Salzburg is the fourth-largest city in Austria and the capital of the federal state of Salzburg. Salzburg's "Old Town" (Altstadt) with its world famous baroque architecture is one of the best-preserved city centres north of the Alps, and was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997. The city is noted for its Alpine setting. It is the birthplace of 18th-century composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. In the mid-20th century, the city was the setting for parts of the musical and film The Sound of Music, which also features famous landmarks in Austria. With three universities, Salzburg is filled with the liveliness of a large student population.
Salzburg is a tourist favourite, with the number of tourists outnumbering locals by a large margin in peak times. In addition to Mozart's birthplace noted above, other notable places include:
- The entire Old Town of Salzburg was nominated as a World Heritage Site in 1996.
- The baroque architecture including the many churches are world famous.
- The Salzburg Cathedral (Salzburger Dom)
- The Hohensalzburg Castle (Festung Hohensalzburg) on a hill dominating the old town is one of the largest castles in Europe, with views over Salzburg.
- The Franziskanerchurch
- The St. Peter's cemetery (Petersfriedhof)
- Palace of Mirabell with its wide gardens full of flowers.
- St. Sebastian's cemetery (Sebastiansfriedhof)