Geography Of Salzburg

Salzburg lies on the Salzburg Plain in the very northern part of the Alps.Situated on the banks of the Salzakh river, the historic district of the city is bounded by the Festungsberg, Menchsberg, and western extension of the latter, Rheinberg.

Rising east of the old town on the right bank of the Salzach, the Kapuzinerberg mountain is The Grafenhugel hill is located west of the Altlifering area; the Hellbrunn mountain and the Morzgi hill are located south of the city.Accessible via a mountain funicular, Salzburg is surrounded from the southwest by the 1853-meter-high Untersberg mountain.The Hochstaufen peak rules the western terrain; the Steinberg mountains—which comprise the Gel summit, Hagengebirge, and Tenengebirge mountain ranges—rule the southern terrain.Rising to 1,288 meters, the Gaisberg and Salzkammergut mountains round the Salzburg Plain eastward.Situated at the top of the Pleinberg mountain branch, the Maria-Plein Catholic Basilica faces north and into the city limits.The Alps’ foothills cross with the mountainous terrain of the Flachgau (Salzburg-Umgebung) to the northeast.The closed floodplain forest belt of the Zaltsakh River empties northward into the limits of the city.

Already Bavarian territory, the floodplain forest to the west of Zaalakh and the hills behind it, such Högl, fall under the Berchtesgardener Land area.The only separating the Salzburg district Liefering-Roth from the northwest Bavarian town of Freilassing is the Saalach River.

At an elevation of 420 to 424 meters above sea level, the historic town located on the Salzburg plain Rising at 1288 meters, the top of the Gaisberg mountain marks the highest point in the city. At 424 meters, the Zaalakh beach represents its lowest point. Salzburg is 65.68 square kilometers. Roads (7.7%) occupy 53 hectares; woods (16.5%) occupy 1,080 hectares; and water (5.2%) occupies 342 hectares. With 34% of the 2,238 hectares total area under development.

Salzburg consists of 14 historical cadastral communities: Salzburg, Maxglanz, Morzg, Gnigli, Yitzling, Eigen I, Liefering I, and Leopoldskron; also included are the suburbs Bergheim II, Gaisberg I, Hoiberg I, Halwang II, Zitzenheim II, and Vals II.The names of the city districts today are essentially the same as those of the cadastral communities, whose borders were mostly set at the start of the nineteenth century.Aigen I denotes that a small fraction of the original community of Aigen joined with the nearby town of Elsbeten between 1935 and 1939 under the name Aigen II, while a sizable fraction finally merged with the city of Salzburg.