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
- Munich – New Town Hall & St. Peters
- Munich – The Residenz & German Food
- Bavaria – Lake Starnberg & Eibsee
- Bavaria – Neuschwanstein Castle
- Bavaria – Hohenschwangau Castle & Alpsee
- Bavaria – Zugspitze & Eibsee
- Bavaria – Walchensee, Geroldsee, & Partnach Gorge
