Is Salzburg safe?

Pickpocketing is the crime visitors most often run into, and it comes in two seasons. During the Salzburg Festival, from late July to the end of August, Getreidegasse packs shoulder to shoulder outside Mozart's birthplace at number 9, and phones go missing from open tote bags under the wrought-iron shop signs. In Advent the Christkindlmarkt on Domplatz and Residenzplatz has the same problem at dusk, when the air smells of Glühwein and roasted chestnuts and nobody notices a hand in a coat pocket. In both places we'd wear a zipped crossbody bag on the front. Outside those months the Altstadt is quiet after 10pm: footsteps echo on the cobbles of Judengasse, and the cathedral bell is often the loudest thing you'll hear. Assaults on tourists in the Altstadt are rare, and in recent reporting we found no pattern of them.

Two areas need more care after dark. The first is Südtiroler Platz in front of the Hauptbahnhof, along with the stretch of Elisabethstraße beyond it, where groups gather to drink and police checks are frequent after midnight. It is more unpleasant than dangerous, though if you're a woman travelling alone, the brightly lit station hall is a better place to wait than the outdoor bus bays. The second is the Rudolfskai bar strip below Hohensalzburg Fortress, which gets loud and beery around 2am on Fridays and Saturdays, and the odd shoving match breaks out at closing. Then there are the hills. The forest paths over Kapuzinerberg and Mönchsberg are unlit and steep, and in October they're slick with wet leaves, so climb them in daylight and come down before dusk, either by the Mönchsberg lift or by the stone steps that end on Linzergasse. After an evening concert at the fortress, take the FestungsBahn funicular down rather than the dark Nonnberg stairs.

The Obus trolleybuses run from about 5am to around 11:30pm, and getting around on your own is straightforward. The main transfer points at Hanuschplatz, Mirabellplatz and the Hauptbahnhof are lit and covered by cameras. Night buses run on some routes at weekends but they're infrequent, so check the Salzburg Verkehr app before a late night out. Taxis from the ranks at Hanuschplatz and the station use meters, and we haven't seen the overcharging you find in Prague or Rome. Bikes are the bigger physical hazard: cyclists ride fast and almost silently along the Salzach embankment paths, and a bell is often your only warning. From December to February, black ice on the Altstadt cobbles adds a second hazard. If Cirque du Soleil's OVO at the Salzburgarena on 21 October is on your list, expect queues at the Obus stops after the show, and booking a taxi ahead could save you 20 minutes.

For company, our pick is Augustiner Bräu Kloster Mülln, a monastery brewery with long shared tables and a self-service system where you take a stone mug from the shelf, rinse it under the cold tap, pay at the till, and collect beer poured straight from a wooden barrel. Nobody there expects a table for two. Small-group day tours to Hallstatt or across the German border to Berchtesgaden are a better way to meet people than a 40-seat coach, but ask whether the operator charges a single supplement. At 7pm on 15 October it was 15.6°C and partly cloudy, mild enough that the Augustiner garden under its chestnut trees might still have had drinkers. For emergencies, call 133 for police, 144 for an ambulance and 122 for fire. The EU-wide number from the summary above works from any phone, including one without a SIM.