Hotel Sacher Salzburg

Though it joined the Sacher family a scant thirty years ago, the Hotel Sacher Salzburg is actually the elder, pre-dating the Sacher Wien by a full decade. It’s as grand as they come, occupying a privileged position in Salzburg’s old town, along the banks of the Salzach river. Like its Viennese sister, it’s still resplendent in 19th-century pomp, as its renovations have focused on maintaining the beauty of the hotel without altering its essential character.

The rooms and suites are uniformly luxe and elegant, with décor that’s bright and contemporary, but still rooted in the Sacher’s past — ornate prints and fabrics abound, but the color palette is tightly focused, as are the layouts. The spaces aren’t vast, though nothing in historic Salzburg is; nevertheless, these rooms and suites lack for nothing in terms of comfort. Some have impressive views of the rooftops of the old town, while others look out at the Hohensalzburg Fortress.

Restaurants include the wood-paneled Zirbelzimmer, an Austrian fine-dining restaurant whose design is still straight out of 1866. To that they’ve added the more contemporary Sacher Grill and the warm and clubby Sacher Bar. But we know you’ll be saving room for dessert — the Café Sacher Salzburg is cut from the same cloth as its sister in Vienna, and naturally serves the very same Sachertorte.