Salzburg Festival: The Complete Guide
Six weeks of opera, concerts and theatre, some twenty venues and personalised tickets: how a summer that is prepared in winter works.
Last updated 6 October 2026 · 5 min read
The Salzburg Festival is an opera, concert and theatre festival founded in 1920 and held every summer in Salzburg, Austria. The 2027 edition runs from Friday 16 July to Sunday 29 August; in 2026 the festival gave 172 performances over 45 days, in 19 venues, with occupancy above 99%. Its heart is the Festival District at the foot of the Mönchsberg: the Grosses Festspielhaus, the Haus für Mozart and the Felsenreitschule. The programme is published at the end of the year; orders are submitted over a few winter weeks, then direct sales open in spring. Tickets are personalised and cannot be transferred. Everything else — hotel, journeys, attire, dinners — is composed around them, and booked early.
What is the Salzburg Festival?
The story begins just after the First World War. A poet, a stage director and a composer imagine, in Mozart's birthplace, a festival in which theatre and music answer one another. On 22 August 1920, a play is performed in the open air on the Domplatz, the square before the cathedral: it is the festival's first performance, and the play traditionally returns there every summer.
More than a century later, the festival brings together opera, concerts and theatre every summer, in halls built for it and in places older than it: churches, university halls, courtyards and a riding school carved into the rock. In 2026 it welcomed more than 261,000 visitors from 84 countries.
The venues: the Festival District and the city
Three halls form the Festival District, in the Hofstallgasse, on the site of the prince-archbishops' former stables. The Grosses Festspielhaus, inaugurated on 26 July 1960, has 2,179 seats and a stage one hundred metres wide, partly dug into the Mönchsberg. The Haus für Mozart, the festival's former small hall built in 1925, was entirely redesigned and reopened in 2006. The Felsenreitschule, a summer riding school laid out in 1693, sets its stage against 96 arcades cut into the rock on three tiers; the festival has performed there since 1926.
Around them, some twenty venues host concerts and theatre: the Domplatz, the Kollegienkirche, the cathedral, the Great Hall of the Mozarteum, the Landestheater, and as far as Perner Island in Hallein. In bad weather, the play performed on the Domplatz moves to the Grosses Festspielhaus.
| Venue | What to know | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Grosses Festspielhaus | Inaugurated in 1960, 2,179 seats, 100 m stage; bad-weather venue for the Domplatz | Hofstallgasse, Festival District |
| Haus für Mozart | Former small hall of 1925, reopened in 2006; a more intimate hall | Hofstallgasse, Festival District |
| Felsenreitschule | Summer riding school of 1693, 96 arcades cut into the rock; a festival stage since 1926 | Hofstallgasse, against the Mönchsberg |
| Domplatz | The square before the cathedral, in the open air; scene of the first performance, in 1920 | Old town |
| Churches, Mozarteum, Landestheater | Concerts, sacred music, theatre | Old town and right bank of the Salzach |
The calendar: from the winter programme to summer evenings
The festival publishes its summer programme at the end of the year: the 2026 programme was released on 4 December 2025. The 2027 programme is not yet known, so we name no work and no cast. Orders are then submitted over a few weeks — until 20 January for the 2026 edition — all treated equally, whenever they are sent. Members of the Friends of the Salzburg Festival, patrons and subscribers are served first.
Direct sales, with seat selection, open in spring — on 27 March for the 2026 edition — for what remains available. The festival runs from 16 July to 29 August 2027; a short programme also takes place at Whitsun, from 14 to 17 May 2027.
| Period | Step | What we do |
|---|---|---|
| Early December | Summer programme published | Read the programme with you, choose the evenings |
| December – January | Orders submitted, all treated equally | Prepare the order, placed in your name |
| Late January – spring | Seat allocation | Fit the stay to the evenings obtained |
| Late March | Direct sales, with seat selection | Complete the programme, subject to availability |
| Until the summer | Resale of returned tickets, for sold-out evenings | Follow these resales, without promising anything |
Tickets: personalised, and never resold
Festival tickets are personalised without exception: only the person named on the ticket is admitted, on presentation of a photo ID. Buying for commercial resale and transferring a ticket are prohibited without the festival's prior consent. For a sold-out performance, the festival itself puts returned tickets back on sale.
This is why we resell no tickets and never buy them on a secondary market. We prepare the order with you, placed in your name with the festival, and compose everything else. Our guide How to Attend the Salzburg Festival? sets out each step.
Preparing your stay: attire, accommodation, arrival, budget
Attire first: the festival looks forward to welcoming its audience in festive, elegant evening attire, without written rules. Our guide What Is the Salzburg Festival Dress Code? covers the customs, evening by evening.
Then accommodation: the old town, the banks of the Salzach, or the Salzkammergut lakes. And finally arrival: Salzburg airport, a few kilometres from the centre, the train from Vienna or Munich, a jet, a chauffeur. Our guides Where to Stay for the Salzburg Festival? and How to Get to the Salzburg Festival? compare each option.
The budget is composed item by item — number of evenings and seat categories, length and address of the stay, journeys, dinners, attire — and is set on quotation. We explain what makes it vary rather than publish a price list.
Key takeaways
The Salzburg Festival runs from 16 July to 29 August 2027, in some twenty venues around the Festival District. The programme appears at the end of the year, orders are submitted in winter, direct sales open in spring; tickets are personalised and cannot be transferred. TGZ Conciergerie, an independent house with no affiliation with the Salzburger Festspiele and no official status, prepares the order with you and composes the entire stay — hotel, journeys, attire, dinners — on quotation, with availability and conditions confirmed before any commitment.
Frequently asked questions
From Friday 16 July to Sunday 29 August 2027, according to the dates published by the festival. A short programme also takes place at Whitsun, from 14 to 17 May 2027.
The festival publishes its summer programme at the end of the year: the 2026 programme was released on 4 December 2025. We will let you know as soon as the 2027 programme is out.
In 2026, 172 performances over 45 days, in 19 venues, plus 37 performances in the youth programme. Opera, concerts and theatre share the bill.
Three or four evenings over a week let you see the festival from several angles — an opera, a concert, an evening of theatre — while keeping the days free for the city and the lakes.
Many are: the 2026 edition exceeded 99% occupancy. Hence the value of submitting your order in the winter window rather than waiting for the spring direct sales.
As soon as the programme is published, and often before. Old-town hotels within walking distance of the halls go early for July and August; it is simpler to adjust the nights to the evenings obtained afterwards.
No. TGZ Conciergerie is an independent house, with no affiliation with the Salzburger Festspiele and no official status. We prepare orders with our clients and compose their stays, without ever reselling a ticket.
Take it further
Your summer in Salzburg starts now
Tell us how many evenings you wish to enjoy and with whom: we prepare the order with you, placed in your name, and compose the entire stay — hotel, arrival, chauffeur, attire, dinners. One point of contact, a quotation item by item.