Eagles Nest Tour out of Berchtesgaden

I went to the Eagle's Nest once, and returned a second time with my wife. I definitely think it is worth doing once. Standing in the room where Hitler and Mussolini had once stood was a very eerie feeling.

The Dokumentation Center in Obersalzberg, at the foot of the mountain, is even more worthwhile. It has exhibits chronicling the raise of the Nazis. Attached to the museum are some of the remains of the system of bunkers that used to connect the home of top Nazis with the SS installation in Obersalzburg. The exhibits are in German, but you can rent an audio guide for a few Euro.

However, "a tour out of Berchtesgaden"? You buy one ticket that includes the bus ride to (near) the top as well as entrance to the building via the elevator in the mountain. At the bus parking place, there were some guides selling tours of the Haus itself for a nominal fee. I took it once but passed on it the next time. You can get as much out of the guidebook sold at the souvenier kiosk.

IMO, a package tour from Berchtesgaden would be a total waste of money since (1) it doesn't include anything of importance that you can't do yourself for less, and (2) it probably doesn't include an open-ended time at the Dok Center. If you are "history buffs", you will probably want to spend more time there than an organized tour would allow.

Diana,

Given that both of you are "WWII history buffs", IMO a tour would be very worthwhile. I've found that I usually learn more with local tours, especially small but significant details. For me this provides a much more rewarding experience.

While you could certainly use the english Audio Guides at the Documentation Centre and tour the Eagle's Nest on your own, I suspect that a tour would be much more interesting. Eagle's Nest Tours (based in Berchtesgaden) seems to get consistently great reviews. Bob's Special Tours (based in Salzburg) also provides tours of those sites. If you're going to be there in the spring, it's a good idea to check as the road to the Eagle's Nest doesn't open until about the end of May (this can be treacherous with snow).

If you're going to tour the Documentation Centre, I'd sugget allowing at least two hours. It's not large, but there are two floors of exhibits. All the printed material is in German, so it will take time to listen to the Audio Guides to get a description of these.

You'll also need time to explore the Bunkers, which are entered on the far side of the Documentation Centre. There are audio-visual displays in various rooms in the Bunkers, but unfortunately these are mostly in German. To some extent, they're self explanatory in any language.

There's also a Salt Mine in Berchtesgaden that you can tour, if you're interested (coveralls are provided, I believe).

Happy travels!

I am a huge WW II history buff. I did the Eagle nest tour with a company out of Berchtesgaden. What it saved me was the ride up the mountain in my car. The american woman who ran the tour knew her stuff but nothing I didn't know already bgut it was ok..my wife and son enjoyed her. The main problem is that they gave you no time to explore the Doc. center and I felt rushed. I would have liked to have spend the day in the area

You couldn't have driven up that road "up the mountain" to Kehlsteinhaus. The only vehicles allowed up the road are special mountain buses. Plus the road is only one lane - all of the buses go up, then they come down - cars would really foul that up.

The Eagle's Nest Tour with David and Christine Harper is well worth it for two WWII history buffs. Like you I enjoy WWII history and my wife and I took this tour and thoroughly enjoyed it. You meet across the street from the train station in Berchtesgaden and take a mini bus up to the point where you get on the big bus for the last leg of the trip. You reassemble with either Christine or David or one of their other guides when you exit the big bus and they stay with you while touring the Eagle's Nest. You then have some free time for walking up to the top. You then board the big bus back down to the mini bus for the ride back down. During the ride on the mini bus, both up and down, the guide tells of the rise and fall of Hitler's top men. Much of it you will know but there are some facts and things of interest that you may not know about. Below is the link to their website.

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

The above mentioned tour costs €48 per person.

The cost of the RT bus and the elevator to Kehlsteinhaus is €15. The cost of the bus from Berchtesgaden Hbf to the Busabfahrt is €3,10 per person, one way. Round trip is less than twice. So the transportation from the Berchtesgaden Hbf to Kehlsteinhaus, RT, can't be more than about €20.

So the guided part of the package tour costs more than €27 vs what I remember as €2, probably more today, for a guide at Kehlstein, itself. Has anyone been on both the inhouse guided tour and one of these "cost added" tours, so that they can say for certain that the package tours are worth the extra €25???

I think this is an example of what in marketing we called "cognizant disonance", where someone pays too much for a product and then tries to convince everyone else it was worth it so they won't feel "taken". "It must be better; why else would I have paid so much for it?"

By the way, although the view from Kehlsteinhaus is spectacular, and I thought the food was good, since Hitler hardly ever went to Kehlsteinhaus, I would question it's "historical significance". What, I think, is historically significant is the Dokumentation Center at Obersalzberg at the bottom of the mountain. It has exhibits documenting the Nazi rise to power in Germany.

I do not do a lot of tours, preferring to do things on my own. I have done a few over the years to include the Scavi Tour, Third Reich walking tour, Nightwatchman's Tour and several castle tours among a few others. David and Christine Harper's tour I mentioned is by far the best and most interesting to me that I have taken. Probably because of my interest in the subject. To me the enjoyment and satisfaction I received from this tour exceeded the price ($35 per person at the time). Diane asked if the tour was worthwhile for two WWII history buffs. My answer is a resounding yes based on my experience with the tour. Was it better than doing it on my own? Cannot say because I did not do it on my own so I have nothing to compare it to. Some tours I have done were over priced in my opinion. This was not one of them. To some people maybe it would be but to WWII history buffs probably not. There is also a marketing ad that says "priceless". For me, this tour filled that bill. Diane's husband and son apparently agree based on the pm I received from her stating it was the best tour they took of the ones taken in six major cities.