Favourite things

Visitors to Salzburg are divisible into two tribes, says Morwenna Ferrier in the Observer: Mozart fans, who go to a few concerts, then slip quietly home, and The Sound of Music fans, who clog up cobbled streets in tour groups, pay over the odds for schnitzel and strudel and disturb the peace of the Nonnberg Benedictine Convent with renditions of How do you Solve a Problem Like Maria?.

Although few Austrians have seen the film, they know how to exploit it: you can buy a reproduction Captain von Trapp whistle, watch a puppet version of the film at the Marionette Theatre, and, from September, even stay at the von Trapp family home – not the mansion in the film, but the real thing.

The villa is relatively modest, but restoration work is authentic to the era, and with 2.5 million SOM pilgrims visiting Salzburg each year, its 14 rooms could become the most sought-after in the world.

The Villa Trapp is due to open in September with rooms from $220. ·