Hi friends, welcome back to my Germany and Austria series! After hiking through Partnach Gorge, we headed east to our next stop of the trip, Berchtesgaden. This beautiful area is most known for its National Park, boat rides on Königssee, and Hitler’s Eagles Nest. The drive from Garmisch-Partenkirchen took about two and a half hours and was relatively scenic. Our route even took us through Austria before heading back into Germany. There are no border/passport checks, but you do need a special sticker on your car for the Austrian toll. You can easily buy these stickers at gas stations near the border, but our rental car already had one. We checked into our hotel and then headed out to explore.
The forecast was looking like 100% rain the following day, so we decided to change the itinerary and head to Königssee instead of seeing some miscellaneous sights on my list. (I was very impressed with my ability to go with the flow this trip!) We found parking and then walked through the tiny town to the emerald green lake. I couldn’t stop taking pictures of this stunning lake!
This lake is so peaceful, serene, and beautiful! I’d also seen this spot on our tv screen saver and it felt so surreal to be able to see it in person. The water had more of a green color than the lakes we saw in GaPa, but it was still so stunning! The color is caused by the tiny lime particles from the mountains being suspended in the lake and scattering the sunlight.
We grabbed dinner at Gaststätte Echostüberl and this was our first time having schnitzel and käsespätzle in Germany. Jon thought he could make the käsespätzle better at home, but it still tasted like delicious comfort food. I can’t think of a better view to have during dinner!
After dinner we followed the easy Malerwinkle trail about half a mile to a beautiful viewpoint of Königssee. It was definitely bigger than it looked!
Königssee is almost five miles long and 570 feet at its deepest. It is the cleanest lake in Germany because only electric boats have been allowed on it since 1909. Stay tuned for our boat ride on the lake 🙂
It started getting dark so we headed back to the hotel for the night. We stayed at Hotel Kempinski and it reminded me a lot of our stay at the Edgewood Tahoe for our honeymoon. We saw this hotel in a Youtube video and knew we wanted to spend a few nights here relaxing.
This is the view from our balcony. At the very top of the peak on the right is Eagles Nest.
The following day was a washout, so we slept in a little and then had a relaxing day at the hotel. We started with some breakfast while we took in the very foggy views. I had planned to do the boat tour, a short hike, and go up Jenner Mountain on this day, but none of that happened. It was a bummer to lose a day because there aren’t any museums or other indoor activities around, but it was nice to have a day to relax in the middle of our trip.
After breakfast we lounged at the pool and I made some progress on my book. We swam in the heated outdoor pool but it was a little chillier than the hot tub temperatures I expected.
Jon and I had an early dinner at the hotel restaurant and enjoyed their signature drink, a gin Moscow mule that tasted delicious, and then we each got a pretzel and some Weisswurst.
Stay tuned for our outing on Königssee and some of my favorite pictures from the entire trip!
Posts in my Germany and Austria series:
Germany
It’s always a bummer when rain thwarts your plans, but it looks like you made the most of it. I can’t get over how beautiful all these lakes are! I can see why you wanted to see as many as possible and couldn’t stop taking photos.
We were at the best place to have a relaxing day at least. hAD To get our moneys worth I suppose. It was so hard for me to narrow down pictures so I decided to just include as many as I could 🙂
I used to be driven to see and do as much as possible on holiday, regardless of the weather. In later life, I started making a shopping list of indoor and outdoor choices and when we knew the weather for the day, we would just go with the flow. Much more relaxing and in the end we still accomplished a lot. The hotel looks beautiful and much as rainy days are a pain, it gave time to relax. Thanks for sharing Lyssy. Allan
We were so exhausted from our time in Paris/London seeing it all that it was nice having a day of relaxation in Germany. The nice things about cities is there’s lots to do no matter the weather, but we had a great time relaxing. It’s a great idea to have lists of indoor/outdoor activities!
We had a very brief stopover at Königsee Lake while touring around Bavaria, but didn’t see much due to rainy weather conditions. I would love to go back one day to explore it properly. Thanks for sharing and have a good day 😊 Aiva xx
I hope you make it back one day on a beautiful, sunny day! Thanks for reading 🙂
What an absolutely stunning set of pictures!
Thank you!!
Wonderful images!
Thank you!!
You are very welcome! 🙂
Fabulous photos again
Thank you!!
You’re very welcome Lyssy
The vivid colours of the lake surrounded by the mountains look gorgeous Lyssy. The Kempinski looks to be a lovely hotel and although the heavy rain was a nuisance, a day of relaxation at the hotel must have been a delightful alternative.
The lake was such a beautiful place to visit! It was refreshing to have a day of relaxing in the middle of the trip, especially at such a nice hotel.
I loved seeing Konigssee! Your photos of the gorgeous lake and scenery are stunning, as is the hotel. Can’t wait to see what you surprise us with next.
Thank you! I still can’t get over how stunning Bavaria is!
I love that you found places to hike in Europe. Usually we focus so much on the historical that we miss the nature. Those sights are beautiful.
It was the perfect trip to get a break from city life, everywhere we went was stunning!
Nice view of the lake and these boathouses look so strange.
It was beautiful!
More wonderful pictures of beautiful views!! So sorry you missed a day due to the weather but I bet it felt nice to have a bit of time to relax too.
Thank you! I have a hard time relaxing on vacations, I wasn’t to see and do it all, so this was a nice place to actually relax.
I feel like having a bit of down time in the middle of a holiday is always a good idea, and what a place to do it. I love the Kempinski here, great hotel choice 🙂
I agree! We were at the best place to relax, it was good to get our money’s worth 🙂
The Konigssee looks spectacular, with the surrounding mountains so close I’m wondering how you got to the lake short of being dropped in by helicopter. And who knew boathouses could be made to look quaint? Only in Western Europe…
It was stunning! Somehow they built roads all throughout. Quaint is the perfect word for the areas we saw in Bavaria!
Your nature photos are incredible. Also, the schnitzel looks really good!
Thank you!! It was delicious!
What a stunning place, it almost looks unreal! I was wondering why the lake was “emerald green”, and I had no idea it was for that reason! The käsespätzle looks delicious and I’m definitely craving one right now! It is always a bit annoying when you have to cancel travel plans because of the weather, but it is also nice to have a more relaxing day between busy days of exploring! Can’t wait to read about th next day!
Everywhere we went was so beautiful it didn’t seem real! Käsespätzle is the perfect comfort meal! We were very refreshed for our last few days of the trip after relaxing all day. It was nice to get our moneys worth of the hotel too haha
A spectacular place, your photos are stunning. I like the look of the hotel, not a bad place to be stuck in on a rainy day. I think that with time and certainly more travel experiences one gets better with going with the flow. Have a nice weekend, Lyssy! Hope the weather is nicer in New York.
Thank you! It was the perfect place to spend a rainy day. I think you’re right, and certain places are easier to go with the flow, especially if you don’t need tickets to everything. Hope you have a nice weekend. It’s going to be 70* here! Might even decorate for Xmas 🙂
Your pictures are gorgeous. I can’t get over how pretty that lake is. Kasespatzle is actually one of my favourite meals. We bought a spaetzle maker a few years ago and it’s been a real game changer.
It was stunning! Oh cool I think we might need a spaetzle maker, they look so easy to use.
Gorgeous views!