The borders of the modern Salzburger Land (
www.sagma.co.at/guide ) roughly correspond to the area ruled
by the prince-archbishops of Salzburg (although the archbishopric
was a typically feudal entity, comprising motley holdings dotted
throughout central Austria and southern Germany), up until the
Principality's incorporation into Austria in 1816. The River
Salzach , which rises in the lofty heights of the Hohe Tauern
range before flowing towards Salzburg, eventually joining the River
Inn in Upper Austria, gives the area a measure of geographical
cohesion; and it's the main transport routes along the Salzach
Valley that link the provincial capital, Salzburg , with
much of its hinterland. As a tourist destination, the Salzburger
Land offers a good mixture of both the urban and the alpine, with
its splendid Baroque capital proving the main focus for many
visitors. Music is an important draw in a city that was the
birthplace of Mozart , and the annual Salzburg
Festival , held in July and August, is a world-renowned feast
of classical music and theatre. South of Salzburg, the narrow
confines of the Salzach Valley and a sequence of exhilarating
mountainscapes provide a dramatic setting for historic towns like
Hallein and Werfen , while further south,
Radstadt, St Johann im Pongau, Badgastein and Zell am
See serve as the best bases from which to explore the
countryside - most notably the lofty heights of the Hohe
Tauern range.
In winter , snow sports take hold in the south of the
province, with Radstadt, St Johann im Pongau, Badgastein and the
package resort of Saalbach-Hinterglemm providing a wealth of white
slopes. Many of the Land's winter sports centres make equally good
hiking bases in summer . A key destination for hikers is the
Hohe Tauern National Park, which preserves the unspoilt highland
areas above the towns of Badgastein and Zell am See. The most
versatile area is around Zell am See, where a glacier above the
neighbouring settlement of Kaprun provides year-round skiing
and snowboarding.
In the past, the Salzburger Land was divided into districts
known as Gaue ( Gau in the singular): the Flachgau
north of Salzburg, the Tennengau to the south, the Pongau in the
middle Salzach Valley, the Lungau in the far southeast, and the
Pinzgau, which runs from Zell am See westwards along the Upper
Salzach Valley. Each developed its own folkloric traditions, and
regional differences still provide the people who live here with an
important badge of regional identity. This is partly expressed in
several surviving folk festivals , which include the
Pongauer Perchtenlauf , when costumed figures rampage
through the streets of one of four Pongau towns, Krampus
festivities in Zell am See, and the Samsonumzug in the
Lungau town of Tamsweg, in which an effigy of Samson is paraded
through the streets on important summer feast days.