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Merry Christmas! Although it is November’s museum of the month I am posting it in December, so what better museum is there to showcase than the Salzburger Weihnachtsmuseum (Salzburg Christmas Museum)!

Even though I didn’t visit the museum during the holiday season, it gave me fond memories of past Christmases and excitement for future ones. My mom even declared that it was one of her favorite museums she has ever visited! What could get you into the Christmas spirit more than visiting a museum dedicated to the holiday?

Salzburg Christmas Museum Displays

Early Christmas Traditions and Decorations

From ornaments, to paintings to children’s toys one can learn more about Christmas over time in Europe.

Old-Fashioned Christmas Room

See the 19th century living room set up for Christmas morning.

Christmas Market Vignettes

One of our favorite parts were these little Christmas market vignettes that show scenes from traditional market stalls. They were so cute and had an impressive amount of detail.

Advent Calendars

It was fun to peek in all these little windows that showed historic advent calendars.

Krampus

The Krampus, who is described as a half-demon, half-goat has been a part of Central Europe’s history for centuries. Whereas Santa or Saint Nicholas delivers gifts to the good children, the Krampus is known to punish the naughty children. Many of the Krampuses look so demonic and terrifying that they would make even the most ill-mannered child behave! This display seemed a little out of place compared to all the other quaint and nostalgic displays, but it was interesting to learn about a part of Austrians’ Christmas beliefs that I had never heard of.

Check out the Salzburg Christmas museum for yourself to learn more about Christmas over the years!

What Else to Do in Salzburg

Austria is a wonderful country to visit. I truly enjoyed everywhere I visited, but it was Salzburg that really stole my heart. Other than the Salzburg Christmas museum there are so many other things to do. For more ideas on what to do within the city read The Sights of Salzburg.  If you are a Sound of Music fan, take Fraulein Maria’s Sound of Music Bicycle Tour. If you want to hike the Austrian Alps take a cable car up the Untersberg mountain range and hike on the snow-covered peaks. On the same day as visiting Untersberg visit Hellbrunn Palace and be enchanted by the trick fountains!

Christmastime

If you are lucky enough to visit during the holiday season you must check out the holiday markets within Salzburg in Mirabellplatz, Residenzplatz and Domplatz. Also go a bit outside of the city to the Christmas market at Hellbrunn Palace.

The musical city of Salzburg is the home of Mozart. In addition to Mozart concerts in the winter, you can enjoy special Christmas musical performances, like a Christmas concert at Fortress Hohensalzburg.

There is still time to enjoy these special holiday activities this season! If not this season, start planning for next year! 

Visiting Information

Where

Mozartpl. 2, 5020 Salzburg, Austria

How to get there

The Salzburg Christmas Museum is located within Mozartplatz in the old town of Salzburg. It is easily accessible by foot.

Tickets

Tickets are €6 ($6.83) unless you have a discount. If you are planning to visit several museums, palaces or attractions in the area I would highly recommend the Salzburg card.  For the number of days you choose on the card, you receive free admission to all of Salzburg’s attractions, unlimited use on public transportation and other excursion and concert discounts. When we visited in the spring we definitely got our money’s worth from the card.

You buy tickets inside the gift shop on the lower level of the building where the museum is located. If you have the Salzburg Card you simply show the card and receive tickets to be scanned before you enter the museum upstairs.

Hours

Open: 10am – 6pm Wednesday – Sunday year-round

Open: 10am – 6pm during Salzburg Summer Festival & December

Open: December 24th & 31st 10am – 1pm

Closed: 1st of February – mid March

FYI

The museum is pretty small so you don’t need to reserve a huge chunk of time to visit. We took our time and probably spent 45 minutes. Other people came and went while we were looking around.

Toilets

There are toilets upstairs at the museum (before you scan your ticket to enter the museum). You need to ask the gift shop worker for the key to access the toilets.

Food

There is a restaurant connected to the gift shop on the lower level. For a quick bite get a savory or sweet pretzel from the pretzel stand in Kapitelplatz (plaza only a few minutes away from the museum). See my full guides to sweet treats and savory foods in Austria for more ideas on what and where to eat in Salzburg.

Where to Stay

We stayed at Altstadt Hotel Hofwirt Salzburg in the new part of Salzburg close to a nice shopping and restaurant street. The Altstadt Hotel Hofwirt is about a 10 – 15 minute walk to the old part of Salzburg with the Christmas Museum and other must-see attractions. With it’s huge breakfast buffet, friendly staff, modern rooms and convenient location it was one of our favorite hotels in Austria.

Check out my Museum of the Month page to see all my museum reviews!

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