Tea and Tangerines

Bavaria is one of the most scenic regions of Germany. When most people think of going to the Alps, Switzerland or Austria may be the first countries that come to mind, however, the German Alps are just as beautiful and much cheaper to visit.

We travelled to Berchtesgaden – a small and picturesque town in the German state of Bavaria close to the Austrian border. The surrounding areas are full of extensive mountains, enchanting forests, Alpine lakes, and breath-taking scenery.

If you want to see all of Bavaria, you will need much longer than a week, however, if you are short on time, I would recommend going to Berchtesgaden and surrounding areas. Below, I will outline my itinerary for a short trip to Berchtesgaden.

Day one: Arrival

We travelled in May, which seemed to be the ideal time – there were fewer tourists, it wasn’t too hot or cold, and everything was in full bloom. As I am currently living in Ireland, I took a flight on Friday from Dublin to Munich, however, Salzburg is actually much closer to Berchtesgaden, so I would recommend flying there if possible. The flight took around 2 and a half hours.

From there, I had to take three trains: from Munich airport to München Ost, München Ost to Freilassing, then Freilassing to Berchtesgaden. This took around three hours in total. When I booked it online, it cost €26 for a “young person” ticket, which I think went up to 26 years old.

From there, I met my friend at the apartment we rented which was about 15 minutes walk from the town centre. The apartment was slightly expensive, but we did book it quite late. It cost around €630 for two people for a one bedroom apartment for 6 nights.

That evening we just stopped by a supermarket for some food and walked around the town, as we arrived quite late. The town was very charming with lots of old buildings, traditional shops, and cute cafes.

Day two: Obersee

On Saturday, we decided to walk to Königssee, which was about 6km away. The lake is known as the cleanest and highest lake in Germany. The weather was amazing and the walk was not strenuous at all. It took us around an hour and a half because we kept stopping to look at all the beautiful scenery.

When we arrived at Königssee, we took a boat through the lake to the other side. The boat trip cost €25 for a round trip to Salet, which is where you can go to Obersee lake. The trip took about 1 hour, with a guided tour (although it was in German). You can also take a shorter trip halfway across the lake to St. Bartholomä, which was slightly cheaper. However, I would recommend going to Obersee, as it is spectacular.

The water was crystal clear and the backdrop of the mountains and waterfall was stunning! As it was in May, it was still not too busy, even on a sunny day. I just had to take a swim. The water was quite cold, but that was to be expected considering it is so high up!

We took the last boat back to Königssee, which was at 17:10, I definitely would have stayed longer, but there was no way back on foot due to the steep mountains on each side of the lake. We then took the bus back to Berchtesgaden , which only took around 15 minutes. Our host gave us a Gästekarte which allowed us free travel on almost all bus and train lines in Berchtesgaden. Some places also give discounts with the Gästekarte.

Day Three: Salzburg

On the third day it was very sunny again, so we took the bus to Salzburg to go paragliding! The bus was reasonably cheap – around €6 for a single ticket, and the journey took less than an hour.

When we got to Salzburg we had to take another bus to the top of Mt. Gaisberg (the bus was free when we booked the paragliding). Once we reached the top, we met the paragliding instructors who would be flying with us. I admit I was pretty nervous as it was my first time. He spent a few minutes explaining what to do and what to expect. It was a very sunny day, so there were a lot of people paragliding so I didn’t feel so nervous.

The flight lasted around 20-30 minutes and he let me fly it myself and also did some “roller-coaster” moves – my friend said she could hear me screaming from where she landed! The views were spectacular – with 360 views of the mountains and Salzburg city below.

The experience cost €150, however, if you wanted all the photos and videos that they take during the flight it is an additional €29. They do take a lot of footage, so you will 100% find some photos you like!

After paragliding, the instructors gave us a drive back up the mountain, where we had stored our bags. Then we had lunch at the restaurant on Mt. Gaisberg, the lunch was very good, and the portions were big.

Afterwards, we went back to Salzburg and took a bus to Fuschlsee, a lake in Austria. The lake was very shallow but there were a lot of things you could do there – including a public outdoor pool and stand up paddle boarding. We just decided to go for a quick dip to cool off.

