This leading lakeside resort lies at the western edge of the Wolfgangsee. It's easily accessible from Salzburg, just 29km (18 miles) away. Once a stronghold of the prince-archbishops of Salzburg, St. Gilgen today is the playground for the city's new aristocracy: the fashionable and wealthy who maintain mountain villas here. Parties at festival time tend to be lavish, and you're lucky if you get an invitation. In summer the resort attracts mainly Austrians and Germans to the indoor swimming pool and bathing beach.
The town has many Mozart connections. In the vicinity of the Rathaus (Town Hall) is the house in which Mozart's mother, Anna Maria Pertl, was born in 1720. After the composer's sister, Nannerl, married Baron Berchtold zu Sonnenberg, she also settled in St. Gilgen. The Mozart Fountain, built in 1927, stands on the main square in front of the Rathaus.
