitsun from 14 to 17 May. The programme is expected in early December 2026. Tickets are not first come, first served: you order by a deadline set in the programme, the orders are allocated until the end of March, and direct sales with seat choice begin after that. Members, patrons and subscribers are served first, and a flexible order in dates and categories is more likely to succeed. The ticket office is open Monday to Friday 9:00 to 13:00. Hotel prices change with the dates, so check yours on Hotels.com. Or book a tour: the Mirabell Palace concertad is from €39 and the fortress concertad from €43 (GetYourGuide).
The dates
| What | Dates |
|---|---|
| Mozart Week | 21 to 31 January 2027 |
| Easter Festival | 20 to 29 March 2027 |
| Whitsun festival | 14 to 17 May 2027 |
| Salzburg Festival, summer | 16 July to 29 August 2027 |
The festival’s own recap for 2026 counts 172 performances on 45 days at 19 venues and 261,300 guests from 84 countries, with 99% of seats occupied. Mozart concerts in Salzburg has Mozart Week.
The Felsenreitschule, with its arcades cut into the rock. Photo: Andreas Praefcke, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0.
How tickets are sold
The Salzburg Festival separates ordering from buying.
- Ordering. Once the programme is published, you order online or on a form. An order gives the performance, the number of tickets and the category, but not the seat. Orders are collected up to a deadline that the programme announces, and the time of the order has no influence: every order that arrives by the deadline is treated equally.
- Allocation. The ticket office then allocates the orders until the end of March. Orders from the Friends of the Salzburg Festival, patrons and subscribers are processed first, and the festival says it also takes into account how long a customer has attended. Placing an order is not a guarantee of tickets, and an order that is flexible in performance, date and price category is more likely to succeed.
- Buying. After all orders are processed, direct sales begin with seat choice, on the website, by phone or at the box office.
In the previous round the programme was published on 4 December 2025, the deadline was 20 January 2026 and direct sales began on 27 March 2026. The 2027 dates come with the programme. Whitsun in 2026 started with the subscription, with single tickets from 19 January 2026.
The ticket office is at Wiener-Philharmoniker-Gasse 3, Monday to Friday 9:00 to 13:00, on +43 662 8045 500 or info@salzburgfestival.at. Vouchers of any value can be bought there or online, but not for a specific performance.
Seeing the Festival
- Jedermann is played in the open air on the Domplatz. In rain or an uncertain forecast it can move to the Grosses Festspielhaus; the festival’s terms say that side-by-side seating cannot be guaranteed there.
- The Festival Halls tour costs €7, or €4 for ages 7 to 27, and is free for under-7s. It lasts about 50 minutes, in German and English, for up to 20 people, with tickets online only and the dates announced at the end of each month for the next. From September 2026 it visits only the Grosses Festspielhaus until further notice, because of construction work in the Festival District. A Salzburg Card holder visits once free: is the Salzburg Card worth it?
- Weather. July’s mean temperature is 20.0°C and August’s 19.7°C, and June to August are the three wettest months, with 183 to 193 mm, on GeoSphere Austria’s 1991 to 2020 normals. Pack for rain on the Domplatz: the best time to visit Salzburg.
The Grosses Festspielhaus on Hofstallgasse. Photo: Andreas Praefcke, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0.
Where to stay and what to see
The Festival Halls stand in the old town, so where to stay in Salzburg puts the old town and the right bank first. Hotel prices change with the dates, so check yours on Hotels.com once you have your performances. Between performances, 3 days in Salzburg fits the sights round the closed days, and the coffee houses include the Tomaselli, which tells the story that the Festival was thought up at one of its tables.
The Easter Festival and Whitsun
The Easter Festival runs from 20 to 29 March 2027 with the Berliner Philharmoniker under Kirill Petrenko: Wagner’s Die Walküre directed by Kirill Serebrennikov, choral concerts of Handel and Beethoven, orchestral concerts with Lahav Shani and Martha Argerich on 22 March, chamber concerts and the dance piece Antigone. Because of construction work in the Festival District the opera is at the Felsenreitschule. Patrons and subscribers were served first, and general sales for non-patrons began on 1 October 2026. The ticket office is on +43 662 8045-361 or tickets@osterfestspiele.at, Monday to Friday 9:00 to 13:00.
Plan the rest
What to book before you go to Salzburg has the fortress and Mozart tickets, Salzburg airport to the city the way in, and the old town walk the route past the Festival Halls.
Common questions
When is the Salzburg Festival in 2027?
The summer festival runs from 16 July to 29 August 2027, and the Whitsun festival from 14 to 17 May 2027. The 2026 summer festival ran from 17 July to 30 August.
When is the 2027 programme published?
The festival expects to publish the programme for Whitsun and summer 2027 in early December 2026. In the previous round it was published on 4 December 2025.
How do I get Salzburg Festival tickets?
By ordering, then buying. Once the programme is out you order online or on a form by a deadline set in the programme, giving the performance, the number of tickets and the category but not the seat. Orders are not processed in the order they arrive, and an order is not a guarantee. Direct sales with seat choice begin after the orders are processed.
Are Salzburg Festival tickets first come, first served?
No. Every order received by the deadline is treated equally, and orders from members of the Friends of the Festival, patrons and subscribers are processed first.
Can I improve my chance of getting tickets?
Yes: the festival says an order that is flexible in performance, date and price category is more likely to be allocated.
What happens to Jedermann if it rains?
Jedermann is played in the open air on the Domplatz. In rain or an uncertain forecast the performance can move to the Grosses Festspielhaus, where side-by-side seating cannot be guaranteed.
Can I buy Salzburg Festival tickets as a Christmas present?
Not for a specific performance, because allocation does not start until the new year. The festival sells vouchers for any value, which do not guarantee a performance.
