What's happening in Salzburg this week?

Salzburg's week centers on two markets. The Grünmarkt fills Universitätsplatz Monday through Saturday from 7am to 1pm, with local farmers selling Pinzgauer cheese, warm Laugenstangen, and cut flowers that smell like they were picked an hour ago. Saturday mornings are the fullest, with stalls opening at 6am and the square packed shoulder-to-shoulder by 9:30. Thursday adds the Schranne at Mirabellplatz, a bigger farmers' market running from about 5am to 1pm, where you'll find raw-milk butter, smoked trout from the Salzkammergut lakes, and Bauernbrot so dense and dark it tears rather than slices. The rest of the week, Mirabellgarten stays quiet enough for a slow walk along the geometric hedges without anyone in your photos.

Weekday mornings are the practical window for Hohensalzburg Fortress, built in 1077 and still the dominant shape on Salzburg's skyline. The funicular from Festungsgasse runs from 9am, and if you're on it by 9:15 you'll have the upper bastions to yourself before coach tours arrive around 10:30. By midday Getreidegasse is nearly impassable with tour groups headed for Mozart's Birthplace at number 9. Monday is rest day for several smaller museums, though the Fortress, the Salzburg Museum in the Neue Residenz, and the DomQuartier all stay open. Salzburg Cathedral, first built in 701, keeps its doors open daily. The stone interior drops the temperature a good 8°C below the street on a warm afternoon, and the silence after the Altstadt crowds is almost physical.

Summer daytime temperatures in Salzburg tend to sit around 19 to 25°C, with overcast mornings that might burn off by noon or build into a short afternoon thunderstorm by 3pm. Humidity hovers near 70%, and the narrow Altstadt lanes feel closer than they look on a map. A €10 packable rain jacket earns its space in your bag. When a storm rolls through, duck into Café Tomaselli on Alter Markt. It has been open since 1700 and still serves Einspänner coffee with a cap of whipped cream thick enough to hold a spoon upright. Evenings cool to around 15°C. The Kapuzinerberg hillside trail, a 20-minute climb from Linzer Gasse, gives you the Fortress lit gold against the Untersberg at dusk. Kapuzinerberg's stone steps get slick after rain.

Salzburg eats early. Most restaurant kitchens in the Altstadt close by 9:30pm on weeknights, 10pm on Friday and Saturday. During Festival season, the Festspiele draws roughly 250,000 ticket-holders over its 6-week run, and post-concert diners compete for those last kitchen slots. Book by 7pm or eat across the river in Schallmoos. Stiftskeller St. Peter on St.-Peter-Bezirk has operated since 803, making it one of the oldest continuously running restaurants in central Europe. The Salzburger Nockerl there is a sweet soufflé the size of a small pillow, golden on top and soft enough to collapse under a fork. It feeds two for about €16. The city's beer hall is Augustiner Bräu Kloster Mülln at Lindhofstraße 7, where you buy a ceramic Maßkrug at the counter, rinse it at the brass tap, and fill it from the wooden barrel for around €4. The courtyard seats about 1,400 people. Friday evenings it fills by 6pm. Augustiner takes cash only.