Salzburg's old town is a stage set that happens to be real. Squeezed between the river Salzach and the steep rock of the Mönchsberg, it packs baroque domes, church towers and tall merchants' houses into a few dense streets, while the white walls of Hohensalzburg fortress sit high above everything like a lid on a jewellery box. The city has around a hundred and fifty thousand people, yet the centre still feels small enough to cross on foot in twenty minutes.
Its wealth came from salt. For centuries the prince-archbishops controlled the mines at nearby Hallein and Bad Reichenhall, and they spent the money on making their capital look like Rome north of the Alps. The cathedral, the squares around it and the Residenz date largely from the ambitious seventeenth-century rebuilding. Mozart was born on Getreidegasse in 1756, and the yellow house is now a museum, though the narrow lane with its wrought iron shop signs is half the attraction. Every summer the Salzburg Festival fills the city with music, and in December the Christkindlmarkt in front of the cathedral smells of mulled wine and roasted almonds.
Riding into the centre is not the point; much of the old town is pedestrian, parking is limited and the one-way system rewards local knowledge. Leave the bike on the edge, at a garage or a designated motorcycle bay, and walk. Remember that Austrian motorways and expressways need a vignette, which you can buy digitally or at fuel stations near the border. The real riding starts once you leave town. The Salzkammergut lakes lie to the east, Berchtesgaden and the Rossfeld panorama road a short hop south across the German border, and the Grossglockner road within an easy day.
Fuel and food are no trouble, with stations on every main road out of town. For a break, cross the river to the Mirabell gardens, or climb to the fortress for a view over rooftops to the Untersberg. Then try a Salzburger Nockerl, a soufflé shaped like three snowy peaks, which is as close to edible scenery as Austria gets.