The Eagle's Nest on Mount Kehlstein, Germany

A mountain retreat in der Berchtesgaden Alps, Bavaria.

The Eagle's Nest near Berchtesgaden was commissioned by Martin Bormann and the National Socialist German Workers' Party before being presented to the fascist dictator Adolf Hitler as a gift on his fiftieth birthday. Since then, the idyllic setting and remarkable architecture of the Eagle's Nest on the Kehlstein have been overshadowed by its close connection with the Third Reich. Although Hitler rarely stayed in the building himself, his wicked tyrannical image still hangs over it today.

Given this background, it is not surprising that a plan to demolish the building was very nearly approved in the 1960s. Just as Hitler's command centre on the Obersalzberg had been destroyed by the bombs of the liberating Allied forces, so, it was hoped, would the Eagle's Nest be wiped forever off the face of the beautiful Bavarian landscape. As it turned out, however, history took a different course, and the building has been administered by the Berchtesgaden Regional Tourist Office since 1960. Today, the Eagle's Nest is leased out to private operators who run it as an alpine restaurant. The engineering feats and mighty architecture of the building leave many visitors speechless. Even the approach from the carpark is imposing: a tunnel of 124 metres in length, lined with panels of natural rock, runs through the mountain massif. At the end of the tunnel there is a grandiosely designed brass-plated lift. The lift ascends to the interior of the Eagle's Nest in just forty-one seconds. Inside, visitors are surrounded by metre-thick walls and mighty bulwarks. At 1,834 metres above sea level, the Eagle's Nest commands a breathtaking panoramic view.

The building itself and the unique Kehlstein road were constructed in an extremely short period of time despite the difficulties of wartime: the fortress-like residence took one year to build, the Kehlstein road thirteen months. The unique design of the road has no counterpart anywhere in the world. It makes no more than a single bend in its ascent of the towering 700 metres between the Obersalzberg and the Kehlstein carpark, traversing the steep north-west face of the Kehlstein twice as it does so. The road is now closed to normal traffic; it can only be accessed by a bus service.

The province of Bavaria has made the Eagle's Nest part of a charitable foundation; its profits are used to support good causes.

Opening Hours
Open from May to October