The Location
Getting to Berchtesgaden
By road - As motorway drives go, most are pretty mundane, at times even boring. This cannot be said of the drive out of Munich to the Berchtesgaden region, which is defined by the spectacular view of the imposing Bavarian Alps.
From Munich: taking the A8 Autobahn heading south towards Salzburg, the route passes both the town of Rosenheim and the Chiemsee (itself a recommended destination, both for the lake scenery and King Ludwig II's wonderful island palace of Herrenchiemsee) and the town of Traunstein. Exiting the Autobahn at junction 115, head towards Bad Reichenhall on the B21, before switching onto the B20 towards Bischofswiesen and Berchtesgaden.
From Salzburg: take the B150/160, which becomes the B305 after crossing the border at Grödig. Thereafter follows a spectacular drive through the lushly forested Schellenberger Land before arriving in Berchtesgaden.
By rail - Berchtesgaden is also easy to reach by rail on the fast and efficient services offered by both the German and Austrian national rail networks, Deutsche Bahn (DB) and österreichische Bundesbahnen (öBB).
From Munich: you will need to take the Salzburg train either from München-Ost or München Hauptbahnhof, changing at Freilassing. Not including the stopover time, the journey takes between two and three hours.
From Salzburg: the 39km journey to Berchtesgaden is considerably easier, and takes just over an hour, with trains every hour or so.