Costums
on Salzburg’s Sonnenterrasse
Magical places and living traditions accompany your cultural holiday in the Salzburg region on Salzburg’s Sonnenterrasse. Look forward to the full diversity of regional customs and traditions and let yourself be inspired by its unique atmosphere. Like something out of a fairy tale – only more exciting and diverse.
Salzburg’s Sonnenterrasse lives and breathes tradition and customs. Throughout the year and on every occasion, an active network of local associations ensures that long-established traditions are passed on, preserved, and celebrated from generation to generation.
Whether for Harvest Festival (Erntedank), Corpus Christi, or various openings and receptions, the riflemen’s association, traditional brass band, women’s traditional costume groups, rural youth, and the heritage and traditional costume association all take part. They delight visitors with centuries-old traditional dress and a vibrant atmosphere created by lively folk music.
The “Schnalzer” performers, with their powerful whips cracking in rhythm, are of course also part of these celebrations.
In summer, the market square in St. Veit im Pongau is filled with a lively and festive atmosphere. Every weekend, concerts by traditional brass bands from the Sun Terrace villages take place as part of the summer festival.
Atmospheric and almost magical, yet also vibrant and energetic, the open-air concerts and dance evenings provide great entertainment and create lasting memories for your summer holiday.
The pre-Christmas season on Salzburg’s Sun Terrace never fails to move and inspire. In the Sun Terrace villages, you come a little closer to the magic of Advent from the end of November onwards.
Reflective Advent markets for both children and adults, featuring culinary delights and traditional crafts, accompany this beautiful time of year. Concerts and Advent singing events provide the perfect musical backdrop, complemented by many other activities.
From atmospheric torchlight hikes and the winter solstice bonfire to Krampus runs, you are gradually immersed in the spirit of the upcoming festive season.
The picturesque Kinderalm attracts hikers and snowshoe walkers throughout the year, who appreciate its varied trails in an idyllic natural setting. Many of these routes lead directly past the convent of the Bethlehems Sisters.
Founded in 1985, the convent “Maria im Paradies” is now home to around 30 nuns and is financially sustained by the monastery shop in the lower part of the complex, which is open to the public. Regularly, Maria im Paradies welcomes pilgrims who spend several days sharing the complete silence and solitude of the Kinderalm.
The so-called “upper house” is a cloistered area reserved exclusively for the sisters.
A short detour to the neighbouring district capital of St. Johann im Pongau reveals an intriguing contrast within the otherwise peaceful and charming townscape. Amid the small houses and colourful rooftops rises a monumental church that one would usually expect to find only in much larger cities.
Originally planned as a single tower to replace a church destroyed by fire, the structure evolved after a further collapse into a massive building of quarry stone with a striking twin-tower façade. This highly popular excursion destination is an essential part of any cultural holiday in Salzburg.
Particularly noteworthy are the impressive high altar in the form of a Gothic shrine and the Lourdes Chapel, which houses relics of Saint Bernadette of Lourdes—both of which offer a truly memorable experience.
