The Eagle's Nest: a destination on the Obersalzberg, not in the national park
Two things first: where it stands and how you get up.
The Eagle's Nest (Kehlsteinhaus) stands at 1,834 m (6,017 ft) above Berchtesgaden. It is not part of Berchtesgaden National Park: a point-in-polygon check against the park boundary recorded in OpenStreetMap places both the house and the summit cross on the Kehlstein outside it. The Kehlstein is a destination on the Obersalzberg, not a place in the protected area.
The second point is access: you can only go up the Kehlstein road on the special buses of the Kehlstein line, which start at the Obersalzberg car park. The road has been closed to private traffic since 1952, when a scheduled bus service was set up. In winter the Eagle's Nest is closed; the Kehlstein road is then shut because of the highest avalanche danger.
Historically, this is no neutral viewpoint. Between 1933 and 1945 the Obersalzberg was the most important centre of power of the Nazi dictatorship after Berlin, where decisions on persecution, war and genocide were made. The Eagle's Nest was built in 1937/38 as a place for official receptions. Contrary to a widespread belief, it was not a present for Hitler's 50th birthday. In fact it mattered little to him, and Hitler rarely visited it.
Since 1952 it has been run as a mountain restaurant. An exhibition by the Institute of Contemporary History (IfZ) on the sun terrace explains the history on 14 panels, and same-day entry to Documentation Obersalzberg is included in the bus ticket. Guided tours are not permitted in the restaurant area.
Kehlsteinhaus: visiting, getting there and accessibility ↗
In numbers
- Altitude
- 1,834 m (6,017 ft)
- Length of the Kehlstein road
- 6.5 km (4 mi)
- Height difference
- 800 m (2,625 ft)
- Hairpin bends
- just one
- Tunnels on the route
- five
- Bus ride
- about 15 minutes
- Lift rise
- 124 m (407 ft)
- Seats per electric bus
- 41
