Visit to the Eagle's Nest (Hitler's private lodge / retreat) at the top the Kehlestein mountain

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For a change today, and as we had free bus passes from the campsite, we decided to make the trip to the Eagle’s Nest (Kehlsteinhaus) using the bus rather than the scooter.



We needed to take 2 public services buses to get to the Kehlstein documentation centre and museum and then another special bus followed by a lift to get to the top, the Eagle’s Nest lodge.



Next time I say we are thinking of using the bus rather than the scooter please remind me of this trip.

It seemed straight forward and I suppose it was …But… the 9.45 no. 841 bus from outside the campsite to take us to the bus station in Berchtesgaden with plenty of time to catch our next bus, was late, too late.. We arrived at the bus station just as the 2^nd bus we needed, the no. 838 to the Document Centre was driving away… and the next was an hour later. Really far too hot a day to hang around at bus stations.



So we caught the 11.15, an hour later than planned. This 2^nd bus went up a pretty steep bit of road, 1 in 4 at one point and there were some hairy moments as it passed other vehicles on the narrow road.

Off that bus and now at the Documentation Centre and the car park was packed with coaches and cars, a very popular place to visit for lots of different nationalities. We bought tickets (reduced a little in price because of our bus pass) to the Eagle’s Nest which cover the bus and the lift.. Only way to the top is via the special buses unless one is feeling energetic enough to walk. As the temperature for most of the day was 30 degrees not many took that option.

This 3^rd bus leaves every 25 minutes or so but they go up and down in fleets of 4 buses at a time. This is so they can coordinate passing on the very narrow and steep road. The views are spectacular.



Now at the very top of this very special road which was constructed in record time just for Hitler as this was his protected area where he could be safe. From there the only way to the Eagle’s Nest lodge is via a lift which goes up through the rock.

Here again we wished we had not missed that earlier bus as we must have been there at the busiest time. The lift takes 30 at a time but the approach to the lift is via a tunnel and we queued in there for almost half an hour. (We noted the queue was really short when we came down, we really did get there at a bad moment)..

The lift is lavishly decorated what we could see of it as it was full with 30 people and also the odd dog or two.



At the top we stepped out to the terrace as the main attraction here are the incredible views …360 degrees of them across the Alps, German and Austrian. Absolutely spectacular. Lots of other people thought so too. We were not alone up there.

The lodge is now a restaurant so we could go inside for a look round and there are also display boards showing the history of the place as Hitler’s special entertainment lodge. It was intended to be destroyed at the end of the war but was not and has since become a much visited attraction.



Had planned to stop for a drink and snack at the top but Bob was concerned we would have as long a queue to go back down and we had prebooked our bus back down the mountain for 2.20.

We therefore joined the queue which proved to be very short and found ourselves at the bottom with 50 minutes to spare before our bus and only a kiosk to get drinks, not the café we had expected. 2 ice creams later..

We caught the earlier bus down ignoring the later time stamped on our tickets and arrived back at the bus station at 2.15, 3 hours after we left.

Slight problem working out how to get up to the town centre as no directions anywhere and looked to be a rather long climb which was not appealing on such a roasting hot day. There is a footpath from the other side of the railway lines which my Google map showed me but it was closed for work on the bridge.

Really having one of those days.



We caught the bus up to the Zentrum instead and at last managed to get a much needed drink of iced coffee and I added Apple Strudel to the order as could not resist.

After a walk round the rather lovely part of the old town (love the way the buildings are painted) we caught the bus back to the campsite …. And said we would use the scooter rather than the public bus service in future.



Even so the trip to the Eagle’s Nest was a must do and we were glad we had been. This place has such an important place in history. It's where Hitler did much of his audacious planming.

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