Fortress Hohenwerfen visitor guide — everything you need to know before visiting

At a glance

What it is

A 900-year-old clifftop fortress of the Prince-Archbishops of Salzburg, standing 155 metres above the Salzach valley at Werfen — best known for its Austrian Falconry Museum and twice-daily birds-of-prey flight shows.

Founded

1075, by Archbishop Gebhard of Salzburg — a 'sister' fortress to Hohensalzburg above the city.

Open

1 April to 2 November 2026, then closed for winter (also closed on Mondays in April, October and early November).

Flight shows

Daily at 11:15 and 15:15, with extra shows in high summer; about 25 minutes each, weather permitting.

Reaching the gate

By the panorama lift, or a 20-minute walk up the fortress path — your choice of ticket.

Time needed

Allow 2.5 to 3 hours; pair it with the Eisriesenwelt ice caves for a full day from Salzburg.

Getting there

About 40 km (40 minutes) south of Salzburg by car on the A10, or roughly 45 minutes by regional train to Werfen.

What your visit includes

Admission covers the whole fortress. A guided castle tour leads you through the interior — the Prince-Archbishops' living quarters, the chapel and the great bell tower, from which the views down the Salzach valley are the finest on the rock. On the way you pass the armoury, with weapons and armour from the fortress's working centuries, and the dungeons and torture chamber that earned Hohenwerfen its grim reputation as a state prison.

Three exhibitions are included. 'Castle Times' tells nine hundred years of the fortress's story through interactive stations; 'The Uprising' uses multimedia to recount the 1525/26 Salzburg Peasants' War from the rebels' side; and the Austrian Falconry Museum traces the history of falconry and of Hohenwerfen's own turn on screen as the castle in Where Eagles Dare.

And, of course, the birds. The daily flight demonstration is included in every admission — it is the single most popular part of a visit, and the one thing worth planning your timing around.

Two ways to the gate: lift or footpath

The fortress sits on a steep wooded rock, and there are two ways up. The panorama lift carries you from the base station near the village straight to the castle gate in a couple of minutes — the easy choice if you have young children, limited time, or simply want to save your legs for the fortress itself.

The footpath is the classic approach: a walk of about twenty minutes up through the trees, following the route defenders and prisoners once took, with the walls rising ahead of you. It is steeper and it takes longer, but the sense of arrival is far greater. Whichever you choose, everything inside the fortress is identical — the difference is only in how you reach the gate.

The birds of prey

Falconry is what sets Hohenwerfen apart. The Austrian Falconry Museum is housed within the walls, and out on the grassy bailey the falconers fly a rotating cast of eagles, falcons, kites and vultures, sending them low over the battlements and out across the valley on the thermals. It is a genuine working demonstration of a craft that is thousands of years old, not a staged show — and seeing a golden eagle pass a few metres over your head, with the alps behind it, is the image most visitors carry home.

The demonstrations run twice a day, at 11:15 and 15:15, with additional shows added in the high-summer weeks. Each lasts around twenty-five minutes and goes ahead in most weather, though it can be shortened or paused in storms for the birds' safety. Arrive in good time and find a spot with a clear view of the arena — the birds fly closest to the front rows.

A short history

Archbishop Gebhard of Salzburg began Hohenwerfen in 1075, at the height of the Investiture Controversy between Pope and Emperor. Gebhard had taken the Pope's side against Emperor Henry IV, and raised three fortresses — Hohenwerfen, Hohensalzburg and Petersberg at Friesach — to hold the mountain passes into his territory. It cost him: driven from Salzburg, he wandered in exile for years and finally died here, inside his own fortress, in 1088.

For centuries the castle doubled as a state prison for the powerful. Its captives read like a roll-call of the region's rebels and fallen grandees — Archbishop Adalbert III, arrested by his own officials in 1198; Count Albert of Friesach in 1253. In 1525 the farmers and miners of the southern valleys rose in the Peasants' War, marched on Salzburg, set Hohenwerfen ablaze and took the governor sent to subdue them, Siegmund von Dietrichstein, prisoner in his own stronghold.

