Peak by Rail
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The Eagle's Nest on the narrow rocky ridge of the Kehlstein, walkers on the summit path, behind it the Berchtesgaden valley in a blue haze
  1. Summits
  2. Eagle's Nest

Berchtesgaden Alps · 1,834 mEagle's Nest

The Eagle's Nest (Kehlsteinhaus): a house on the ridge, the valley 1,264 metres below. The only way up is by bus and a brass lift inside the mountain – here is what that costs in 2026 and when you are better off staying down.

The short answer
€34.70
Adults, return, bus including the lift
with guest card €31.80 · children 6–14: €17.20 · up to 5 free · all fares
The route
  1. Obersalzberg car park
  2. Bus 15 min
  3. Tunnel 124 m
  4. Lift 124 m
  5. top
You cannot drive any further than Obersalzberg in your own car – the Kehlstein road is closed to everything except the scheduled buses.
The timetable
First bus up
08:30
Departures
every 25 min
Last bus down
approx. 16:50
Season
May – Oct

Fares checked on 21 September 2026 · Source: 2026 fare sheet of the Kehlstein line · Photo: Cezary p, CC BY-SA 4.0

Three pieces of advice first

The trip up at a glance
Elevation profile of the trip up to the Eagle's Nest From Berchtesgaden at 570 metres via Obersalzberg at 1,000 metres by bus to the Kehlstein car park at 1,710 metres, then 124 metres of tunnel and 124 metres of lift up to the Eagle's Nest at 1,834 metres. 1,0001,5001,800 570 mBerchtesgaden 1,000 mObersalzberg · bus departure Bus · 6.5 km · 15 min 1,710 m 1,834 m Lift · 124 m
  1. Take the first bus.

    The first bus up leaves at 08:30. The later in the morning, the longer the queue at the lift – the operator itself recommends the online ticket to avoid waiting.

  2. Keep your ticket.

    The Kehlstein ticket counts as admission to the Dokumentation Obersalzberg (documentation centre) on the same day. You don't pay the €4.50 a second time.

  3. Look up first, then buy.

    If the summit is in cloud, all you will see up there is grey. In that case swap the order: the documentation centre first, the mountain tomorrow.

View from the valley of the rock face of the Kehlstein, the Eagle's Nest small at the very top, the line of the Kehlstein road cut into the face
Seen from below

Up there. The small house.The pale line in the rock face is the road. In a quarter of an hour you will be driving along it.

Photo: H. G. Graser, CC BY-SA 3.0
570mStage 1 · Arriving

Where are you starting from?

The answer decides whether you pay 35 or 105 euros. Either can be right.

As far as the Obersalzberg car park, not a metre further

You drive up from Berchtesgaden to Obersalzberg and park at the bus departure point, right next to the documentation centre. From here on, only the buses of the Kehlstein line run. Routes, timetable and car parks are under Bus, getting there & parking.

Ticket
€34.70
with guest card
€31.80
Family
€70.90

Honestly: If you are staying overnight in the Berchtesgaden area, you already have the guest card – it is issued by your accommodation. Ask for it at reception before you book online.

€34.70Tool · The cheapest way up

Who is coming along?

Four fares, two discounts, a footnote about grandparents. Say who is coming – the calculator picks the cheapest ticket.

Adultsaged 15 and over
2
Childrenaged 6 to 14
2
Small childrenup to 5 – travel free
0
Your cheapest ticket
€70.90
Family ticket

    1,000mStage 2 · Obersalzberg

    Before you board the bus: this is a site of the perpetrators.

    From 1933, Obersalzberg was Hitler's second seat of government. The Berghof, SS barracks and a system of bunkers stood here; the inhabitants of the village were driven out. The Eagle's Nest was built in 1937/38 as a representational building of the Nazi Party (NSDAP). Hitler himself was rarely up there – more on that in the history of the house.

    The view from the Kehlstein explains none of this. That is the job of the Dokumentation Obersalzberg, right next to the bus departure point. Allow two hours for it – and go, even if you only came for the mountains.

    Concrete corridor and staircase in the bunker complex beneath Obersalzberg
    Bunker complex, accessible via the Dokumentation Obersalzberg. Photo: Anil Öztas, CC BY 4.0
    Open
    09:00 – 17:00 daily
    Last admission
    16:00
    Admission
    €4.50
    Up to 18
    free
    With Kehlstein ticket
    free on the same day

    The bunker complex is part of the permanent exhibition. Public guided tour on Wednesdays and Saturdays at 11:00, 90 minutes, €5 extra, no booking needed. Closed on 1 November, 24/25 and 31 December, 1 January and from 16 to 23 November 2026.

    If you would rather have the history explained on the site itself: a historian leads a three-hour tour across the grounds and up to the Eagle's Nest – WWII Historical Eagle's Nest Tour in Berchtesgaden, from €69.90, 224 reviews (advert, GetYourGuide).

