The Königssee crossing — St. Bartholomä and the Obersee

The Königssee crossing is Bavaria’s most concentrated day: the electric boats have run the fjord-like lake since 1909, sounding the flugelhorn against the echo wall midway, to land at St. Bartholomä under the Watzmann’s east face. From the peninsula a twenty-minute forest walk opens the Obersee — the smaller, quieter upper lake with the Röthbachfall, Germany’s highest waterfall, at its head. Boats run year-round (weather permitting); the morning crossing beats the crowds, and the Jenner cable car on the way back adds the whole lake from above.