Germany Austria May 2018: The mirror lakes Konigssee and Obersee

Our original German road trip was to cover the Romantic Road, the German Alpine road and end in Berchtesgaden, at the border of Germany and Austria. When the Grossglockner high alpine road and Salzburg entered our plans, we had to tweak our route a bit. Finally, we drove down the Romantic Road (Germany Austria May 2018-The unromantic Romantic Road with the very romantic towns), down south to Mittenwald and into Austria, before reentering Germany to drop off our car and hence avoid huge surcharges. As a bonus, we got to visit Berchtesgaden that had gotten cruelly pushed off the itinerary.

Our trusted car Volkswagen Golf from Sixt rentals

Alright, we really went there because I was desperate to see the stunning mirror lake Obersee, that the hubby had heard rave reviews about from a friend (lucky for me, as I didn’t have to persuade him to go here!) We did have to drop the car off at Freilassing, across the border from Salzburg, and then we took a regional train to Berchtesgaden. Unfortunately, we were used to the extreme convenience of the car and hadn’t realised the difficulty of public transport, which is really what spoiled the day for us.

Getting to Lake Konigssee involved a train and bus change and long waits for both, which translated to 3 hours to reach the much desired lake. Once at the beautiful lake (the most beautiful of all those we visited), worried by the pace of Berchtesgaden and the long wait-times everywhere, we didn’t bother to grab lunch, but hopped onto the first boat we saw.

This turned out to be a bad move because the boat took a good hour one-way, which meant that we stayed hungry for very long. But we were not to know that. At that moment, we were very happy to get onto anything that was waiting for us instead of the other way round.

The pier with the wooden boats

Despite the heat and the sun, and the hunger, the stunning lake with brilliantly green and turquoise coloured water, surrounded by towering cliffs was enough to lift everyone’s mood.

Rows of boat houses lined the lake, that reflected the deep green of the trees

A duck accompanied us for a short part of our journey

Lake Konigssee is a glacial lake at one end of the Berchtesgaden national park. It’s different from most lakes of the region as it’s surrounded by tall fjord like mountains that seem to rise almost vertically from the lake. The lake itself is narrow and long and there is little wind as it’s all so tightly locked in. This makes for beautiful reflections of the surroundings onto the water.

Only electric boats are allowed in these waters. The entire perimeter of the lake is the national park and mountains so there is no walking track or habitation around the lake. There are only 2 stops on the lake, from where people can hike into the park. Naturally, one would expect complete peace. Instead, we had a boat full of yakking tourists and this “peace-loving” man!

As we went deeper into the lake, there was nothing to be seen but the mountains and the waters. Soon the snow-covered peaks came into view, forming one distant edge of the lakes.

It was too stunning to describe, too stunning to capture on camera. But sadly the peace was broken by the boatman starting a commentary in German. It must have been amusing, because everyone who could understand it was laughing away, but for me, it was an intrusion into my mental space. So I drowned out the noises and concentrated on the locales around me instead.

What a place to unwind

At some point of the way to the first stop, we were completely surrounded by mountains. Here, the boatman took us closer to one side and stilled the motor. He clambered out onto the steps we’d used to get onto the ship. The kid was petrified looking at him. He then picked up a flugelhorn (trumpet) and played a few notes. The same notes echoed back. Perfectly. He continued playing, a tougher set of notes progressively and the echo would mirror it perfectly. It was like listening to a beautiful song where one verse was loud and the next soft. It was the most amazing part of the day. When he finished, I’m sure that no one wanted him to stop. It was so magical that I didn’t even record it, I just sat transfixed. That lilting melody is still playing in my head as I write today. These few minutes were worth the entire day trip.

That wonderful fuzzy feeling stayed with all of us for a very long time there on. Suddenly there came a gasp from all the people in the front. The onion domed red-roofed church of St Bartholomew came into view. 

The famous pilgrimage church is where the bulk of the passengers got off. We didn’t disembark as we wanted to reach the last stop before the predicted rain, but we ended up missing an important lunch stop.

Looking back to the church as we moved ahead

The boat moved deeper towards the end. The mountains were less green here, steeper, taller and the sky bluer. A waterfall could be seen at one side. This area was wider but the water stiller, brilliantly mirroring the mountains and skies. Since the boatman was no longer talking, it was very enjoyable and we loved this portion of the ride.

Soon, we reached Salet, the last stop. The waters were crystal clear, a few children were feeding fish and the boats were anchored to the pier.

We saw lots of families with small kids and dogs walking to lake Obersee, a 20 minute walk from the boat dock. I was surprised by the huge numbers of people in this tiny place. People were resting on the grass or sitting on rocks. There was a general cheer in the atmosphere. I think the weather that we found hot, sunny and unbearable was pleasant and wonderful to the locals and they were having a blast.

We crossed over this little stream, hoping the lake was worth the “trek”, not realising that hunger and thirst contributed in a huge way to our exhaustion. And then, we just stopped in our tracks as we came upon Lake Obersee.

The still lake completely mirrored the surroundings. The famous wooden chalet on the lake made me wish I could break in and stay here. It was totally shaded and very very pretty.

But very tragically, Instagram had made this quiet abode of nature a selfie paradise. This tiny, really tough-to-reach lake was packed with tourists, yakking away. The line to get onto the little wooden path to the chalet was crazily long. Disgusted, we walked a little further, on the trek towards the waterfall, till we were adequately far away from the madding crowd. Here we stood in a few minutes of silence, trying to enjoy the atmosphere.

A pair of ducks swam by as we stood there alone. The kid clambered onto a rock jutting out from the water and enjoyed the calm. However, even this moment of peace was short-lived. Some people saw her perched on the rock and rushed here, making us rush off. We walked on towards the waterfall, but it was a long way off and we were too hungry to walk on further, so we turned back.

We walked back to the ferry pier with ice creams to help us along. But the German eis had spoiled us and the Magnum bars we got here just didn’t live up to the brilliant eis we’d had elsewhere. Back on the ferry, the kid was very disappointed to see a muzzled dog. What with the horse-carriages and the muzzled dogs, our animal rights activist was on a roll.

I wanted to get off at the stop of the church but the kid was very hungry so we simply continued back. As the boat pushed away from the pier, the reflection of the onion domed church in the water glittered in the lake.

The journey back seemed faster and very different. Dark clouds rolled in and I was surprised to see waves in the waters. The lake seemed to mirror the darker skies.

We were so hungry by the time we reached the shore that we hurriedly downed our food without bothering to take pictures. A light rain fell, bringing much needed respite from the sun and made the long wait for the bus (es) back more bearable.

Undoubtedly, Lake Koniggsee and Obersee were the most beautiful lakes we saw on this trip. It was sad that local transport was so challenging here, which really spoilt our day. I’m sure we would have been better off driving here and dropping the car off on our way back, or staying in Berchtesgaden, which certainly looked like a small charming town.

Yet, I can’t complain. I got to see the lake that I badly had wanted to, and this image will stay imprinted on my mind forever.