Mozart dinner in Salzburg: what to book

What the ticket covers

The GetYourGuide ticket is for a three-course dinner and a live Mozart concert in the Baroque Hall of St. Peter Stiftskulinarium, the restaurant inside St. Peter's Abbey in Salzburg's Old Town. Drinks are not part of it: they are ordered and paid for at the table. There is nothing else in the bundle, so treat the ticket as an evening at a table with music, not a visit to the abbey or a tour of the restaurant's other rooms. The organiser shows the start time for each date in the booking calendar, and your confirmation repeats it, so pick the date first and build your other Salzburg plans around that evening.

• Included: a three-course dinner and the concert
• Not included: drinks, ordered and paid for on the spot
• Booked by date; each date shows its own start time

How the courses and the music take turns

The restaurant says that between the three courses you listen to musicians and opera singers of the Amadeus Consort Salzburg, in arias and duets from The Magic Flute, Don Giovanni and The Marriage of Figaro, and in the serenade Eine kleine Nachtmusik. So the night is neither a concert with a meal attached nor a dinner with background music. The courses and the performances alternate: you eat, you listen, you eat again. The organiser names the works rather than a running order, so book for the format and not for one particular aria. Tell anyone joining you what the format is before they sit down, especially guests who expect a quiet dinner.

Who performs

Two opera singers and an instrumental ensemble perform, all in period costume, under the name Amadeus Consort Salzburg. The organiser describes the evening as one that could have taken place in 1790, and the costumes carry that idea. Because the programme is built from Mozart's most familiar numbers, you do not need to know opera to follow it. To know what you are about to hear, the guide to the music between the courses gives the premiere facts for each work. Both The Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni are sung in Italian, and The Magic Flute in German, so a few lines of the plot beforehand help more than a translation does.

Read next: The music between the courses

The hall, and what 1903 means

The restaurant says the Baroque Hall was built in the Baroque style in 1903, with stucco and frescoes, and lit by candlelight for the concert. That makes it a room in the manner of Mozart's century, not one he knew. It does not change what you get, which is a handsome hall with a chandelier, arched windows and a painted ceiling. It only means you should not expect an eighteenth-century interior. The older parts of the house, such as its rock cellars, are not where the concert is held. Even so, the 1903 date is no reason to hold back; most dinner concerts are held in rooms that were never the composer's own.

Seats: what the category decides

Tables seat between two and eight people, and you are placed according to the seat category you book. The organiser warns that some seats may not face the stage and says you can turn your chair round for the concert. Open the booking page for your date and read what each category promises before you pay, then choose by that description rather than by its name. If you are booking for a group, book every seat in the same category in one go, since seating follows the category. The organiser's wording is that you are seated according to your selected category, so the choice you make at the booking step is the choice that decides where you sit.

The dinner and special diets

The dinner is three courses prepared according to historical recipes, as the organiser puts it, and the restaurant describes the menu as a Baroque-inspired one in its own style. It is a set menu, so you are not choosing dishes from a card. Vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free dinners are available if the organiser is told in advance, so write through the booking before your date. Mention an allergy or a diet before the date and not once you are seated. Your confirmation is the place to check the details for your date.

Drinks and the bill

Drinks are ordered and paid for on the spot and are not in the ticket price. The organiser notes that prices for wine and other drinks follow a high level of gastronomy. Ask for the drinks list before you order, check the size of the glass as well as the price, and set a figure for the evening in advance. Travelling as a group, settle beforehand who covers which drinks. A glass of wine and a bottle of water are a different sum at a restaurant of this standing than in a casual place, and the evening runs long enough for several rounds.

Dress, photographs and filming

The dress code is smart casual, and the organiser asks guests to dress appropriately for the hall. Flash photography is not allowed. The organiser also says that film, sound recordings and photographs are made at the event and are available to guests afterwards, so you may appear in them. If you would rather not, raise it with the organiser through the booking before the date.

Stairs and access

The Baroque Hall is on the first floor and there is no lift. Helpers carry wheelchair users up the stairs, but the organiser says access cannot be guaranteed in every case. If you or someone in your party uses a wheelchair or struggles with stairs, send the organiser a message from the booking page first and wait for the answer. The restaurant's own site is the place to ask for a table without the concert if the stairs rule the hall out. The entrance passage is cobbled, as the photograph on this page shows, so flat shoes are easier than heels.

Who this isn't for

Skip this ticket if you want a quiet dinner conversation, because the music is the point. Skip it if you expect a staged opera: it is arias and duets between courses, performed in costume, not a full production. Skip it if you need guaranteed step-free access, a menu to choose from, or a small drinks bill. Some guests describe it as more spectacle than recital, so if you want a serious chamber programme, a concert hall will suit you better than a dining room. A very young child who cannot sit through music between courses may also find the evening long.

Booking and cancelling

Pick a date and seat category on the booking page, which shows the start time for each date. Cancelling 24 hours or more ahead returns your payment in full, and you can reserve first and pay later. If you only want the setting, the restaurant takes table bookings itself and lists daily opening on its website. If you want the music as well, the dinner concert is the way to get both in one evening.