whereigoyougo.comSteve's Travel Blog

Hey Everyone,

Today is Sunday August 25th and I’ve already been to Salzburg one previous time this year to visit an old friend from school way back in the day.  His name is George and he was visiting some other friends in the city, so I decided to travel and meet all these new people.  It was and is quite a fun experience and I came out of it knowing a little more German.

Anyway, back to Salzburg.  We decided to go and see Eagles Nest which was Adolf Hitler’s favourite escape.  It is kind of similar to “Camp David” for the US president, but the location is far different.  I mean geologically.  Eagles Nest or rather “Kehlsteinhaus” (in German, is set on a mountain top that soars 1,834 meters high).

If you plan to visit Eagles nest, it’s actually located at the edge of the Austrian border, but on the German side.  You have to get off the Bergesgaden Exit off the highway.  Then you drive for 10 min until you get to the actual mountain.  You have the choice of parking at the bottom and taking a gondola up or drive half way up and catch busses.

Pause.  Will continue in a bit.  I am about to take off to the Salzburg Schloss, which is the castle/palace.  I shall continue in a few hours.

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2 weeks later….oops  Sorry about that guys.  I just had quite a hectic time since Salzburg and just didn’t have the time or the energy when I did have the time to finish my blog.  Finally, I am sitting down now and trying to get all the details down for you to read.

Ok, so when you reach the base of the mountain, it’s best if you drive up, however, if you don’t have a powerful car with a lot of stuff or people in it, it may have trouble climbing the steep slopes of the mountain.  I’ve got an older Beetle and it had a hell of a time getting up and on the way down was almost as bad because it was pretty much 20 min of just breaking all the way down.  Breaks on older cars aren’t as sensitive as the new ones, so it was pretty tense all the way down.

Once we reached the destination, there was loads of parking.  You will need to pay for it and make sure you have change because there are ticket machines to purchase time stamps for however long you wish to stay.

You cannot see everything from one place because the elevation is steep enough that the actual museum sits at the lowest spot of the local area and the restaurant, gift shops are all slightly higher than where the museum is.  The busses are on the upper side (you can’t miss them).  You need to walk across the entire parking lot and down the stairs on the other side (not very visible).  That is where you buy your tickets (costs around 30 euros per person) to the actual Eagles Nest site and each ticket will specify which bus you are on.  They are quite punctual!  Be on time when you wait.

FYI:  The higher you go in this tourist place, the higher things costs.  The same things you could get near the bottom of the mountain is cheaper by a few euros on every single item.  Be careful on when you get your shopping bug.  It could cost you!

Going up!

The buss ride up AND down is Fantastic!  It takes about 5 min of driving up before you begin to see spectacular views.  They are very nice.  Now, nothing compared to Peru and Cusco, but, in it’s own way, extremely beautiful.  Don’t worry, this blog isn’t one devoid of photos.  I just prefer to do the basic overall synopsis of my trip and break down photos based on subjects and show them in mini posts of the same posts.  Over time that one post would gain in size as I sift through my images.

Arriving at the top

First of all, you DO NOT need to take the buss up if you really don’t want to, but it’s even steeper and if you are afraid of heights, forget it.  Take the buss.  You can hike up or even bicycle.  When I went, there were a few bikes up there and saw one guy just finishing his climb.  Suffice it to say, I was very impressed, because that is not an each climb for anything.

When the driver drops you off he tells you to go to the ticket booth to tell them what time you will be finished.  They reserve seats for you on these busses.  Not actually places, but they make sure there is enough sitting room. It’s too dangerous to have people standing as the busses need to stop and start quickly.  This would cause too much people shuffling on the busses.

IF you miss the time, you have to ask each buss driver yourself if there is enough room on his/her buss to take you down.

Still Not at the Top

As you leave the buss, you will come to a tunnel that goes on for about 200 or so meters.  At the end, there will be a waiting room with an elevator.  Up until the elevator you can’t take photos.  This rule is really ONLY for the elevator (Why?  I have no idea).  It’s quite nice and old school.  You have your concierge taking you to the top with telephone in tow.  This was the elevator that Hitler took when he spent his leisure time during his political life.  I’ve been told that Hitler only visited this place about a dozen times.  It was not a spot he frequented, but apparently really loved.

Finally at the Top

The elevator opens into a restaurant.  You can sit there and have some fun with drinks and some food.  The food is not bad and the beer is pretty good.    If you go there for lunch, it is a nice place to visit for a few hours.  Beyond the restaurant you will see the paths to the upper rocks and other smaller locations for views.  BE CAREFUL!  The rocks have been worn down so much that it’s almost like walking on ice.  One could easily slip and fall or slip and worse.  Keep your eyes out for benches.  Most of them are in excellent locations to sit and enjoy the view(s).

The entire event would take you about 2 hrs, but if you eat, it would increase that time to 2.5-3 hrs.  I would consider this to be a full day affair because the mountain is one thing and the actual museum is the other.  Unfortunately, I went to the top first and when I came back down, it was too late by then to visit the museum.  I will have to write about that at a later date when I get a chance to revisit the area.