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He doesn't make it easy for you.
The Kapuzinerberg is an eccentric, a densely overgrown mountain that towers more than 200 meters from the banks of the Salzach.
If you want to go up, you break a sweat.
There are two options for the steep ascent: either along the narrow road from Linzer Gasse to the Capuchin Monastery, a first stopover, or, even steeper, along the Imbergstiege, which meanders from the banks of the Salzach through the old town houses.
The Kapuzinerberg is a curiosity, probably unique in the entire Alpine region.
A mountain, unspoiled and natural and in the middle of the city.
You feel like a mountain hiker and are only a few hundred meters away from Salzburg's old town, Getreidegasse and Residenzplatz.
There are not many mountains from the summit of which you can walk to an urban pedestrian zone.
This Kapuzinerberg has always attracted prominent contemporaries, and even now a name haunts the media again.
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Helene Fischer, the German pop singer, bought an old villa up on Kapuzinerberg, it was said in the gossip press.
There is no comment from herself or from her agency in Hamburg, not even on what she likes about Salzburg.
After all, the fact is that Fischer's ex-partner Florian Silbereisen resides only a few kilometers away on Lake Mondsee.
But we don't want to speculate here.
The Kapuzinerberg attracts artists
If you know the Kapuzinerberg, the desire to live here is simply understandable.
Because he has history.
Artists were drawn to the charm of the mountain in the middle of the old town early on.
An ideal retreat in the famous cultural metropolis, an opportunity for long, lonely walks and creative leisure hours.
In the past, it was not the escape from fans and cameras that motivated the artists to withdraw, but the search for places of special inspiration.
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One of them was the poet Georg Trakl, who grew up as the son of an iron merchant in Salzburg at the end of the 19th century.
He took long walks on the Kapuzinerberg, and occasionally spent the night in the forest up there.
It was the attempt to escape from his depression.
Some examples of his Expressionist poetry are immortalized with plaques on house walls down in the city.
Stefan Zweig bought the Paschinger Schlössl
The best known Kapuzinerberg lover is Stefan Zweig.
In 1919 he bought the venerable Paschinger Schlössl right next to the Capuchin monastery and lived there with his wife Friderike until he fled to London in 1934 from the reprisals of the Nazis.
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The Schlössl is an elegant, bright yellow painted villa with anachronistic charm in the middle of a spacious, park-like property.
It has been privately owned for many years, so it cannot be visited.
But even the outer sight is venerable.
Stefan Zweig is still very present on the Kapuzinerberg today.
One way is named after him.
A bust reminds of him, it stands diagonally opposite in front of the wall of the monastery garden.
A few steps past the cloister garden, it is then to an old gate that used to be a toll station.
A monument on the Kapuzinerberg commemorates the composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Source: G. Breitegger
Behind it, the path becomes flatter, forks and gives you the choice between the driveway on the left, which plunges into the dark forest, and the wide path that leads directly to the few villas up on the mountain.
On the left there is a statue of Mozart in the meadow.
Behind it, until 1948, was the old wooden composing house owned by Mozart, in which the Magic Flute was created and which has since stood down in town next to the Mozarteum, an art college for music and drama.
Located in the old town to the right of the Salzach on Markartplatz, the home of the city's largest son can also be visited.
The composer's life is documented there using multimedia.
One of Austria's most popular museums is the Hagenauer Haus at Getreidegasse 9, where Mozart was born in 1756.
Will this be Helene Fischer's new residence?
The path to the right now runs through the forest with moderate differences in altitude, passes two ponds in the forest, one of which is a full old bomb crater from the Second World War.
A few meters are then to a stately villa with a neighboring house and a spacious driveway.
At the back, as the last of the four buildings, is the rumored new residence of Helene Fischer.
Is Helene Fischer's villa being renovated behind this gate?
Source: Georg Weindl
Whereby Residenz sounds almost exaggerated.
The building is comparatively inconspicuous, the property on the steep slope directly in front of an old defensive wall is manageable.
However, the view is hard to beat.
One looks down to the Salzach and the old town.
Opposite, the bright facades of the fortress shine, the buildings are lined up on the adjacent Mönchsberg, you can see the mighty Untersberg massif in the background and the peaks of the Watzmann on the Bavarian side.
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The south-facing position ensures a lot of sunlight.
It is, without a doubt, an extremely privileged location far above everyday life.
