What's a good 3-day itinerary for Salzburg?

Salzburg's Altstadt sits in a compressed pocket between the Salzach river and the Mönchsberg cliff, so Day 1 covers the entire left-bank core without a bus. Start at Residenzplatz by 8:30am, when the square is still empty and pigeons own the fountain. Salzburg Cathedral has stood on this site since 701, though the current Baroque nave dates to the 1620s and smells of cold stone and candle wax even in summer. Walk through the DomQuartier galleries to reach the fortress funicular by 10am. Hohensalzburg Fortress has occupied the hilltop since 1077, and the view from the Reckturm terrace looks straight down onto Altstadt rooftops, clay-orange tiles packed tight as piano keys. Allow 90 minutes up top. Back at street level by noon, walk Getreidegasse to the Balkan Grill at number 33 for a Bosna, the spiced sausage in a white roll that Salzburgers have eaten since the 1950s. It costs around €4.50. In the afternoon, visit Mozart's birthplace at Getreidegasse 9, then Café Tomaselli on Alter Markt for a Melange and Apfelstrudel. The café has operated since 1705. Dinner at Zwettler's on Kaigasse, where a Tafelspitz runs about €19.

Day 2 crosses the Salzach to the right bank. Mirabell Palace opens its gardens at 6am, but 8:30am gives the best light on the Pegasus fountain with the fortress framed behind it. This is the angle from The Sound of Music, and half the people there by 10am will be recreating the scene. To be fair, the gardens are worth the crowd. Walk south along Linzer Gasse to Sebastiansfriedhof, where Paracelsus is buried and the wrought-iron headstones smell of damp moss even in July. Cross back over the Makartsteg footbridge and take the Mönchsberg elevator to the Museum der Moderne. The rooftop terrace at M32 restaurant is the best lunch spot most first-timers miss, with a two-course meal around €22. Spend the afternoon on the Mönchsberg ridge path, a flat 2-kilometre trail above the city where you can hear church bells from both banks at once. End the day at Augustiner Bräustübl on Augustinergasse 4. Monks have brewed here since 1621. A full Maß of their lager costs about €4.80, and you bring your own food from the deli counters in the entrance hall.

Day 3 heads south. Bus 25 from Salzburg Hauptbahnhof reaches Hellbrunn Palace in about 20 minutes. The trick fountains were built in 1619 by Archbishop Markus Sittikus, and they still run on the original hydraulic system. No pumps, no electricity. You will get wet. The tour lasts 40 minutes and the guide controls when the jets fire, so wear something that dries fast. After Hellbrunn, take bus 25 back toward Anif and transfer to the 840 for the Untersberg cable car, roughly 25 minutes total. The cable car climbs to 1,853 metres and the temperature drops about 12°C from the valley floor. Even in late July, patches of snow sit in the north-facing couloirs. The panorama stretches across the Salzburg basin to Berchtesgaden and, on clear days, the Großglockner 80 kilometres south. Return to the city by 5pm and walk to Stiftsbäckerei St. Peter, a bakery at St. Peter's Abbey that has operated since at least the 12th century, for a loaf of sourdough before it sells out. Final dinner at Triangel on Wiener-Philharmoniker-Gasse, where the Salzburger Nockerl, a sweet soufflé baked to order, takes 20 minutes and feeds two for €16.

Salzburg is small. The Altstadt measures roughly 800 metres end to end, and the right bank adds another kilometre. A 72-hour Salzburg Card costs around €49 and covers the fortress, Hellbrunn, the Untersberg cable car, all city buses, and every museum on this itinerary. Without the card, those same attractions total about €68 in separate tickets. Buy the card at the Hauptbahnhof tourist office when you arrive. One thing worth noting about July. Salzburg Festival runs from mid-July through August, and hotel prices tend to double. Restaurants fill by 7pm. Book dinner for 6:30 or accept a 9pm seating. That said, the festival does mean free open-air screenings on Kapitelplatz most evenings, projected against the fortress wall above. Bring a layer. The stone arcades hold the cool air, and evenings along the Salzach drop to 14-15°C even in summer.