We have only two days in Salzburg this fall, and are wondering if it is possible/worthwhile to go to Berchtesgarten for just an afternoon. I understand the train takes about 45 minutes, but can't seem to find a schedule of how many times a day it goes. Has anyone done this? How far from the train station is the Eagle's nest, and is there transportation?<BR><BR>Or, should we wait until a trip when we have more time in Salzburg?<BR><BR>Thanks!

Train from Salzburg Hbf to Berchtesgaden takes one hour including change of train in Freilassing. Timetable on www.bahn.de.<BR>There are buses from Berchtesgaden up to Kehlstein with a change at Obersalzberg Hintereck (routes 9538 and 9549). The Eagle´s Nest is an expensive restaurant. Great view. <BR>K&ouml;nigsee is certainly worth a trip (bus 9542). One of the most beautiful lakes in the Alps. <BR><BR>www.berchtesgaden.de<BR>www.rvo-bus.de/pdffiles/9549.pdf<BR><BR>

I think Berchtesgaden is worth a visit and agree that Konigsee is one of the most beautiful lakes I have ever seen. I don't know how you feel about bus tours, but about two years ago we took a Panorama half-day tour to Berchtesgaden and Konigsee. Usually, I'm not a big fan of bus tours, but this worked out fine. We were picked up at our hotel in a small van and taken to a parking area by Mirabell Gardens to connect with others going on the tour. The day we went, there were only four other people going to Berchtesgaden, so we went in a small van. It was a nice, pleasant trip and the scenery was magnificient. The tour guide was very knowledgable about the area and history. We had free time in both Berchtesgaden and Konigsee to wander around the town, shop, and stop at cafes and bier gartens. We were dropped off back in Salzburg at Mariabell Gardens. It ended up being a pleasant afternoon and a nice, easy way to see the beautiful countryside. I would recommend it. Panorama also has a separate trip to Eagle's Nest. I don't know about transportation directly from Berchtesgaden to Eagle's Nest.

Daniel and Judy, thank you very much! With our limited time, the tour sounds good!

The bus between Salzburg and Berchtesgaden offers the quickest travel time at 45 minutes from the main bus station in Salzburg, which is located near the main train station.<BR>Buses leave at 8:00, 9:45 and 11:15.<BR>Trains take a little longer, depending on the train, but most of them take over an hour for the journey. The 8:27 train takes 57 minutes on the schedule and involves no changes of train. The bus trips involve no changes either.<BR>(You can check that on the schedule if you wish. I know from several visits to Salzburg and looked up the schedules for the same reason you are checking on them.)<BR>Although the distance is short, the trip takes what seems like a long time because of the frequent stops.<BR><BR>It is one of the ironies of train travel in some of those areas that the schedules that involve the most changes take the least travel time!<BR><BR>In this particular case, because your time is short and public transportation is relatively slow, I think a tour sounds like the answer. It provides transportation directly to the target destination without having to make frequent stops, and it takes you to more than one attraction in the destination area. And it returns you to Salzburg directly without a series of stops. <BR>

We were at Eagles Nest about 3 weeks ago and it seemed that the people on the tours got to tour more of the actual buildings than we did. It was worth it in any case and we ate there but didn't feel it was overly expensive considering the surroundings!<BR>Have a great trip

Wait, there's plenty to do in Salzburg