As the weather was not forecasted too well, we decided to visit the salt mine of Bad Reichenhall. The first mistake we made was, that the mine that you can visit is not in Bad Reichenhall, but in Berchtesgarden. You have to book time slots to visit the mine and we were punctual in Bad Reichenhall. That never the less does not help if the actual thing is in Berchtesgarden. I called the mine and asked whether we could re-book and they told us that it would be no problem. When we arrived there we could directly join the next group going into the mountain. So basically it seems to me that you simply have to be there roughly at the time you booked.
You get nice miners cloths to get into the mountain which was kind of cool already. Then you take a short train ride on a miners train into the mountain. We all enjoyed the short ride. In the first room they have a nice short laser show on how the salt gets washed out from the mountain with water and is transported to the outside for further processing. In that first hall you get to slide down on a wooden slide into the next chamber. We did the slide together and it is a short but fast slide which we all really liked. Later on there was an other one which was about fifty meters long and a hight of eleven meters. Very good. In the mountain there is a lake that they call the mirror lake as the dark water reflects the roof of the salt mine. The group floats over the lake with a raft and a nice light show is performed. As you have these miners cloths it was not possible for me to make any photos, but the webpage has quite some nice impressions.
As it is very close to the mine we took a trip also to the Koenigssee. It is a very picturesque place in the last corner of the German Alps. The lake is not too big, but apparently two hundred meters deep. We took the long boat trip the the last stop where you can get off and walk to the Obersee wich is an even nicer lake. If you have enough time you could even walk to a waterfall which falls about four hundred meters. We did not do it though as we were too late for that.
The church St. Bartholomae which is the stop in the middle of the lake was closed. We ate in the restaurant there though as it was time to feed the family…The return trip takes quite some time so if you also plan to do the trim then you should take your time.
On the way to St. Bartolomae the boat stops at the famous echo wall and the guide plays a little tune against the rock wall and an echo returns.The trip with the boat was not appreciated by the kids as we adults did. The nice peace and quiet as well as the countryside could not beat the mine for the kids. We loved the Koenigssee and especially the Obersee.