Germany Guide
The Alps and eastern Bavaria
Obersalzberg
Though its mountain panoramas are as breathtaking as any in the German Alps, its Nazi associations hang over OBERSALZBERG like an evil spell from some Grimm tale. Hitler knew and loved the scattered settlement 3km east of Berchtesgaden long before he came to power; after 1933 the new regime expropriated locals to turn the entire mountainside into a sprawling private fiefdom for Nazi bigwigs, many of whom had their holiday homes here. The most notable of the houses was Hitler's Berghof, bought and greatly extended with the royalties from sales of Mein Kampf; the dictator invited diplomatic guests here – including British prime minister Neville Chamberlain at the time of the Sudetenland crisis in 1938. As war progressed and Allied air raids on German cities underlined the vulnerability of the site to air attack, a vast system of bunkers was built beneath the mountainside, but in the event the feared "last stand" of the SS never happened here. British bombers badly damaged much of the complex in 1945; afterwards, the ruins were largely demolished. In recent years, a glamorous resort hotel has been built on the site of Göring's house, while close to the site of the Berghof stands the Dokumentation Obersalzberg (April– Oct daily 9am–5pm; Nov– March Tues– Sun 10am–5pm; €3; www.obersalzberg.de; bus #838 from Berchtesgaden), a fascinating exhibition, which incorporates a decidedly spooky preserved section of the bunker complex.
Frequent buses (mid-May to end Oct; €15 return) depart from the ultramodern terminus on the far side of the car park by the Dokumentation Obersalzberg, ascending the spectacular 6.5km Kehlsteinstrasse in the first stage of the ascent to Hitler's celebrated teahouse, the Kehlsteinhaus, or Eagle's Nest as it is known in English, which is preserved in more or less its original condition. The ascent is very much part of the experience: the narrow, twisting cobbled road – blasted from solid rock in just thirteen months in 1937 and 1938 – ascends 700m and passes through five tunnels. You alight next to the tunnel leading to the lift which ascends through solid rock to the teahouse. The teahouse itself is now a restaurant with genuinely breathtaking views. After an initial rush of enthusiasm in 1938 Hitler rarely visited, fearing lightning strikes and attack from the air; Eva Braun used it more frequently.