48 Hours in Berchtesgaden, Germany
- Lucy and the lens
- Oct 6, 2018
- 4 min read
Updated: Dec 15, 2018
Berchtesgaden is a historic mountain town nestled down in the Bavarian Alps. It's surrounded by endless scenery, from mountains to lakes to pilgrimage churches in the middle of nowhere. It's also a great base for exploring all of these things: we had less than 48 hours to spend here but we managed to do so much (helped by having a car, of course!) Here's what we did in Berchtesgaden!
Day 1: Arrive in the afternoon, Hintersee, dinner with a view of Hitler's Eagle's Nest
So Berchtesgaden is perhaps better known for being a favourite holiday retreat of Hitler. The Eagle's Nest, perched high on the peak a mountain, was once a luxurious holiday home but is now, oddly, a restaurant. We heard that it isn't necessarily worth the cost and time of a trip up there, as its conversion to a restaurant has made it less of a historic landmark and more of a consumer enterprise, so instead we chose a restaurant with a view of the Eagle's Nest, instead!
We decided to walk the 30 minutes up the winding mountain road to the restaurant, so we'd definitely worked up an appetite by the time we got there! Aside from a fantastic currywurst and chips, we sampled a windbeutel for the first time: for some reason this directly translates to "wind bag", but it's actually a large choux pastry filled with cream and other toppings, usually fruit and a sauce of some kind. I'm not sure why they're so popular in Berchtesgaden: perhaps because their shape echoes the mountains?
We also visited Hintersee, a lake known for its mysterious rock formations rising from the water. The most famous formation is below:
If you continue past this formation, you find yourself by a shallow corner of the lake, where the bright blue-green water contrasts the ominous forested mountains behind it.
Day 2: Early start for a trip to Konigsee, Ramsau bei Berchtesgaden, surprise beer festival!
Our B&B host warned us that we should go early to visit the famous lake, Konigsee, and we're very glad we heeded her advice! Konigsee is surrounded by sheer mountain cliffs on each side and therefore the only way to get from one side to the other is by boat. We missed the first boat of the day (8:30am) but made the 9am, and found maybe fifteen people ahead of us in the queue. By the time we returned to the boat dock in the afternoon, the queues were hundreds of people deep and wound all the way down the street.
The boat ride across Konigsee was incredibly peaceful in the morning, and features a unique twist: in the middle of a lake, a horn player stands on the side of the boat and plays a song,which is perfectly echoed back to us thanks to the surrounding mountains.
The first optional stop is at St Bartholemew's Church, seen in the photo below, We decided to keep going, however.
The last stop, over on the far side of the lake, is the access point for another, smaller lake: Obersee. This one is popular for its perfect reflections of mountains in its crystal clear, vivid blue water. You have to hike for about twenty minutes before you reach the lake - a nice easy trail, seen below.
The first thing you see when you arrive at Obersee is a lake cabin built on the water. In the winter, it is surrounded by water, but in the summer there was a little pebble beach where early visitors had already started swimming, making it difficult to get a photo!
We walked around the perimeter of the lake on an established trail, enjoying the reflections as we went, before heading back to catch the boat back to the main dock.
We then headed to the town of Ramsau bei Berchtesgaden, which is famous for its beautiful viewpoint in the middle of a bridge over a small river. The view from this viewpoint is below!
We stopped by the Visitor Centre in Ramsau and happened to notice a poster advertising a beer and wine festival in a small village nearby. We were very intrigued so we went, only to discover it was taking place in a local high school. Feeling a bit like gatecrashers, we went inside anyway, to discover a beer tent in the middle of the playground and an oompah band playing. We were two of the few people not dressed in traditional lederhosen and dirndls, but we bought some drinks and bretzels anyway and enjoyed the music for an hour or two!
Day 3: Exploring Berchtesgaden, Maria Gern Pilgrimage Church
Can I start off by pointing out the adorable breakfast at our B&B?
Okay, now that's out of the way...we went off to explore Berchtesgaden town! We visited the War Gate, which depicts scenes of soldiers heading off to war and then returning, wounded, afterwards.
We also saw the Wes Anderson-esque pink palace!
Finally, before starting our drive home to Cologne, we stopped off at Maria Gern Pilgrimage Church, only about ten minutes outside of Berchtesgaden. To its right, you can see the double-peaked Watzmann mountain, the third highest in Germany.
And that's how we crammed everything in to 48 hours in Berchtesgaden!
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