The story of Hohensalzburg Fortress

Crowning the Festungsberg at 506 metres, Hohensalzburg is one of the largest medieval castles in Europe: 250 metres long and 150 metres wide. Archbishop Gebhard von Helfenstein began it in 1077, as a simple bailey with a wooden wall, during his conflict with Emperor Henry IV. Over the following centuries the powerful archbishops kept expanding it; the ring walls and towers were built in 1462, and Archbishop Leonhard von Keutschach enlarged it further from 1495 to 1519. The outer bastions, begun in the 16th century and finished in the 17th, were added for fear of a Turkish invasion.

Yet the fortress was besieged only once, during the Peasants' War of 1525, when miners, farmers and townspeople tried to oust the archbishop – and failed. Look out for the Reisszug, a very early goods lift described in 1515 that pulled supplies up to the upper courtyard; in updated form it still works and is probably the oldest operating railway in the world.

Then enjoy the view over the city.