The Salzburg Marionette Theater has charmed countless children and adults for a century and has become famous throughout the world. Since 2016 is has been included in the UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage. The performance technique of the Salzburg Marionette Theatre has been declared a cultural asset worthy of preservation, as the "most highly developed form of puppet and figure theatre." In this unique baroque auditorium they present operas, including Mozart's Magic Flute, as well as the Salzburg classic The Sound of Music, Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker ballet and Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream or Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince. Children for sure will like Peter and the Wolf or Rumpelstiltskin. This is for one admission ticket to see the show of choice, that is available. Transportation and other accommodations not included.
From the operator’s live schedule on Viator, checked Oct 9.
In this unique baroque audience hall with 350 seats there have been operas, musicals, plays and fairytales that have occurred here such as: The Magic Flute - Probably Mozart's best known opera, staged here for young and old. In German, subtitled in various languages. Duration: 2 hours 10 minutes, also 1-hour version in afternoons. The Salzburg Marionette Theatre employs 12 puppeteers, trained in a wide variety of trades and professions. Qualities common to all of them are musicality, manual skill, and the ability to emphathise with the various characters in order to bring alive the marionettes on the stage. The Salzburg Marionette Theatre has evolved its own technique, which is used as a model by many marionette theatres worldwide. The puppeteers’ training, which takes place exclusively in the theatre itself, demands just as much time and perseverance as learning to play a musical instrument. Shows are subject to seasonality and won't all be available at one time. Be sure to check back to see what new shows will be playing next.
Reviews collected by Viator and Tripadvisor
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For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Salzburg Marionette Theater: The Magic Flute lasts about 2 hours. The itinerary has 1 stop.
Prices start at $49 per person for this Salzburg experience, booked through Viator with the price shown before checkout. There is 1 booking option, so the final price depends on the option you choose.
According to the operator’s current schedule, it runs on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, starting at 7:30 PM.
Children aged 0–12 pay from $17, adults from $49.
Yes. Cancel at least 1 day before the start for a full refund. Later cancellations are non-refundable.
It is a small-group experience with a maximum of 1 participants.
Children must be accompanied by an adult Infant seats are available on request
Yes, bookings are confirmed instantly.
Travellers rate it 4.5 out of 5 across 24 reviews on Viator and Tripadvisor; it is run by Salzburger Marionettentheater GmbH.
Reviews collected by Viator and Tripadvisor
Very nice staging and the old sound recordings were for older ones a memory of good singers. For a younger audience one should offer such a modern recording. Good visibility, however, only in the front rows
I went with my 6-year-old daughter. We love The Magic Flute so she knew the music from before. It was her idea to attend this program. We went at a quiet time to get our tickets. The lady in the box office was extremely kind to us as she showed us the seating arrangement in the room to choose the right seat (we had to leave at the end of the performance to catch a train and sit close to the door). The sound quality was great and the puppets were beautiful, the performers excellent. We both loved the show. My daughter was very happy. This performance is recommended by the theater for kids from the age of 8. We saw other kids under 8 and they all seemed to have enjoyed it.
Better than expected! even if in german we had so much fun, the kids had an incredible experience, us too! It’s not too long so it doesn’t get boring. The puppet masters are fantastic!
A magical evening delivered by highly talented group here in Salzburg. Easily able to follow the story despite the german language - some narrative in english was very helpful. Would highly recommend this as a most enjoyable experience. So pleased we went.
Dear Sharon! Thank you so much for your kind review :-)
Very professional and craftsmanlike excellent team which implements the staging of the magic flute dreamlike. We enjoyed the performance very much.
As a family with our two daughters, ages 3 and 8, we were super excited to go to the show to discover these sublime puppets with the family. The lady at the checkout was adorable, we asked her if it would suit our 3-year-old and she offered to follow her to have us installed in seats that would allow us to eventually evacuate the room if our daughter was tired or crying. Later she even brought boosters so thank you to her for her kindness. On the other hand, our show was totally ruined by a lady in front of us who kept turning around when I whispered to my daughter to read her what was written on the signs so she could follow the story. My daughter was not loud because this person was constantly the only one to turn around from the whole row, but at times she groped or asked me questions. This woman finally reprimanded me (in German so I didn’t understand anything) she ruined the moment so much that we left the show an hour before the end because it was like an opera where you didn’t even have to breathe rather than a family show where children have their place. Very disappointed in this sense, however the place is too pretty, puppets also and puppeteers do a great job. On the other hand for the “family” show pass your way. (in fact 90% of the people in the room were seniors)
Hello from Salzburg. We are sorry for you that you had this bad experience but we did everything WE could do to make the stay comfortable for you as a family. As you attended the 2 hour version of The Magic Flute it is obvious that more older opera lovers are in the audience. There would also be the possibility to attend the one hour short version, which is a show more suiteable for families with younger children. But we are happy to read that you could feel a bit the magic that the Salzburg Marionettes try to convey to their audience.
We saw the 1 hour magic flute. Incredible puppetry, a few super titles explaining what was going on in several languages (could have used a few more, but very helpful if you don’t speak German!) but this experience was hard to FULLY enjoy because there didn’t seem to be any air conditioning or air flow. It was a summer day and we were pretty uncomfortable. So I’d recommend this in the cooler months. Went with a 10 year old.
Thanks for your review, Lindsay. We are very sorry that you felt uncomfortable because of the heat. There is an airconditioning of course but I assume, it was not cool enough that day. We will discuss that with our technician of course. Best regards!
We were entranced and delighted by the Performance of Mozart’s Magic Flute. It’s wonderful to see these - actually pretty small — marionettes become transformed on the stage into -almost preternaturally human-like performers. Highly recommended.
Thank you for attending the show!
Wonderful performance in the Salzburg Marionette Theater, which is not just suitable for children. On the contrary, adults also have a lot of fun watching the performances
Vielen Dank - wir sind ein Theater für Groß und Klein!
Brilliant presentation of the Magic Flute. Costume and set are creative. It’s a perfect cultural experience for an evening. It’s the full opera so younger children unaccustomed to sitting still 2+hrs or unable to follow in German or read translated explanations may struggle. Eat beforehand - not many restaurant kitchens are open after 9, even on Saturday nights or despite google hours listed. We really enjoyed the theater itself and the performance!
Thank you very much! For younger children or people with not so much time, we perform The Magic Flute in an one-hour version.
| Tour | Duration | Rating | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salzburg Marionette Theater: The Magic Flute | 2 hours | 4.5 (24) | $49 | |
 The Original Sound of Music Tour in Salzburg | 4 hours | 4.7 (6,788) | $86 | View |
 Skip-the-Line: Eagle's Nest in Berchtesgaden Tour from Salzburg | 4h 30min | 4.4 (1,395) | $120 | View |
 Hallstatt Half-Day Tour from Salzburg | 5h 30min | 4.4 (1,166) | $97 | View |
 Austrian Apple Strudel Cooking Class including Lunch in Salzburg | 1h 30min | 4.9 (1,075) | $69 | View |
 Best of Mozart Concert and Dinner or VIP Dinner at Fortress Hohensalzburg | 3h 30min | 4.5 (717) | $96 | View |
 Salzburg: Palace Concert at the Marble Hall of Mirabell Palace | 1h 45min | 4.8 (621) | $45 | View |