Berchtesgaden is a beautiful Alpen city, which historically belonged to an important area where salt was mined and sold. It is a popular destination for summer and winter sports, but everyone connects it more thanks to World War II and Hitler, who visited the city regularly since 1923, to meet here with his advisor. Since 1928 he rented a local farmhouse and wrote the second part of the book Mein Kampf. In 1933 he finished his book and from the royalties of the sales he bought the farm and began a massive reconstruction to build the summer residence, which he renamed Berghof. Under Hitler's leadership of the Nazi regime, to the great displeasure of the locals who were his opponents, the wide surrounding areas were closed and declared a leader's forbidden land, in which many bunkers and tunnels connecting other buildings were created. The most famous is the Eagle's Nest, built-in 1939 and located at an altitude of 1834 meters above sea levels and it has an amazing view of the whole region. It is also the only building not destroyed at the end of the war.
RECOMMENDED STOPS IN BERCHTESGADEN:
In the places where Berghof used to stand today, you will find the Documentation Obersalzberg Museum and near it, you will find a bus stop from which the buses will take you to the Eagle's Nest. You can try to walk there, but an elevation of more than 800m is not for everyone.
Not far from the Berchtesgaden city centre you can visit the Salt Mine and the Old Salt-works, where you have a unique opportunity to find out how the salt was mined and processed in the past. You will experience a mining train ride, a wooden slide and see an underground salt lake. The nearby crystal-clear Konigsee and Obersee lakes, which are the highest located in Germany, are definitely worth a stop. In the past, it was one lake, which got divided into two by the landslide in 1172. Swimming is allowed only in summer, even though the water has an average of 18°C. If you set out further, you can see Germany's highest waterfall Röthbachfall.