Eagle's Nest (Kehlsteinhaus, Hitler's House)

There's a small house built at an altitude of 1,834 meters in the Alps near the Koenigssee lake. Its construction was one of the most expensive and ambitious projects in the region. The tea house on a mountain top with extraordinary scenery was a gift to Adolf Hitler for his 50th anniversary.

The house itself is quite ordinary, but the 6 rm road to the top of the mountain was cut in the rock during 13 months, and the work was carried even in winter. This is an incredible time for such a project, which was designed to show the superiority of the German nation.

After World War II the US soldiers were in the Berchtesgaden county, where the Kehlsteinhaus is located. They gave it the "Eagle's Nest" nickname. In 1951, it was handed over to the authorities of Bavaria, who decided to demolish it. However, the Berhstegaden county temporarily blocked the decision. After negotiations, it was decided to blow up only the ruins of buildings that belonged to the Third Reich leaders, and the Eagle's Nest, fortunately, survived.

The Eagle's Nest is open from mid-May to mid-October, check the official website.

This is a map with all hiking trails in the region (Wanderwege - hiking, Radwege - cycling).

A visit to this wonderful place should be described in detail so you can prepare. You can get up only on special tourist buses with reinforced brakes. The buses leave from Dokumentation Obersalzberg (the last one is at 4:30 pm). This is a tourist center where you buy the tickets and wait for the bus. So, first of all you need to get to Dokumentation Obersalzberg. From the Berhstegaden train station take a bus #838 (timetable). You can also take a taxi (about 10 euros).

Then immediately go to the ticket office. Above the cash desks is the time of the next possible trip. The place is very popular with tourists, so after we had bought the tickets, we waited for more than an hour at a local restaurant.

Take a seat on the bus and go to a special area for tourists. There first of all register for the return trip (if the number of tourists is large, you'll need at list 1.5 hours), and then go to a 124-meter long tunnel. 

The tunnel will lead you to a bronze lift that will take you to the Kehlsteinhaus. 

The top of the rock is quite large and there is enough space to walk and have a rest. There's also a small restaurant in the tea house.

Getting there: By regional train München - Freilassing - Berchtesgaden that goes about 3 hours 20 minutes. Use bahn.de. From Salzburg by bus #840/841 that goes about 50 minutes.