Chamois on the way to the Franziskischlössl
On the further way it becomes quite calm, the nearby Gaisberg shimmers through the woods.
A good dozen chamois are among the few permanent residents of the Kapuzinerberg.
They are regularly fed by the city forester Manuel Kapeller so that, as he says, they don't run down into the city to take care of their own food.
This curious story began with a billy goat who settled on the Kapuzinerberg in 1948 and was given a female chamois to keep him company.
With a little luck, you can meet your offspring on a walk in the direction of the Franziskischlössl.
The trail finally ends on the east side of the mountain.
If you want to go all the way up, take the steep path to the left along an old defensive wall, which leads directly to the Franziskischlössl with many steps over a few hundred meters.
The angular building dates from the Thirty Years War (1618–1648) and was built as part of the fortifications at the behest of Archbishop Paris von Lodron.
The Franziskischlössl now belongs to the city of Salzburg and houses a restaurant with a romantic castle garden.
It is only a few steps to the fortress wall, from which you can look down into Salzburg's old town.
If you are looking for solitude up on the mountain, this is the right place - and yet it is only a few meters to the old town of Salzburg
Source: G. Breitegger
Up on the mountain you are surrounded by the city, Salzburg is below you.
Nowhere else do you experience this unusual location of the Kapuzinerberg as intensely as here.
Today nothing needs to be defended in the Franziskischlössl, at most the reputation of the upscale regional cuisine that is served in gardens and vaulted halls.
The house with its elegant salons at around 630 meters above sea level is a popular destination, family celebrations and weddings are also celebrated.
The two hosts have set up two elegant, spacious suites for lodging guests.
Because guests are not allowed to drive to this exclusive place with their own car and taxi drivers often refuse the steep path, the Franziskischlössl has set up a shuttle service, guests can be picked up below in a four-wheel drive minibus.
Celebrities feel at home in Salzburg
That such circumstances are necessary shows once more: Compared to the Mönchsberg, the Kapuzinerberg is the more original and much more secretive hill in the city.
A lift has been set up for visitors on Mönchsberg, although less high.
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Having reached the top after a few meters, you can feel the hustle and bustle, albeit exclusive.
Here you will find the Museum of Modern Art, gastronomy, a five-star castle hotel and several villas.
The tennis player Michael Stich had a luxury apartment on the Mönchsberg for years.
Nobel laureate for literature Peter Handke also resided there in an enchanted-looking old villa.
Other celebrities looked for homes in keeping with their status, either in the noble Aigen district, such as Franz Beckenbauer or DJ Ötzi, or in the middle of the old town, such as the writer Hera Lind.
The German speed skater and Olympic champion Anni Friesinger-Postma runs a children's fashion store on Mirabellplatz.
Salzburg has always attracted celebrities.
So now Helene Fischer has apparently got a taste for it.
If she is looking for solitude up on the mountain, she will get her money's worth.
And if she does want to experience something or buy a couple of original Salzburg Mozartkugeln in the Fürst café-pastry shop, then she descends a good two kilometers into the old town.
If she is not stopped by fans with autograph requests, she will be there in half an hour.
Source: WORLD infographic
Tips and information
Arrival:
By car via the A 8 motorway from Munich to Salzburg, alternatively by train via Munich and Rosenheim to Salzburg main station.
From the main train station it is a good 15 minute walk to the stairs to the Kapuzinerberg.
Accommodation:
The "Hotel Sacher" is a classic five-star hotel right on the banks of the Salzach, at the foot of the Kapuzinerberg, overnight accommodation in a double room with breakfast for two people from 300 euros (sacher.com);
The "Hotel Rosenvilla" on the south side of the Kapuzinerberg offers a private atmosphere in a quiet side street, in the charming four-star hotel the night in a double room without board costs from 99 euros (rosenvilla.com);
the Franziskischlössl on the Kapuzinerberg welcomes overnight guests in luxurious suites, from 440 euros per night and suite (franziskischloessl.at).
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Corona info:
Until March 31, 2021, a new entry regulation provides for a mandatory ten-day quarantine for travelers from Germany and other countries.
In addition, a negative PCR or antigen test result that is not older than 72 hours must be submitted.
All entrants must register electronically in advance and print out the confirmation of receipt upon entry or present them on a mobile device (oesterreich.gv.at).
Information:
salzburg.info
Participation in the trip was supported by Tourismus Salzburg. You can find our standards of transparency and journalistic independence at axelspringer.de/unabhaengigkeit.