As it was Sunday and quite late there wasn’t much open, so we just ate some snacks from a fuel station for dinner. From there, we had to take a bus back to Salzburg and as it was late, there were no more direct buses back to Berchtesgaden. Instead, we had to take a train from Salzburg to Freilassing and from Freilassing back to Berchtesgaden.

However, in Freilassing, they locked the train and the police came in to check passports, luckily I had mine, but my friend didn’t and got really scared. Fortunately, they still let us go, and just told us we have to bring it in future. Phew!

Day Four: Wimbachklamm, Hintersee, and Klausbachtaler Hängebrücke

Monday started off as a very sunny day. We decided to take the bus to Wimbachklamm where there are amazing waterfalls while walking inside a gorge. The journey on the bus was free and only took a few minutes from the town. There was a small hike up to the entrance gates, but the view was so impressive you hardly noticed!

Once you were there, the entrance fee was €2.50 if you had a Gästekarte. The water in the river an waterfalls was so blue that some of the plunge pools looked like they could be hot tubs! The temperature was a lot cooler here and very refreshing.

After the waterfalls, we took a bus from Wimbachklamm to Hintersee lake, where the weather was starting to take a turn for the worse. We decided to carry on and took a walk around the lake, there are a couple of restaurants and cafes by the lake where we got a coffee (a bit expensive though at almost €5!). The lake is surrounded by woods, so there are a lot of nice woodland trails.

We then decided to take a quick swim anyway even with the approaching rain. The water was icy cold. I have no idea how it could be so cold compared to Obersee, but in we went anyway. While we were getting dressed, there was a very intense rain shower, which made it very difficult to dry up.

Afterwards, we determined that we would still carry on regardless of the rain and proceeded to hike to Klausbachtaler Hängebrücke – which is a rope bridge hanging over a large drop. The hike was not too difficult (about 5km) through a wooded area of Berchtesgaden National Park. We didn’t see another person for this whole walk, probably due to the heavy rain. However, the rain made it very atmospheric and we saw very low hanging clouds- almost at eye level, which was particularly cool!

Once we got to the bridge, the view was fantastic.. the mountains were so imposing and there were clouds hanging in the woods around us. Even better, there wasn’t another soul around!

We then began walking back to Hintersee where we thought we could take a bus back to Berchtesgaden. On the way back, we began hearing bells coming towards us, we then saw that it was a heard of cows in the woods coming in our direction! The cows were quite friendly and were licking us, although it was a bit scary when they kept following us on the way back!

When we got to Hintersee, there were no more buses as the last bus was at 6pm. The weather was also getting increasingly worse. We met a Dutch couple in the car park, and luckily they were going to Berchtesgaden too and were kind enough to give us a lift. We got really lucky!

Day five: Obersee

On Tuesday, we decided that we liked Obersee so much we just had to go back. We did the same trip as the second day, although it was much cloudier this time around. However, this meant that it was much quieter. We also went for another swim!

Day 6: Jenner Mountain

On the final day, we took the Jennerbahn cable car to the top of Jenner mountain which is almost 2,000 meters high. Once you reached the top, there is a small trail you can take to a viewing platform with panoramic views of the mountains and Königssee below. There are also several hiking trails around the top of the mountain ranging from easy to hard. You can also hike up to the top instead of taking the cable car but it is likely to take all day.

The cable car cost €32 for a round trip if you had the Gästekarte, it was a bit cheaper if you only wanted to go to the “Mittelstation” which is the halfway point.

There is a restaurant on the top of the mountain where I got trout and risotto with a curd strudel for dessert. It was delicious and you got outstanding view while eating.

Afterwards, I got off at the “Mittelstation” or halfway point, where there is a 20 minute walk to the Königssee Water Reserve and some fantastic viewing points. I would really recommend stopping here as well as the top as it gives a completely different perspective!

I would highly recommend going to Berchtesgaden, there is amazing scenery, charming towns, and delicious German beer. Let me know if you have any questions!