All About our private Eagle’s Nest Historical Tour

What’s so special about this tour?

Created by David and Christine Harper in 1990, this original and comprehensive tour, offered in English only, features the Eagle’s Nest, as well as Hitler’s former HQs compound and includes a visit to the site of Hitler’s former home, the Berghof (now a ruin). This history-rich tour is conducted by professional guides who are accredited in Third Reich / WWII history and whose mother tongue is English. They conduct the tour in an objective and comprehensive manner, making the history of the area easily understandable to all..

What is the skip-the-line, private “Eagle’s Nest Historical Tour?”

Our private half-day, educational, 3-part tour emphasizes the historical significance of the whole mountain, not just the Eagle’s Nest teahouse. The Eagle’s Nest attracts several hundred thousand visitors each summer but tour allows you to skip the line and avoid long waiting times or the risk of Eagle’s Nest bus tickets being sold out as is often the case.

Eagle’s Nest

You will board a specially equipped mountain bus for a breathtaking drive up the 6.5 km (4 mile) road with its 27% incline to a high mountain parking lot, just below the Eagle’s Nest. The original brass-lined elevator will then transport you up through the heart of Kehlstein mountain straight into the building itself. After an in-depth tour of the Eagle’s Nest (now a restaurant) you’ll have some free time to enjoy the views or refreshments.

Hitler’s Headquarters Compound

Your guide will take you on a driving tour around Obersalzberg, a small mountain community above Berchtesgaden. Here the history of the area’s takeover by the National Socialist Party and the transformation of the mountain into Hitler’s Southern Headquarters will be recounted. Numerous original buildings or sites where structures once stood will be pointed out and explained with the help of photographs.

The Berghof: Hitler’s home and HQS

On the driving tour of Hitler’s former alpine compound, we stop to visit the historically significant site of Hitler’s former home (now a ruin). Known as the “Berghof” the sprawling structure, once famed for its extensive terrace, is located on a promontory on the flank of the Obersalzberg mountain far below the more-famed “Eagle’s Nest.” Hitler’s 30-room Berghof estate became the venue for national and international political decision-making, a place visited by foreign heads of state and frequented by Nazi leaders, as well as by members of European high society who were often hosted by the “lady of the house”, Eva Braun.

As Hitler spent well over one-fourth of his twelve years in power at his Berghof, the National Socialist Party’s effective propaganda apparatus made use of their Führer’s move to the Obersalzberg mountain to present him as a “country gentleman” whose chosen home was Berchtesgaden in the Bavarian Alps.

On the one hand, the repeated focus on the dictator’s presence on the mountain lent him the German roots that he did not possess, on the other, it created an image of the Nazi leader as a man living close to the common people in an idyllic alpine countryside. Hitler and his home on the Obersalzberg provided a subsequent mass-merchandizing of the politician as an allegedly friendly and hospitable man who made time to receive and welcome hordes of German admirers and followers.

Photos of these large pilgrimage-like events, as well as postcards and picture-books of Hitler relaxing with, and entertaining, his associates such as Goebbels, Göring, Speer and Bormann, were widely distributed in an effort to create a Hitler myth. This “superstar” spotlighting was extraordinarily successful in contributing to Hitler’s popularity both before and after his rise to power. With the additional use of photographs, our narrative brings to light the historic importance of the Berghof site and the dark designs made there on a political and military level as well.