The Bavarian Alps, from the Zugspitze to the Königssee

Lakes, peaks and painted villages

The trip follows the German Alpine Road, billed as the oldest tourist route in the country. Conceived in 1927, it links Lake Constance to the Königssee. The loop starts in Munich and follows most of it, from Füssen to Berchtesgaden. You drive along the foot of the mountains, from one lake to the next: the Eibsee, the small Geroldsee facing the Wetterstein, the Walchensee, the Tegernsee, then the Chiemsee, which Bavarians call “the Bavarian Sea”.

Between the lakes, the villages have onion-domed church towers and façades painted in trompe-l’œil. The best known are in Oberammergau and in Mittenwald. Goethe, passing through in 1786, called Mittenwald “a living picture book”.

The Zugspitze, at 2,962 metres, is the highest point in Germany. From the Eibsee, a cable car opened in 2017 climbs almost 1,950 metres to the top; you come back down by the glacier cable car, then the rack railway. At the end of the trip, you discover the Königssee by electric boat, as far as St Bartholomew’s Church, at the foot of the Watzmann’s east face.

Linderhof, near Ettal, is the only one the king saw finished. It is a small palace in a large park, with a grotto inspired by a Wagner opera, Tannhäuser. Restored over ten years, the grotto reopened in April 2025.

The last one, Herrenchiemsee, stands on an island in the Chiemsee, fifteen minutes by boat from Prien. Ludwig II wanted to build Versailles again there. Herrenchiemsee’s Hall of Mirrors is 98 metres long, longer than the original. The king stayed there for only about ten days.

Berchtesgaden, from salt to the Obersalzberg

Until 1803, Berchtesgaden was a small independent principality. Its wealth came from salt, which it fought over with its neighbour, Salzburg. The salt mine has been worked since 1517. You visit it dressed as a miner: a small train runs into the mountain, you go down a wooden slide and cross an underground lake on a raft. The brine still goes to the Bad Reichenhall saltworks, where the water wheels are still turning.

Above the town, Hitler had his residence on the Obersalzberg. Since 1999, the Documentation Obersalzberg has explained how the Nazi regime made use of the place. Higher up, the Kehlsteinhaus, or Eagle’s Nest, built for Hitler in the late 1930s, is closed to cars: you go up by bus, from May to October.

What not to miss

1. 1The WieskircheA rococo church in the middle of meadows, completed in 1754 and listed by Unesco.
2. 2OberammergauThe village has staged the Passion since 1634, after a vow against the plague; the next season is in 2030.
3. 3MittenwaldThe violin-makers’ village since the 17th century, with its violin museum.
4. 4The Partnach GorgeSeven hundred metres of gorge, up to 80 metres deep in places, on foot from the Olympic ski jump in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
5. 5The Königssee by boatElectric boats since 1909; halfway along, the boatman plays the trumpet for the echo.
6. 6Ramsau and the HinterseeSt Sebastian’s Church, drawn by painters since the 19th century, then the mossy boulders of the Zauberwald, on the shore of the Hintersee.

The Bavarian Alps in pictures

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St Sebastian’s Church in Ramsau and the wooden bridge over the Ramsauer Ache, in autumn.

The Bavarian table

Weißwurst, a white veal sausage, is traditionally eaten before noon, with a pretzel and sweet mustard. In mountain huts, you order Kaiserschmarrn, a thick pancake cut into pieces, with plum compote.

The lakes supply the fish: whitefish from the Chiemsee and char from the Königssee, smoked at St Bartholomew’s. You drink beer at the Bräustüberl in Tegernsee, in the former abbey, or in Ettal, where the monks also distil a liqueur.