Hi friends, welcome back to my Germany and Austria series 🙂 This is my final post about our time in Germany before I conclude this series with Austria. After checking out of our hotel, we had a short drive to the Eagles Nest parking lot. Eagles Nest is perched atop Mount Kehlstein, roughly 6,000 feet high, and only special busses are allowed to access the one-lane road up. The busses are timed perfectly so the ones coming down and going up meet at a turnoff so they can pass each other safely. We purchased our bus tickets onsite and patiently awaited our turn up.
The ride was incredibly scenic as it wound up the mountain, but if you’re afraid of heights you might not like this. You can also hike up, but it would be a grueling three hours to the top. After exiting the bus, we headed through the 400-foot tunnel into the mountain. I’d suggest exiting the bus as quickly as possible and powerwalking through the tunnel because a long line forms for the elevator. Four busses go up at a time, and each bus has at least fifty people, so the line can get long. The elevator goes up 400 feet and sadly we couldn’t take pictures of the interior. It was the fanciest elevator I’d ever been in and covered in brass.
Upon exiting the elevator, we couldn’t believe the spectacular views!
I sound like a broken record, but the views up here were incredible! I loved being able to see our hotel down below and Königssee.
The sky was so clear we could see Salzburg way off in the distance! To the right of the mountain ridge there is a whiteish colored area that that’s Salzburg and the fort overlooking the city.
The chalet was built in 1939 as a 50th birthday gift for Hitler. He was afraid of heights and only visited here fourteen times. The interior has been converted into a restaurant with a popular beer garden outside.
Jon wished it looked more like what it looked like back in the day, but it’s been commercialized. The documentation center below was closed for construction so we couldn’t check out the bunker system or museum. Hopefully when you take this trip yourself it will be open 😉
As much as we could’ve stayed up here all day soaking in all the views, we only had a day about 24 hours in Salzburg, so we headed back down the mountain. You need a return ticket to take the bus back down, so make sure you hold onto it. They give you a prescribed time slot, but you can always change it at the top.
I’d highly recommend visiting Eagles Nest if you’re in the area on a clear day. The beautiful views are so worth the cost of admission (28 euros I think)! I hope you’ve enjoyed following along on our wonderful time in Germany! Southern Germany was absolutely stunning and I’d encourage you to add this area to your travel bucket list! It completely exceeded all of my high expectations, and as pretty as my pictures are, it was even more stunning in person!
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 CastleÂ
- Bavaria – Hohenschwangau Castle & Alpsee
- Bavaria – Zugspitze & Eibsee
- Bavaria – Walchensee, Geroldsee, & Partnach Gorge
- Bavaria – Königsee
- Bavaria – Obersee & St. Bartholomew
- Bavaria – Maria Gern, Hintersee, & Ramsau
