In May 2025, I went on a short trip to Berchtesgadener Land with my best friend. There were two reasons for this, the first was that I needed a break from my nine-to-five job, the other was that at the end of the year I needed to fill a calendar with photos again - and quite apart from that, I just wanted to go hiking as well.
So I told my companion that he was up for it and on Thursday after work I set off on a seven-hour drive to the German Alps. I had chosen the Berchtesgadener Land and Lake Königsee as our destination, but while the weeks between booking our hotel and the journey itself were characterised by wonderfully warm spring weather, the weather forecast for the four days we wanted to be there got worse and worse.
We arrived at our hotel shortly before 9 pm, checked in at reception, received the key to our room and immediately made our way back to the car, because even though the clouds were hanging low in the valley, there were always holes that offered us a view of the mighty peaks.
Our destination was Lake Hintersee, which is one of the most famous photo motifs in the region with its rocks lying in the water. Once there, we were greeted by a dense blanket of fog, which soon cleared to reveal the pale night sky illuminated by the setting sun - the blue hour presented itself to us in all its beauty.
And so, on the very first evening, pictures of extraordinary beauty were taken, showing the impressive mountain world of the Berchtesgadener Land in all its diversity and imposing majesty. They paint the picture of a cold, damp, peaceful May night.
My friend had thought of all sorts of things in preparation for this trip, but he had forgotten his hiking boots at a particularly brilliant moment, which, considering the mountain hike planned for the next day, is a suboptimal thing to call it. So, while I was taking photos, he got in touch with a nice woman on eBay who sold us shoes for him very late that evening. On the way back from Berchtesgaden, where we picked up his new shoes, we quickly stopped at the Maria Gern pilgrimage church, where we took a really exciting photo. However, we were to pass by there again during our holiday - more on that later.
- Hike to the Edelweißlahnerkopf -
On our first day, I had actually planned to take the boat across the Königsee and then do a 1000 metre hike to the lake Grünsee. However, the shipping company cancelled this plan as they didn't even start operating on Friday due to the bad weather. As we were still awake very early, I asked my buddy to find an alternative route. He also had ambitions to do a fixed-rope route or two in addition to hiking, so it was decided that we would climb the summit of the Edelweißlahnerkopf.
The starting point of the tour, which was to take us 1100 metres up, was the Hintersee valley, where we had already taken photos the previous evening. Away from the busy hiking trails on narrow paths, we wound our way up the mountain to the starting point of a fixed rope route that would take us to the mountain ridge.
During a break for breakfast in the sun and with a marvellous view of the surrounding mountains, a herd of Alpine chamois watched us, fortunately long enough for me to attach my telephoto lens to my camera.
As we had made a mistake, the climbing route only lasted a short distance before we were back on the typical narrow mountaineering paths, making our way further and further up through low mountain pines. Over the last 200 metres of altitude, our valley slowly closed in and it began to snow out of the thick, dark clouds, a sight that was quite unusual for mid-May. And yet this circumstance created a special and peaceful atmosphere, which was particularly evident from the fact that high up on the summit not a sound could be heard, not even the wind.
The descent was very strenuous and while at the beginning we were still climbing down over rocks, past cracks in the rocks that were so deep you couldn't see the ground, our path eventually turned into a constant zig-zag across scree fields. As beautiful as the view and the ascent were, the descent was a nerve-wracking experience, the crowning glory of which was that it started to rain buckets. And yet the experience itself, as well as the pictures I brought back from the summit, were worth the effort and the lugging of a 12-kilogram backpack. That evening, however, we decided to forgo further activities, and not just because of the rain.
- Excursion to the Obersee -
Saturday brought more stable weather and so the ships on the Königsee started sailing again. We took a boat across to the other end, as the captain described a real paradise waiting for us in the valley. The Lake Obersee lies in the middle of steep cliffs in a valley. Its crystal-clear water glows emerald green, while the clouds cling to the steep slopes.
Its mirror-smooth water surface makes it a memorable photo motif, which was only disturbed by small drops of water during our visit. But the problem was quickly solved with an ND filter and a longer exposure time.
However, we only stayed for a few photos and our breakfast before making our way back to the boat, as we wanted to make a stopover at the monastery.
- Pilgrimage church of St Bartholomä -
We took the next boat across. The journey only lasted a few minutes and took us on the lake past its steep rock faces and the Schrainbach waterfall to St Bartholomä Monastery. It is scenically situated on the western shore of Lake Königssee in the centre of Berchtesgaden National Park. It was founded in the 12th century and remodelled in the Baroque style. Today it is known worldwide for its red onion domes.
The valley behind it leads deep into the Watzmann massif. It's worth mentioning that the peak of the Watzmann is the second highest mountain in Germany and towers over the region at over 2,700 metres above sea level. However, when we arrived at the monastery, it was deep in the clouds and so we could only guess how high the mountains actually are.
On the boat tour, we were recommended to hike to the so-called ice chapel. This natural spectacle occurs every spring when the snow slides down the slopes of the Watzmann into the valley, where it accumulates and then melts as temperatures rise. A cave forms in the ice, from which the meltwater flows into the river and then into the lake. Depending on how much it snowed last winter, this spectacle becomes larger or smaller and resembles a glacier.
The hike itself was a welcome change from the hard work of the previous day, as the path is very well developed and only climbs steeply for a short stretch. However, the mountain panorama that opens up to you rewards every effort, as the steep slopes that border the valley are so huge that you feel incredibly small and insignificant. I tried to capture the size of the surrounding mountains photographically, but even my ultra-wide-angle lens was unable to capture the full scale.
The ice chapel itself was rather unspectacular due to the lack of snow last winter, which is why we decided not to visit it up close. We made our way back and spent some time in the sun at Lake Königsee before getting back on the boat just in time for the rain.
- Roßfeld panorama road -
While it started raining heavily on Lake Königsee, we set off for our next destination - the Roßfeld panoramic road. It leads along a mountain ridge on the border between Germany and Austria and offers magnificent views of the surrounding mountains and as far as Salzburg.
My aim, however, was to take another photo of a familiar motif that I had already photographed in 2019. On a ridge of the “Hoher Göll”, a mountain over 2,500 metres high, stands the Purtschellerhaus, a mountain hut that looks as if it has been put together from four individual houses.
I found this tiny but highly interesting building in the midst of imposing rock formations so impressive that I wanted to photograph it again - and I have also made significant technical progress over the years.
- SchludgyShot of the trip -
At our last photo spot in Berchtesgaden, I managed to take my favourite photo of the trip. When we left the panoramic road, we discovered that the Watzmann had appeared for the first time during our stay, so we drove back to the pilgrimage church in Maria Gern to take a photo of the motif that drew me to the region in the first place.
And it was worth it. The church stands between green slopes in front of an impressive panorama dominated by the second highest mountain in Germany. Despite its majestic appearance, it is almost a little shy in the photo, as it only barely lets the surrounding clouds get away from it. And despite this appearance, it dominates the picture in such a way that neither the sun's rays nor the very aesthetic church draw the eye away from it. A really impressive place, which in my opinion is honoured with a special picture.
