National Parks in Germany

Prices are for adults. The largest parks by far are the two Wadden Sea parks on the North Sea; the smallest is Jasmund on the island of Rügen, about a fifth of whose area is water.

No entrance fee, anywhere

None of the 16 national parks charges admission. In the Eifel there are not even opening hours. This is the big difference from Croatia or Canada, where every visit starts with a ticket.

Where you do pay

• Boats: at Berchtesgaden, St. Bartholomä and the Obersee are in practice only reachable by boat across Lake Königssee. The boat service is an independent company that sets its own fares, timetable and season.
• Visitor centres and attractions: the national park centre at Jasmund costs 14 € for adults, the treetop walk in the Hainich 13 €, the visitor centre at Kellerwald-Edersee 7 € and the wildlife enclosure in the Hunsrück-Hochwald 5 €. In the Bavarian Forest the park's own facilities are free.
• Cable cars and car parks: at Berchtesgaden both cost extra.

Rules that apply

Each park has its own rules. In Berchtesgaden, for example, the code of conduct says: no camping or sleeping outdoors, dogs on a lead, no drones, no fires and cycling only on permitted trails.

For mountains: Berchtesgaden

Berchtesgaden is the only Alpine national park in Germany, about 1.6 million visitors a year, with 2,300 m (7,546 ft) of altitude between the bed of Lake Königssee and the summit of the Watzmann. You get there by train to Berchtesgaden Hauptbahnhof and bus to Schönau; from there the lake is car-free. The Eagle's Nest on the Obersalzberg is not part of the park.

For the coast: the three Wadden Sea parks

Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony and Hamburg each protect their own part of the Wadden Sea. The Schleswig-Holstein and Lower Saxony parks have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2009, the Hamburg park since 2011. On the Baltic coast, Jasmund on Rügen and the Western Pomerania Lagoon Area on Fischland-Darss-Zingst are the two coastal parks.

For old beech forest: Hainich, Jasmund, Kellerwald-Edersee and Müritz

Parts of these four parks have belonged to a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2011, the Serrahn beech forests in the case of Müritz. The Hainich adds a treetop walk, Kellerwald-Edersee lies above the Edersee, and Müritz combines its beech forest with lakes, pine forests and moors.

For hiking in the uplands: Harz, Bavarian Forest, Saxon Switzerland, Black Forest and Eifel

The Harz rises to the Brocken at 1,141 m (3,743 ft) and has about 600 km (373 mi) of signposted trails. The Bavarian Forest, Germany's first national park, has about 350 km (217 mi) of marked trails and around 1.3 million visitors a year. Saxon Switzerland is reached by S-Bahn and ferry along the Elbe. The Eifel, Germany's first International Dark Sky Park, has about 240 km (149 mi) of trails and starting points with their own bus stops.

Opening hours are rarely what limits a visit: the Eifel, for instance, has none at all. In the mountains, altitude sets the season. In Berchtesgaden there is no single best time for the whole park: while the boats are already running on Lake Königssee, snow still lies higher up. The mountain huts open seasonally, and the Königssee boat service sets its own season, so check both before you plan an overnight tour or a trip to St. Bartholomä.