Linzergasse & Right Bank

At a glance

The quick orientation before you set off — the steady facts about this stretch of the right bank.

• What it is: the principal old shopping street of the right-bank Old Town, the historic road out toward Linz, now pedestrianised.
• Where it runs: from near the Staatsbrücke and Platzl up toward the Capuchin gate at its eastern end, parallel to the river.
• On and just off it: independent shops, cafés, St Sebastian's Church and cemetery, Schallmoser-style courtyards, and the start of the Kapuzinerberg climb.
• Best for: relaxed shopping, coffee, escaping the Getreidegasse crowds, and as a base or route on the quieter side of the river.
• Nearby: the Mozart Residence on Makartplatz, Mirabell Gardens, the Steingasse lane and the Salzach river path are all a short walk away.
• Practical: free and open to wander any time; verify individual shop, café and church opening hours locally, as these vary.

The Old Town's quieter half

Almost everyone arrives in Salzburg thinking the Old Town means the left bank — Getreidegasse, the cathedral, the fortress. But the historic centre spans both sides of the Salzach, and the right bank has its own old heart strung along Linzergasse. Where Getreidegasse is a narrow, thronged canyon of wrought-iron signs, Linzergasse is broader, calmer and more workaday-handsome: a pedestrian street of pastel façades, long-established shops, churches and quiet courtyards, with the wooded Kapuzinerberg rising green at its eastern end.

The street takes its name from its destination. This was the old road out of Salzburg toward Linz and on to Vienna, the main artery of the right-bank suburb that grew up across the river from the prince-archbishops' ceremonial centre. That history gives it a slightly more lived-in, commercial character than the grand squares opposite — and that is exactly its appeal. People actually shop here, drink coffee here, run errands here. For visitors it offers the same Baroque beauty as the left bank with a good deal less elbowing.

Shopping, cafés and hidden courtyards

Linzergasse is one of Salzburg's two great shopping streets, and the better of the pair if you want to browse without a crush. Alongside the usual names you'll find independent and traditional shops — confectioners, bookshops, fashion, design and the occasional long-running family business — and, as on the left bank, the real discoveries hide in the courtyards. Push through an unassuming archway and you may find a tucked-away café, a workshop or a quiet passage threading toward the river or the hill. It rewards the same curious, duck-in-and-explore instinct as Getreidegasse, with more breathing room.

It is also a fine street for coffee. The right bank holds some of the city's most characterful cafés and konditoreien, and Linzergasse and its immediate surrounds — toward Platzl, Steingasse and the river — are a natural place to pause for a slice of cake under the Salzburg coffeehouse ritual. For a slow morning or a mid-afternoon break away from the busiest squares, this is the side of the river to choose.

Churches, the cemetery and quiet history

For all its everyday bustle, Linzergasse hides some of Salzburg's most atmospheric quiet corners. Step off the street into St Sebastian's Church and its arcaded cemetery, an unexpectedly peaceful enclosure where the Italianate tombs and the central Gabriel Chapel feel a world away from the shopping just outside. This is hallowed ground for music and history lovers: members of Mozart's family, including his father Leopold and his widow Constanze, are buried here, as is the Renaissance physician Paracelsus. It is free, hushed and deeply evocative — a place to slow down and read the stones.

Nearby, the parallel Steingasse — a narrow, ancient lane squeezed between the buildings and the foot of the Kapuzinerberg — is one of the oldest streets in the city, all stone, shadow and old doorways, with a couple of intimate bars hidden along it. Together with St Sebastian's, it gives the right bank a layer of secret, lived-in history that the polished left-bank squares, for all their grandeur, can't quite match.

The Kapuzinerberg gate and the best fortress view

At the eastern end of Linzergasse waits the street's finest secret: the Capuchin gate, a stone archway where the cobbled Capuchin Steps begin their climb up the Kapuzinerberg. This wooded hill is the Mönchsberg's quieter twin, and because it stands directly opposite the fortress, its lookouts give you the most complete, head-on panorama of Hohensalzburg across the river — usually with hardly anyone else there. The climb is short but properly steep on uneven stone, so wear shoes with grip, but the reward is the best free view in the city and a pocket of near-wild forest minutes from the shops.

This is what makes Linzergasse such a satisfying base for a walk: you can browse the street, drift into the cemetery, then climb straight from its top end into the trees for the view, and come back down to coffee — all without crossing the river or boarding any transport. Few stretches of Salzburg pack so much variety into so short a distance.

Using Linzergasse as a base or a route

Linzergasse sits at the centre of the most rewarding right-bank afternoon in Salzburg. From here it is a short, level walk to the Mozart Residence on Makartplatz, to the Baroque parterre of Mirabell Gardens, and down to the Salzach river path with its fortress views and the love-lock bridge. String them together and you have a half-day that takes in a Mozart museum, a famous garden, a historic shopping street, a hidden cemetery and the city's best viewpoint — all on the calmer side of the water, and all on foot.

As a place to stay, the area is a strong, slightly underrated choice. You get genuine Old Town character and walkability, easy access to both Mirabell and the river, and a quick walk across the bridges to the left-bank sights — usually with a little less crowding and noise than sleeping right on Getreidegasse. For travellers who want to be central but not in the thick of the busiest squares, the right bank around Linzergasse and Mirabell is one of the best compromises in the city.