Visiting Hitler's Eagle's Nest and Berchtesgaden

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Visiting Hitler’s Eagle's Nest and Berchtesgaden

As a keen history buff, I had always wanted to visit the Eagle's Nest and the nearby historic town of Berchtesgaden. After seeing it on the HBO mini series Band of Brothers many years ago, it has always been on my wish list to visit. My visit did not disappoint as we got to ride the famous elevator to the top, see the grand rooms and soak up the history of the place. Taking my youngest daughter Summer with me made it all the more special.

The Eagle's Nest (or Kehlsteinhaus in German) was constructed in the late 1930’s (completed in 1938) as a venue for Hitler and leading Nazi’s to meet foreign leaders as a diplomatic reception house. It is believed that Hitler only visited 14 times officially. Sitting on top of a mountain, 1834 metres above sea level, above the small town of Berchtesgaden, the Eagle's Nest today is just a historic reminder of a terrible past, with some displays, a small restaurant, empty rooms and some short walking tracks and lookouts over the mountains.

Getting to the top of the mountain to visit the Eagle's Nest is an experience - a 6.5km road up, with many twists and turns as well as 5 tunnels. Once at the base, you walk into a tunnel (124 metres long) to the elevator entrance. The elevator ride takes 41 seconds to reach the top and is also 124 metres in length. The elevator is very posh with marble and mirrors.

What I really liked was the exhibition on the sun terrace, showing historical photographs of what it looked like during WW2, so you can get a sense what it was like during the war.

For more information about the Eagle's Nest, check out their website.

Berchtesgaden

We also had a few hours in Berchtesgaden on our own, to enjoy lunch and just walk around a bit. It’s a very small German town (population less than 8,000 people) in the beautiful Bavarian Alps, very close to the Austrian border. Berchtesgaden was one of the most Nazified towns in German as it was a place where Hitler would take his summer holidays since the 1920’s and a lot of the key leaders of the Nazi Party has summer homes in and around the town. Almost all of these homes were destroyed during and after the war as they did not want a reminder of Germany’s dark past living on.

Today Berchtesgaden is a tourist hub, due to its beautiful location in the mountains and close to great mountain biking and hiking trails. The old town centre is worth a visit for lunch or a coffee.

Konigssee – King’s Lake

We had a short half an hour stop at King’s Lake to have a quick coffee, some delicious apple strudel and see the beautiful alpine lake. It was a stunning place, very touristy but well worth a quick look.

We booked our day tour to the Eagles Nest from a tour company in Salzburg, Austria, as we were staying there for a few days and it’s the closest major city to Berchtesgaden. The tour company is called Salzburg Panorama Tours and they are highly recommended. Their website details are below.

For more information about Bavaria and Germany in general, check out this website.

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