We spent two nights in the small town of Berchtesgaden, and on our second day there, we headed to Berchtesgaden National Park early in the morning. We didn’t really have much of a plan for the day, just to take the bus and go from there. We tend to make plans as we go, so we didn’t do too much research beforehand. We just knew Berchtesgaden National Park was somewhere we should visit!

Once we were on the bus, it took about 20 minutes to get to Lake Konigssee, coined Germany’s Most Beautiful Alpine Lake. It is located right in the middle of the park and is coined Germany’s cleanest and deepest lake, and it has a lot of history surrounding it. Bavarian rulers used to come to the lake, local rulers hunted there, and Hitler even went boating there. The lake is beautiful in itself, but we wanted to do some exploring, so we headed to the boat dock and a small electric boat took us to St. Bartholoma. The only way to get there is by this electric boat, which is quite slow and silent. There is no marked foot path there (and even if there was, it would take some time!) and no motorized boats are allowed on the lake in order to keep it as clean as it is.

The boat stopped here as well, and four people got off for a long hike!

On the boat, there was a guide and he only spoke German – okay, fair enough, we were in Germany. At one point, he played a song on his trumpet and the song echoed off of the mountain walls surrounding the lake. We joked that his friend was on the other side, waiting for him to play his trumpet so he could play it back to him. 

How beautiful!

When we arrived to St. Bartholoma, we didn’t have much of a plan besides just finding a trail and walking for a little bit. Most people head to St. Bartholoma to visit St. Bartholoma Church which is a Roman Catholic pilgrimage church and to admire the lake. This was good for us, because it meant there weren’t too many people hiking. 

Church of St. Bartholoma, seen from the boat

We picked a trail that said it would take an hour. Before we even started the trail, we couldn’t help but stop for a photo-op. The mountains were the perfect backdrop and it seriously looked unreal. After spending a few minutes enjoying the view, we headed on our way through the woods. There were trees covered with moss and leaves all over the ground. At this point, it was an easy and flat walk but then we got to a point where the trail started to head uphill. After a little bit of climbing, we continued on. After a little bit, we reached the end of the trail and a rewarding view. We could see the mountains in the distance, with several waterfalls cascading off the side.

It was foggy, but the mountains were still breathtaking!

Wandering through the forest

Happy wanderers!

We crossed over a mini bridge at one point, seen in the background

That awkward moment when you don’t make it into the selfie

The viewpoint at the end of the trail! Can you see the waterfalls cascading off the mountains in the background?

We saw that the path continued on, but not without a safety warning. There was a sign that said “Attention! The maintained train ends here. The path leading to a view point in front of the ice chapel requires a secure step and sturdy shoes!” Of course our hike didn’t end here – we wanted to see the beautiful waterfalls, and whatever the ice chapel was! I wouldn’t call Converse and boots the sturdiest shoes but I guess you can say we like to take risks 😉

Sturdy shoes.. check? 

Getting closer!

The trail continued next to a large stream and we could tell we were getting closer to the mountains we saw in the distance. At one point, there was a small stream on the trail with lots of rocks. Luckily our shoes kept us nice and dry because it was pretty cold outside. Eventually, we got to the end of that trail and had to cross the large stream we were walking next to. Albert jumped across the stream on the large rocks without a problem, but I needed a little bit of coaxing to get across. On the bright side, at least the paparazzi got some shots of my journey.

Just get over this rock..

Hmm.. okay, now this one

Okay.. feeling good about this!

Once we were both successfully across the stream, we had a better view of the waterfalls and we even saw what the ice chapel was. It was a glacier that was partially melted, creating a cave underneath. We saw people in the distance and could tell they were just as curious as we were. We also saw another sign, but this one was a little more daunting. “Attention! The marked path ends here! You are now in an unsecured, alpine area with danger of avalanches and rock fall! Refrain from entering the snow fields! Mortal danger!”

Uh oh 

Almost there.. you can see the top of the ice chapel in the lower right of the photo

And what did we do? We continued to the ice chapel. Sorry mom!

Germany or the moon?

Maybe the moon, maybe Germany.. nobody knows!

Thumbs up!

Approaching the ice chapel!

There wasn’t a marked trail, just large rocks to scramble over, but we made it to the ice chapel. It was amazing to look through the tunnel of snow. It was breathtaking how quiet it was being in the middle of nature, with just the noise of birds and the waterfalls around us. When we got there, there were a few people there, but once they left, it was just us. It was one of those moments where you just stop and take everything in and realize how large the world is around us.

You can see through to the other side, but just barely!

The ice chapel was pretty big!

Photographer Albert getting all the angles for the shot

Ice chapel hat?

We headed back towards the boat, this time much quicker than on the way there so we would make the last boat back. The sun started to come out and the park started to feel totally different. It went from foggy and rainy to sunny within the time that we were there.

The sun coming out

Walking back to the boat dock

We waited in the queue for the boat, and just as when we came, we squished on the boat with all the others. The trip back felt pretty quick, and before we knew it we were back on the bus to Berchtesgaden.

Waiting with all his friends!

Time to go!

We were so hungry when we got back to Berchtesgaden that we had to stop for dinner. Luckily, we found something a little different from all the heavy Bavarian food we had been eating, so we were pretty happy!

Definitely stop at Bauchgfui if you want to get away from the typical German food!

All in all, we had a great day exploring Berchtesgaden National Park. It was unbelievable seeing all the waterfalls around us in the mountains – definitely an amazing experience!

You can view more photos from our adventure in Berchtesgaden National Park in this slideshow below!