    A red scheduled bus in a bend of the narrow Kehlstein road between rock, larches and patches of snow
    Kehlstein road

    Only the bus runs here.Rock on the left, thin air on the right. That is why you sit behind a professional driver and not at your own wheel.

    Photo: Geolina163, CC BY-SA 4.0
    1,000 → 1,710mStage 3 · The drive up

    Fifteen minutes, a single hairpin.

    800 metres of ascent over six and a half kilometres, through five tunnels and with just one single hairpin bend. Find yourself a window seat – the road is cut into the rock, and the view begins long before the summit.

    1. 6.5 kmlength of the road
    2. 800 mdifference in altitude
    3. 5tunnels
    4. 1hairpin – on the whole route
    5. 15 minin the electric bus, every 25 minutes
    1,710mStage 4 · Inside the mountain

    124 metres in, 124 metres up.

    From the bus car park a tunnel leads horizontally into the mountain. At its end a lift with walls of polished brass is waiting – it is included in the ticket. Everything about the lift and the way up on foot.

    Rather walk? A mountain path leads from the car park to the house in around 25 minutes. When the lift is busy, that is the quicker way – and on the way back it is the nicer descent.

    The stone-lined, lamp-lit tunnel leading horizontally into the Kehlstein
    124 metres straight into the mountain.
    Open door of the lift cabin, lined inside with polished brass
    Then 124 metres vertically. Photos: Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0
    Stage 5 · At the top1,834

    This is what you go up for.

    At the top there is a mountain restaurant – open to everyone since 1952 –, a sun terrace and a short path to the summit cross. The weather does the rest.

    Panorama from the Kehlstein: on the left the valley of the Königssee under a blanket of cloud, in the middle the Watzmann, on the right the Hochkalter Königsseeunder the clouds today Watzmann2,713 m Hochkalter2,607 m

    ← Drag the picture · the view reaches further than your screen is wide →Photo: Coastfield, CC BY-SA 4.0

    Is it worth it tomorrow?

    The same house, photographed twice. Which picture you get is decided in the morning.

    The Eagle's Nest in clear visibility, a full sun terrace, behind it mountain ranges all the way to the horizonTage Olsin, CC BY-SA 2.0

    Go up if …

    • the summit is clear. Then the view reaches from the Königssee to Salzburg.
    • you can make the first bus. At 08:30 the terrace is yours.
    • you take in the documentation centre as well. Only together does the day make a whole picture.
    The same house in thick fog, nothing of the surroundings can be seenPascal Dihé, CC BY-SA 4.0

    Stay down if …

    • the Kehlstein is in cloud. €34.70 for fog is too much.
    • you are looking for history. At the top there is a restaurant. The history is down below, in the documentation centre.
    • it is between November and April. The house is closed, the road shut because of avalanches – the exact season dates.

    Before buying a ticket: check the operator's webcam and daily report ↗

    A wooden boathouse on the mirror-smooth Obersee, behind it steep rock faces and snow-covered peaks
    Back down

    From above, this was a blue speck.The Obersee behind the Königssee – across the lake by electric boat, then a short walk.

    Photo: elxeneize / Envato
    Back in the valley

    If the day isn't full yet

    Visitors in miners' overalls on the mine train in front of the Berchtesgaden salt mine
    “And if it rains?”

    Bavarian Salt Mine Tour and Berchtesgaden

    4 hrs · ★ 4.7 from 405
    from, per person€90
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     The pilgrimage church of St Bartholomä on the shore of the Königssee in front of the east face of the Watzmann
    “Seen the lake from above – now go there?”

    From Munich: Königssee Day Trip with Boat Ride and Salt Mine

    10 hrs · ★ 4.6 from 117
    from, per person€79
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     The Königssee in the morning haze, the mountains reflected in the water
    “Up high once more?”

    Berchtesgaden: Tandem Paragliding Flight over Königssee

    1 hr 30 min · ★ 5.0 from 14
    from, per person€189
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    Evidence

    Where the figures come from

    DetailSourceChecked
    Fares, family tickets, guest card discount, documentation centre includedFare sheet “Fahrpreise Kehlstein 2026”, RVO / Kehlstein line (in German)21 September 2026
    Season, bus frequency, first and last departure, road, tunnel, footpathZweckverband Bergerlebnis Berchtesgaden (regional tourism association) (in German)21 September 2026
    Altitude, year of construction, liftKehlsteinhaus, operator's website21 September 2026
    Opening hours, admission, guided tours, closing days of the documentation centreDokumentation Obersalzberg, Institut für Zeitgeschichte (Institute of Contemporary History)21 September 2026
    Tour prices, reviewsGetYourGuide, partner data21 September 2026

    Picture credits

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