Hotels in Berchtesgaden and best things to do there without a car

To go to some Alpine huts with public transport and/or hiking see

Almerlebnisbus

To go from Prague to Berchtesgaden take the train via Regensburg Landshut and Freilassing to Berchtesgaden

I would stay in Regensburg for one night about 4hrs from Prague half the way by train to Berchtesgaden

Landshut were you have to change trains is also a nice town for a stopover

Check bahn.de for connections

My husband and I were just there and used the bus day pass to get to the documentation center and then alse hiked along Lake Königssee very much enjoyed it. We bought up and down tickets to the eagle's nest. Ice cream in the town.

First, St. Sabastian church is in Ramsau. You don't get there on a lake cruise; you go by bus from the ZOB (Zentrale Omnibus Bahnhof) in front of the Berchtesgaden Hbf. I believe it's the 845 and 846 buses that will get you there. The Königssee cruise will take you to St. Bartholomä, half way down the lake from Schönau. You can get to Schönau by bus, numbers 840, 841, 843, also from the ZOB. I would recommend taking the boat from St Barts down to the south end of the lake, to Salat, and hiking over the bar to the Obersee.

BTW, another thing to do in Berchtesgaden is the Wimbachklamm. A "Klamm" is a deep, narrow gorge cut by glacial runoff (the water contains a lot of sand and cuts like a band saw). Wimbachbrücke, the bus stop for the Wimbachklamm, is about 7 km west of the Hbf on Ramsauerstr. The Klamm contains a lot of waterfalls and the air is very humid. It a cool escape on a hot day and a neat place to hike.

As for travel, you could take one of the direct, bi-hourly EX trains from Prague to Munich and from there the hourly regional train to Freilassing and take another regional train from there to Berchtesgaden via Bad Reichenhall. But that's about an 8 hour trip. Alternatively, you could take a 2 train connection to the Salzburg Hbf via Linz, Austria; that's only about 5-5½ hours. From Salzburg, you could take the RVO 840 bus, the Watzmann Express, from the Hbf to the Berchtesgaden ZOB, about 50 minutes or take a regional train to Freilassing and another regional train from there to Berchtesgaden Hbf, just over an hour.

I've stayed in Berchtesgaden three times, for eight nights, since 2002. Each of those times I stayed at Gästehaus Alpina, which is a half km walk along the Ramsauerstr. sidewalk to the west. I would recommend it. Next door is another Gästehaus, Achental. They both have balconies, but the road is in a deep wooded valley, so I doubt that you can see mountains from either place.

One place from which I'm sure you can see mountains is the Vier Jahreszeiten (Four Seasons) hotel up the hill from the Hbf, in the town of Berchtesgaden. It's accessible on foot from the Hbf. You go across a foot bridge, a little over a ¼ km long, over the tracks from the west end of the Bahnhof, then another ¼ km up a packed dirt path to the hotel. If you don't want to go up the dirt path with your luggage, there are also inexpensive taxis from the Bahnhof.

Lastly, there are a number of hotels, etc. right around the Hbf and I think you can see the mountains for there, but other than that, I'm not familiar with any of them.

Anyway you do it, Berchtesgaden is easy without a car. Buses from the Hbf go all over the place. And I think a lot of accommodations give you a pass for the buses in the area.

Rather than staying in Berchtesgaden consider Schönau am Königssee or Ramsau bei Berchtesgaden. From Schönau the Königssee and the Jennerbahn (cable car) is not a long walk. Ramsau is picturesque and is near hiking access to the National Park. Modern, but I have stayed at Hotel Hanauerlehen in Schönau. Great views from the hotel. More traditional with good food is Gasthof Auzinger in Ramsau. Lee laid out the bus routes from Berchtesgaden. Plenty of other places to stay.

The salt mine tour was so much fun! We ate at a restaurant that was really old (400 years, I think). I had the meatball soup. Delicious!