Best museums in Salzburg: what is open while the Salzburg Museum's main building is closed, prices and closed days

💡 The Short Version: The Salzburg Museum’s main building, the Neue Residenz on Mozartplatz, is closed for renovation with no reopening date. Its open sites are the Orangery panorama (€8), the Toy Museum (€5, closed Mondays) and the Folklore Museum (€5), plus the Sound of Music museum (€8) until 1 November 2026. The Museum der Moderne is €15 (€17 with the Mönchsberg lift), closed Mondays and open to 20:00 on Thursdays. The Haus der Natur is €16 and takes about 3 hours. The Salzburg Card gets you into all of them once. Prices are in euros. Or book a tour: the Stiegl brewery tourad is from €24.90 and a Marionette Theatre showad from €33 (GetYourGuide).

The museums at a glance

Prices are the adult rate, from each museum’s own page.

The Salzburg Museum

Orangery €8 · Toy Museum €5 · Folklore Museum €5 · Sound of Music museum €8

The museum’s home page says “1 museum, 10 locations”, and its main building is not one of the open ones. The Neue Residenz on Mozartplatz is closed for renovation, an extension called Belvedere Salzburg is under construction, and no reopening date is printed. Do not go to Mozartplatz for a ticket. The Carillon in the tower still plays daily at 7:00, 11:00 and 18:00. These sites are open:

The Neue Residenz, the Salzburg Museum’s main building, seen from the Mönchsberg. Photo: Andreas Praefcke, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0.

Orangery Salzburg

€8 · family €16 · reduced €4.80 · daily 9:00 to 17:00 · Mirabellplatz 3

The Orangery in the Mirabell Garden holds the Sattler Panorama of Salzburg, painted by Johann Michael Sattler in 1829, with short films and media installations by Ars Electronica Futurelab on the UNESCO World Heritage site. While the Orangery garden is being redesigned, the entrance is the side door in the Mirabell Garden, until about the end of November 2026. Most public guided tours are in German.

Toy Museum

€5 · family €10 · Tuesday to Sunday 9:00 to 17:00 · Bürgerspitalgasse 2

Aimed at children aged 0 to 10: three levels and about 1,500 square metres, with play areas, a children’s library, a slide and a Carrera track that can be hired for half an hour. Closed on Mondays. Youth aged 16 to 26 and children aged 6 to 15 pay €3.

Folklore Museum

€5 · family €10 · daily 10:00 to 17:30 · Monatsschlössl, Hellbrunn

The folklore collection has been housed since 1924 in the Monatsschlössl, which Archbishop Markus Sittikus built in 1615 on the hill above Hellbrunn, with a view of the fortress. The Hellbrunn trick-fountain ticket includes it. The Hellbrunn page has the walk from the palace.

Sound of Music Salzburg

€8 · family €16 · daily 9:30 to 17:30 until 1 November 2026 · Fürstenweg 33 to 35, Hellbrunn

A seasonal museum in the former hunters’ and zookeepers’ lodge in the Hellbrunn park, beside the gazebo, on the film, the musical and the true story of the von Trapp family. It reopens on 20 March 2027. The ticket carries a voucher for the Marionette Theatre’s The Sound of Music.

Also run by the museum

The Fortress Museum is in the fortress ticket. The Cathedral Excavations Museum beneath the Residenzplatz is closed, with guided tours on request until 31 January 2027 and then technical renovation. The Museum of the Celts and the Silent Night Museum are in Hallein.

Museum der Moderne

€15 · €17 with the Mönchsberg lift · Tuesday to Sunday 10:00 to 18:00, Thursday to 20:00 · closed Mondays

The museum for modern and contemporary art stands on the Mönchsberg, above the old town, and the Mönchsberg lift (30 seconds) is the way up. It is open on Monday holidays and during the Easter, Whitsun and Summer Festivals. A ticket is valid for one entry within 7 days of purchase. Reduced is €12 (€14 with the lift), young adults under 27 pay €10 (€12) and children and young people up to 19 are free. The museum’s visit page has the rest. Paths on the Mönchsberg lead to the fortress, and the M32 restaurant is at the museum. The lift alone is €4.80 return; best views in Salzburg covers it. Dogs are not allowed inside.

The Museum der Moderne on the Mönchsberg, from outside. Photo: Leonhard Lenz, Wikimedia Commons, CC0.

Haus der Natur

€16 · daily 9:00 to 17:00, last entry 16:30 · closed 25 December

A natural-history and technology museum on eight levels in two buildings: 64 aquariums and terrariums, a reptile and amphibian zoo that was redesigned in 2025, and a science centre on three levels. Allow about three hours. Children aged 4 to 15 pay €10.50, students to 26 €13, seniors €15 and a family of two adults and two children €48. It is step-free, and dogs are not allowed. On 24 December it closes at 16:00. Salzburg with kids puts it first for a wet day.

The Haus der Natur on Museumsplatz. Photo: MatthiasKabel, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Tours worth paying for

The museums sell their own tickets, and none is sold by GetYourGuide. These are the bookable extras. Prices are GetYourGuide’s lowest “from” prices, per person.

Stiegl brewery tour

From €24.90 · 1.5 hours · 4.7 stars from 368 reviews

Salzburg: Stiegl Brewery Tour with Beer Tastingad is run by the Stiegl-Brauwelt, the brewery’s own museum. The Salzburg Card gives one free entry to the Brauwelt. Salzburg’s beer halls and gardens covers the rest.

The Magic Flute at the Marionette Theatre

From €33 · 4.7 stars from 347 reviews

Salzburg: The Magic Flute at Marionette Theater Ticketad is sold by the Salzburger Marionettentheater. The theatre’s The Sound of Music is on GetYourGuide from €48ad.

What to see

1. The Museum der Moderne. The one to pick for art. Take the lift up and walk down.
2. The Haus der Natur. The one to pick for a wet day with children.
3. The Orangery panorama. A short stop beside the Mirabell Garden, with a 19th-century view of the city.
4. The Toy Museum. For the under-tens.
5. The Mozart houses and the DomQuartier. The big two, with their own pages.

The order that works: group by area. The Orangery goes with Mirabell, the Museum der Moderne with the fortress and the lift, the Folklore and Sound of Music museums with Hellbrunn. What to skip: the Neue Residenz, which is closed, and the Folklore Museum unless you are at Hellbrunn anyway.

Hours and practical information

• Closed Mondays: the Museum der Moderne and the Toy Museum. Closed Tuesdays: the DomQuartier.
• The Salzburg Card gives one free entry to the Museum der Moderne, the Haus der Natur, the Orangery, the Toy Museum, the Folklore Museum, Sound of Music Salzburg, the Stiegl-Brauwelt, the Festival Halls tour and the DomQuartier, the Mozart houses and the fortress. Is it worth it?
• Festival Halls tour: €7, about 50 minutes, tickets online only from salzburgerfestspiele.at. Until further notice the tour visits only the Grosses Festspielhaus.
• The one thing that ruins a visit: going to the Neue Residenz on Mozartplatz for the Salzburg Museum.

What to book in Salzburg has the closed days for every sight. Hohensalzburg Fortress holds four museums in one ticket. Mirabell Palace and Gardens is beside the Orangery. Things to do in Salzburg ranks the museums against everything else. Free things to do in Salzburg has what costs nothing. 3 days in Salzburg places a museum on each day. For a bed, see where to stay in Salzburg.