April 9, 2026

Soaring Peaks and Idyllic Lakes: Beer Hiking Around Berchtesgaden

The Alps of Southeastern Bavaria

Berchtesgadener Land was once coveted for the wealth of its salt. As the salt trade waned over the course of the nineteenth century, interest in southeastern Bavaria’s spectacular scenery grew. It was a time when Europeans discovered a new appreciation of nature — and the mountains, meadows, and pristine lakes of Bavaria’s Alps were the ideal balm for the perceived ills of industrialization.

Tourists, hikers, and mountaineers arrived in droves, drawn by the sublime and wild landscape of the rugged Watzmann peak. Then as now, Berchtesgadener Land is a hiker’s and walker’s paradise, one particularly well suited for beers along the way.

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A Day Out on the Trails

This itinerary works best spread over two days, but you could do it in one long day.

Up the Valley to the Königssee

Mist hung like strands of cotton above the valley, lifting occasionally to reveal the serrated granite monoliths looming up beyond the town. We followed the Königsseer Ache stream out of town through the woods toward the village of Königssee, detouring up the embankment through pastures toward Schönau.

Back on the trail along the stream, the woods turned deeper green as we pushed on to the village of Königssee.

By the time we had boarded the wooden boat from Königssee to St. Bartholomä, the silver-white mist had engulfed the lake and the surrounding rock faces, setting the stage for an enchanting ride as the boat glided serenely across the lake into an otherworldly void.

St. Bartholomä and the Eiskapelle

Like a curtain at a much-anticipated performance, the fog slowly began to lift as we drifted toward the diminutive but distinctive Chapel of St. Bartholomew with its white-washed walls and copper-red cupulas and onion domes. Everyone disembarked quietly, seemingly struck by the mystical atmosphere of this slow unveiling of the dock, the lake, the chapel, and the angular granite of the Watzmann etched against a transparent blue sky.

A few of the serious hikers hoisted their packs and made for the mountain huts six hours away, while the rest visited the chapel, wandered along the shoreline, or ambled through the meadows.

With lunch still a few hours off, we hiked up the relatively steep path leading to the Eiskapelle (ice chapel), where the last ice-blue remnants of a glacier that once reached its tentacles down to the Königssee barely hangs on.

It’s lonely up there, the forlorn glacier surrounded by a spare landscape of gravel and boulders framed by a sheer rock face. Go visit this ancient soul before it’s too late. At the rate things are going with climate change, you’re bound to find a mere plaque with an inscription: “Here rests the memory of a mighty glacier.”

The path to the Eiskapelle near Berchtesgaden — *En route to the Eiskapelle*

A Beer Garden for the Ages

Back down we went, reaching the verdant meadows near the lakeshore, hungry after that short burst of a two-hour hike, and thirsty. And just in time for lunch at the Gaststätte St. Bartholomä’s beer garden, one of the most scenic beer gardens anywhere.

Not only is this spacious beer garden the perfect mix of shade and cheerful sunshine, it’s ringed on all sides by majestic scenery. The chiseled Watzmann juts up in its angular and rugged beauty, framing the spectacle. St. Bartholomä’s red onion domes gleam in the sunshine, while the little wooden boats deposit another contingent of curious tourists and hale hikers.

Mesmerizing in its own right, the shimmering waters of the Königssee become dreamily hypnotic as the endorphins from the Eiskapelle hike start to mingle with the beer I’ve been drinking.

Königssee and the Malerswinkel (Painters’ Corner)

We could have stayed all afternoon in the shadow of the chapel drinking liters of Hofbräuhaus beer, but there was more trail ahead of us. We caught the next sailing to Königsee, this time with fewer people on the boat and not a cloud in the sky.

Just beyond the village on a trail hugging the eastern lakeshore is the Malerswinkel (Painters’ Corner), which affords breathtaking views of this narrow, fiord-like lake carved into the mountains.

From there we did what all good beer hikers do: We explored the village and its shops, then promptly found a spot at the Biergarten am Königssee for beers from HB-Berchtesgaden. Right on the lakeshore, this beer garden in front of the stately Hotel Schiffmeister is an enjoyable spot to watch the small electric boats plying the route to the St. Bartholomä chapel.

The Footpath to Berchtesgaden

After watching another round of wooden boats come and go, we returned to Berchtesgaden in the same direction we came, veering off the trail for a delicious round of beer from Bürgerbräu (Bad Reichenhall) at the well-appointed Gasthof Waldhauser Bräu in Schönau.

The footpath back to Berchtesgaden was once the railway bed for the Royal Bavarian State Railroad line terminating in Königssee. Completed in 1909, the extension from Berchtesgaden to Königssee was part of a direct railway line from Salzburg built to cope with the influx of tourists.

On our way we passed the “Pfingstlerreibn” bend, a treacherous stretch along the Königssee stream where logs jammed up as they were floated downstream for use in the saltworks. The timber run was abandoned when the mine closed in 1927, but the stone “bumper wall” lives on as an echo of times when lumber was a regional industry.

