The Mirabell Palace and Gardens are located north of the Salzach River. It was used by the Prince Archbishops to entertain guests and now houses government offices including the office of the Mayor of Salzburg.
The Mirabell Palace was constructed and the extensive gardens were laid in 1606 as the residence of the mistress of Archbishop Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau, Salome Alt. At the time it was called the Altenau Palace. His successor renamed it as the Mirabel Palace. Successive Archbishops improved and added to the structure and the gardens. It was damaged by a fire in 1818 and most parts were burned except the marble staircase and marble hall. After the reign of the Archbishops came to an end, it became the residents of the royal family of Austria.
The Mirabel palace today is not open to the public. The marble hall that was once the concert hall and ballroom of the Archbishops is regarded as one of the most beautiful wedding halls in the world. Today it is the venue for meetings, award ceremonies and concerts. The Mirabell gardens consist of a hedge garden, a dwarf garden with sculptures of dwarfs made of locally quarried Untersberg marble. The famous Pegasus fountain was the setting for the song Do Re Mi in the 1965 Hollywood film, the Sound of Music.

The House of Nature in Salzburg is one of the best natural history museums in Europe. It is a modern facility with a design based on the concept of an adventure museum.
The house of Nature was founded in 1927 by professor of zoology, Eduard Paul Tratz. He opened the museum with his personal collection. Professor Tratz continued to function as its curator until 1976. It is housed in a former convent which was abandoned in 1957. The House of Nature has over 80 rooms with animated exhibits and natural habitats. Many study groups with interests in various life science disciplines like entomology, ornithology, botany and astronomy meet and interact at the museum.
Exhibits at the museum include a range of stuffed animals, rocks and stones. There are replicas of giant dinosaurs including a moving simulation of an Allosaurus and a reconstructed dinosaur egg. It has dioramas showing landscape forms from across the world and a space hall where visitors can feel the impact of a meteor falling on earth or experience the landing on the moon. Large models of the human body and an aquarium with forty parts representing different fish from different marine habitats are other attractions at the House of Nature.

The Spielzeugmuseum or Toy Museum displays the largest collection of toys in Austria. It has both conventional and interactive displays.
The Toy Museum is housed in a building that was once a public hospital. The building is a beautiful old Baroque structure. Besides an impressive collection of toys, the museum has workshops where toys are made and the Kasperltheater Puppet show has been hosted on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon for the entertainment of young visitors for the last 25 years. Exhibits are arranged in an area of over 800 square meters.
Toy collections at the museum include antique dolls, wooden and tin dolls from around Austria, toys used by children from the baroque age to the twenty first century and a small exhibition of miniature musical instruments. There are exhibits that are over 250 years old. There is a vast collection of paper theater and paper opera characters, a unique collection of model trains, a collection of handmade dolls houses and circus toy displays. One room has a model railroad with two locomotives that carry passengers and goods around the city at the press of a button. There is also a section dedicated to photography equipment. Another attraction for children is a group of gnomes called Fidis that live in the museum depot.

The New Residence of the Archbishops of Salzburg houses the Salzburg Museum. It is a repository of the history, art and culture of the city from the time when it was the Roman city of Juvavum to the modern day.
The New Residence on Mozart Square in Salzburg is a magnificent building where the Prince- Archbishops lived and entertained guests when they ruled the city. It took over a hundred years to build and four archbishops in succession embellished its appearance. The Salzburg Museum was housed in the New Residence from the year 2007.
The Salzburg Museum has four major sections with an array of exhibits. Its purpose is not only to inform visitors but also to entertain them. One section is devoted to the life and works of well known men and women of Salzburg who made their contributions in the fields of art, science, architecture, literature, music and photography. Another section is dedicated to the historical development of the city’s art and culture from the reign of the archbishops to the early twentieth century. There is a medieval collection and objects unearthed by archeological excavations like a painted Roman wall and a Celtic jug. Temporary exhibitions are held in the Kunsthalle or the Art Hall. It is located in the inner courtyard of the New Residence and is a multipurpose hall with an illuminated ceiling.

The Hohensalzburg Fortress is one of the largest medieval castles in Europe. It was built to protect the city and the ruling archbishops from enemy armies and insurgents.
Archbishop Gebhard von Helfenstein commissioned the construction of the Hohensalzburg Fortress in 1077 to protect Salzburg during a conflict between the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV and Pope Gregory VII. At the time, the fortress was a simple wooden structure. Successive Archbishops expanded Hohensalzburg. Archbishop Leonhard von Keutschach expanded the structure and gave it its present shape and grandeur. In 1525, a group of Protestant peasants attempted to depose Archbishop Prince-Archbishop Matthäus Lang but were unable to take the castle. Some of the bullet marks caused by the siege can be still seen in the pillars. Archbishop Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau was imprisoned here. After the occupation by Napoleon’s army, it was used as barracks, a dungeon and a storage depot. It became a tourist attraction after the installation of the Festungsbahn cable car in 1892.
The Hohensalzburg Fortress today remains one of Europe’s best preserved castles. There is a small museum located inside exhibiting its history. Another notable feature is a large mechanical organ with 200 pipes called the Salzburg Bull placed in the Kraut Tower of the castle. The Golden hall, the Golden Chamber and the bedchamber are richly adorned rooms in the interior of the fortress.