The fortress was extended over the following centuries and survived into the modern age, only to be gutted by a serious fire in 1931. Restored and eventually taken into public hands, it opened to visitors as one of Austria's great medieval fortresses — its walls, dungeons and towers still very much as its Prince-Archbishops left them.

On the silver screen

In 1968 the fortress played the fictional Schloss Adler — the 'Castle of the Eagles' — in the war film Where Eagles Dare, stormed on screen by Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood, and the Falconry Museum inside makes a small feature of the connection.

Three years earlier, the fortress had appeared in a gentler role: it rises in the background of the Do-Re-Mi picnic sequence in The Sound of Music (1965), filmed on the meadows below Werfen. If the profile above the valley looks familiar as you approach, this is why.

Planning your visit

The 2026 season runs from 1 April to 2 November, after which Hohenwerfen closes for the winter. In April, October and early November it is also closed on Mondays (open on public holidays). Opening hours run 9:30 to 16:00 in the shoulder months, 9:00 to 17:00 from May to September, and 9:00 to 18:00 in the peak weeks of 20 July to 21 August, with last admission about an hour before closing.

Build your day around a flight show at 11:15 or 15:15 and allow 2.5 to 3 hours in total — enough for the castle tour, the exhibitions and the falconry without rushing. Early mornings at the start and end of the season are the quietest; high-summer late mornings, when the coach groups arrive, are the busiest.

Getting there

Werfen lies about 40 kilometres south of Salzburg. By car it is a straightforward 40 minutes down the A10 Tauern motorway to the Werfen exit, with parking in the village near the lift base station. By train, regional services from Salzburg Hauptbahnhof reach Werfen station in around 45 minutes; from there it is a short walk to the base station, or straight onto the fortress footpath.

It also works well as a day trip from further afield — Hallstatt, Salzburg and even Munich are all within reach — and pairs naturally with the Eisriesenwelt ice caves in the same valley (see below).

Read the full guide: How to get to Fortress Hohenwerfen from Salzburg →

Make a day of it: Eisriesenwelt & Werfen

Werfen has a second world-class attraction hanging above it: the Eisriesenwelt, the largest ice cave on Earth, winding more than 42 kilometres into the Tennengebirge. A cable car — one of the steepest in Austria — lifts you most of the way, and a guided walk leads through a kilometre of frozen halls and ice formations lit by carbide lamp. It is open from roughly May to late October, on its own mountain across the valley from the fortress.

The two make a classic full day from Salzburg: the ice caves in the cooler morning air, lunch in Werfen, and the fortress and a falconry show in the afternoon. Bring warm layers for the caves — it is below freezing inside even in August — and comfortable shoes for both climbs.

Accessibility & facilities

The panorama lift reaches the fortress gate, but the interior is a genuine medieval castle: the guided tour includes steps, narrow passages and cobbled surfaces, and cannot accommodate wheelchairs or prams. A baby carrier works far better than a pushchair. The courtyards, ramparts and the flight-show arena are the most accessible parts of the visit.

For food, the castle tavern serves meals in the courtyard in fine weather, moving into the vaulted Knights' Hall when it turns. The fortress is a firm favourite with families — there are dedicated children's programmes and knights'-tournament days through the season — and children's admission covers ages 6 to 14, with under-6s free alongside a paying adult.

What to bring

Wear sturdy, closed shoes for the cobbles, the ramparts and (if you take it) the footpath. Bring a layer even in summer — the fortress is exposed and the wind funnels up the valley — and something waterproof for the shoulder months. If you are pairing the day with the Eisriesenwelt caves, pack a warm jacket and gloves: it stays below freezing inside the ice all year.

Above all, plan your arrival around one of the flight shows. Everything else at Hohenwerfen you can take at your own pace; the birds fly to a schedule, and they are the reason most people leave grinning.

Frequently asked questions