The Legend of Cruel King Watzmann

Near Berchtesgaden we came upon the Nasse Wand rock wall, a picturesque site favoured by artists who came to paint the Watzmann. A tavern once stood here as well, a place where artists and tourists gathered over liters of beer to hear local legends about cruel King Watzmann.

One telling has it that the evil king was turned to stone along with his wife and children as punishment for cruel deeds inflicted on the peasantry. Locals refer to the Watzmann massif as a “family.” Two hornlike peaks, the Watzmann itself and the smaller Kleine Watzmann (the queen), frame the smaller jagged tines representing Watzmann’s children.

Ludwig Bechstein (1801–1860), chronicler of German legends, narrates the story in the following way (roughly translated and loosely rendered here). Like many of the more renowned Grimms’ Fairy Tales, this is not for the faint of heart.

Once upon a time, there ruled in these lands a wild king named Watzmann, a cruel tyrant who knew naught of love and mercy. Hunting was his only passion.

By day and by night the king’s wild hunt roared through the fields, the forests, and the valleys, raising a din of horns and barking dogs. Watzmann pursued the timid game, trampling the fields and hopes of the peasants alike, his malevolent wife and devious children in tow.

One day the hunting troop came upon a shepherd’s cottage. In front sat the shepherd’s wife cradling their slumbering child. Their faithful dog lay next to her, while the shepherd rested in the hut.

Suddenly the thunder of the hunt interrupted this sylvan solitude. In an instant the king’s pack fell on the shepherd family’s dog. One dog tore its sharp teeth into the child while another dragged the frightened mother to the ground.

Awakened by the cries of his wife, the shepherd jumped out of the hut and killed one of the king’s dogs. Enraged, the cruel king set his dogs on the shepherd, who had just raised up his fainting wife and pulled her close. With a look of despair and a terrible curse to the heavens, the shepherd expired. The bloodthirsty king laughed wickedly.

But even the patience of God has its limits. There arose a roar of thunder in the heights and a howling in the depths, and the spirit of vengeance possessed the king’s dogs. The pack attacked the king and his queen and his children, plunging them into the abyss. Turned to stone and risen up as rock-cold mountains, Watzmann and his clan stand forever frozen as examples of the fate that awaits cruel deeds.

Well, then … . Fortunately, we had planned ahead in Königssee and had a few cool bottles of beer in our backpacks, which we savoured as we looked upon the petrified Watzmann clan.

A Chapel with a View

It was just a hop, skip, and a jump from the Nasse Wand past chalets into Berchtesgaden proper, where we followed the gentle climb north from the Schlossplatz to the delectable Kirchleitn chapel atop the Lockstein.

And what a view it was as the was sky taking on its twilight cast of violet, pink, and deep dark blue, the old town of Berchtesgaden spread out before us and the jagged Watzmann peaks etched against the sky. As day turned to night, we meandered back into the Altstadt down the Doktorberg and finished up with dinner and beers.

Crowning Your Beer Hike with Food and Fine Beer

In Berchtesgaden and its surrounding villages you’ll never be far from a place to take the edge off your thirst, replenish your electrolytes, and fuel up for the next stage.

Goldener Bär is a rustic inn a few paces off of the Marktplatz. The food here takes center stage, ample and delicious. Go for the Schlachtschüssel (butcher’s bowl) if it’s on the menu. The combination of braised pork belly, blood sausage, and liverwurst served up with potato salad and fresh horse radish is just what the doctor ordered after a long day of hiking. Wash it down with serviceable beer from Wieninger Bräu in the Chiemsee area.

Bräustüberl Bankhammer is the tap of Hobrauhaus Berchtesgaden. Their Dunkel, with its pecan nuttiness, pumpernickel bread, and a dusting of chocolate and baking spice, pairs fabulously well with the delicious Bierochse (beer ox) in beer sauce. But it’s the Jubiläumsbier that really shines, a rich and round golden beer that tastes like an Export meets a Festbier crossed with a Bock. HB-Berchtesgaden’s Helles is also a refreshing number, a tasty beer we drank often at beer gardens, at Wirtshäuser, and along the trail.

Postscript

Last go around I posted about the towns along the rails between Munich and Salzburg. Trains travel from the Freilassing junction to Berchtesgaden via Bad Reichenhall (well worth a visit for the Bürgerbräu beer alone). You can also get a bus from Salzburg. Happy hiking!

Sources

Interpretive plaques along the trails.

Ludwig Bechstein, Deutsches Sagenbuch, cited in https://www.berchtesgaden.de/berge-gipfel/watzmann/die-watzmann-sage

All images by Franz D. Hofer

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Traunstein: Beer in the Foothills of the Bavarian Alps

Berchtesgaden and the Königssee: Alpine Breweries and Lakeside Beer Gardens

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