Berchtesgaden Day Trip

Very doable on your own, and is a beautiful are to drive thru via car. Garmin GPS maps are pretty spot on in that area.

We did a night similar to this in may. Started in Salzburg, and spent 6 hours just driving down to the Konigsee, and Berchtesgaden - beautiful and well worth it.

For the Eagle's Nest, there are tour buses you can take, but you can't take a rental car (private road).

On the suggestion of this site, we got a Garmin Nuvi 270 for around 125 dollars, and it worked great!

Yes it is very doable on your own. There are buses from the Busbahnhof in front of the main station to both Königssee and to the foot of Kehlstein (the mountain with the Eagles' Nest). To get to the Eagles' Nest, you have to take special mountain buses up the road, which is closed to the public.

I would recommend you do this as an overnight trip. There is more to see in Berchtesgaden than you can do in a day, particularly with a 3-5 hr round trip from Munich.

At the base of Kehlstein is the Dokumentation Center, a museum dedicated to the Nazi takeover. The Center also includes part of the SS bunker that used to be there. It's definitely worth seeing. Between the Nest and the Center, we spent an entire day just there.

Konigssee can be done in half a day. St. Barts doesn't take long to see; just look in the door. But be sure to take the boat all the way to the end of the lake and hike over the moraine to the Obersee; it's very pretty.

Last time we were there we stopped at St. Barts. When we went back to the boat landing, there was a huge line. Then we realized that the line was for going back to the start. There was no line for Obersee. We went to Obersee, had a look around, then came back on the boat. There was still a huge line, but we were already on the boat, so no problem.

If you don't already have a car, take the 9:42 train from Munich Hbf. It gets into Berchtesgaden at 12:38. You can do the trip with a Bayern-Ticket, €28 for two, €20 for one. If you want to get to Berchtesgaden an hour earlier, at 11:38, purchase also a three zone MVV ticket at €7,20 pP (that will cover you until 9 AM, when the Bayern-Ticket becomes valid) and take the 8:48 train.

Go first to the Königssee, then spend the night in Berchtesgaden (or Freilassing). The next day see the Eagles' Nest and the Dokumentation Center, then return in the evening to Munich using a Bayern-Ticket.

Two Bayern-Tickets won't cost much more than fuel for a car round trip.

I would agree that if you can stay overnight in Berchtesgaden it would be nice. Nice relaxing place with beautiful scenery all around that part of Bavaria. If your lodging is locked in for Munich and you cannot do an overnight trip to Berchtesgaden a day trip would still be worth it. You could do the Eagle's Nest tour on your own or with a guide. If you use a guide I would recomment this:

http://www.eagles-nest-historical-tours.com/EN/eagles-nest-tours/index.php?navid=2

Staying in Berchtesgaden would definitely be nice, if you can find a reasonably priced hotel available. If you can't find anything, you might check out Freilassing, which you go through on the way. It's less than an hour away by train.

Last time, I stayed at Hotel Rupertus. It's a few blocks from the station in Freilassing, the owner speaks very good English. Single room €35, double €55.

Thanks for all the great info! Does the Bayern Ticket include the bus? Looking at the train schedule it looks like I'd take the train from Munich to Freilassing, and the bus from Freilassing to Berchtesgaden.

If the bus route is entirely within Germany, the Bayern-Ticket should cover it. However, there are also trains, definitely covered by the Bayern-Ticket, from Freilassing to Berchtesgaden. The trains run hourly, so the Bahn might be recommending the train just because the bus leaves Freilassing sooner and gets to Berchtesgaden sooner.

To see the schedule for the entire trip by rail, try unchecking "prefer fast connections" or go into Modes of Transport and uncheck buses.

When I unchecked the bus, an entirely rail connection showed up, leaving Freilassing 2 min after the bus and getting to Berchtesgaden 5 minutes after the bus. However, it looks like that bus goes part way through Austia. That part of the journey would not be covered with the Bayern-Ticket.

Make sure you have "only local transport" checked. There are also connections by RailJet (which is not covered by the Bayern-Ticket) to Salzburg and the Watzmann Express bus from Salzburg to Berchtesgaden. Part of that bus route, I believe, is also not covered by the Bayern-Ticket.

The Bayern-Ticket would cover the bus from the Berchtesgaden Hbf to Hintereck (at the base of Kehlstein) or to Königssee, and back.