Sixty years on, The Sound of Music still sends fans to Salzburg with Do-Re-Mi stuck in their heads. The 1965 musical, based on the real Maria von Trapp and her work as governess to Captain Georg von Trapp's seven children, was shot largely on location in and around the Austrian city — with one surprising detour into Germany. Here's where the famous scenes live.

The iconic opening spin-and-song was actually filmed at Mehlweg, a Bavarian mountain just six miles from the Salzburg border, chosen for the drama of the Untersberg peak behind it. The exact spot is private land, but tours get you close enough.

South of the border and 40km south of Salzburg sits the Gschwandtanger Meadow near Werfen, where Maria and the children picnic and sing Do-Re-Mi, guitar and all, with Hohenwerfen Castle looming behind. The town also claims the world's largest ice cave, and there's a themed hiking path plus a photo set with Maria and the kids. Film buffs may recognise the castle from the 1968 Clint Eastwood movie Where Eagles Dare.

Back in Salzburg proper, the trail gets delightfully walkable. Nonnberg Abbey — founded around 714-715 AD and the world's oldest continuously operating Benedictine nunnery — was where the real Maria was a novice, and where the nunnery scenes were shot. The Von Trapp home exteriors were split between two places: Schloss Leopoldskron, an 18th-century Rococo palace where the boating scene was filmed (it's now a hotel whose past guests include King Charles and Arnold Schwarzenegger, so you'll need to book a stay to see the lake), and Schloss Frohnburg Palace, a 17th-century summer residence now used as student halls by the Universität Mozarteum. That's where the Captain tears down the Nazi flag and the family pushes the car.

One twist: the famous gazebo from Sixteen Going On Seventeen and Something Good was never shot at its current home. Built at Schloss Leopoldskron, it was moved to the gardens of Hellbrunn Palace because tourists were overwhelming it. The doors stay locked to protect it, but you can peer in and snap photos. Finish in the Old Town, where Residenzplatz, the Domplatz arches and the Residenz Fountain play host to I Have Confidence — and where the Anschluss scene was filmed.

Why bother? Because few film locations cluster this tightly. You can tick off most of them in a day or two on foot or by short bus ride, and the surrounding alpine scenery makes the pilgrimage feel like a proper holiday rather than a box-tick. Fans of the film get the goosebumps; everyone else gets Salzburg's baroque streets, castles and ice caves.

Story first reported by Condé Nast Traveller UK.