Konigssee and Berchtesgaden

The Konigssee threads its emerald water nearly eight kilometres between rock walls so sheer the lake behaves like a fjord - 190 metres deep, famously clear, and quiet by law: only electric boats have sailed here since 1909, built at the lake's own boatyard. Mid-crossing the boatman stills the motor and plays a trumpet at the echo wall, the notes returning off the mountainside; the landing at St Bartholoma delivers the scene every calendar knows, red onion domes against the Watzmann's immense east face. Beyond the second stop a path continues to the Obersee, where a still lake mirrors cliffs and the Rothbach waterfall drops about 470 metres - Germany's highest - at the valley's head. All of it lies inside Berchtesgaden National Park, which keeps the shores pathless, the water clean and the whole theatre resolutely unmotorised.

What you actually see

• The electric boat crossing - the trumpet echo stilled mid-lake, a ritual since 1909.
• St Bartholoma - the red onion-domed pilgrimage church beneath the Watzmann wall.
• The Obersee - the mirror lake beyond the far landing, Rothbach falls at its head.
• The Malerwinkel - the painters' corner viewpoint a short stroll from the jetty.

When to go

May to October runs the full boat timetable; September and early October trade crowds for glassy water and gold larches. Winter sailings are reduced but the lake under snow is spectral.

Honest expectations

Summer boat queues at Schonau can swallow an hour each way - arrive early and note the last return sailing. The Obersee path beyond Salet is rocky and slick when wet, and St Bartholoma is crowded from late morning; there is no walking around the lake - the boat is the only way in.

Nearby

Berchtesgaden town, the Jenner cable car, Ramsau's painted church and the Hintersee.