What it is
The Königssee is a long, narrow lake wedged between rock walls, within Berchtesgaden National Park. There is no road along the shore: you travel on the electric boats of the Bayerische Seenschifffahrt, the Bavarian lakes boat company, which leave from the Seelände landing stage in Schönau am Königssee. They are silent, smokeless boats, and the crossing is calm even with small children.
Halfway across, in front of the rock face, the boat stops and the boatman plays the trumpet so that the rock sends back the echo. After 35 minutes you reach St. Bartholomä, the pilgrimage church with garnet-red domes on a peninsula at the foot of the east face of the Watzmann. You can only get there by water. Next to it, in the old royal hunting lodge, there is a restaurant with a terrace, and in the Jägerhaus a national park information point, open all year, with a 12-minute film.
In season the boat continues for a total of an hour to Salet, at the end of the lake, from where you walk a quarter of an hour to the Obersee.
Timetables and seasons
- Winter 2026/27 (until 23 April 2027): only to St. Bartholomä, every day except 24 December and if the lake freezes. From 9 November 2026 to 9 April 2027 the first boat leaves Seelände at 9:45 and the last at 15:30; the last return from St. Bartholomä is at 16:20. Salet has no service.
- Summer 2027 (24 April to 10 October): boats roughly every 30 minutes to St. Bartholomä and Salet. In high season, from 26 June to 13 September, the first leaves at 8:00 and the last at 16:45; the last return from Salet is at 17:40.
In fog, storms, floods or ice, boats may be delayed or not run. The exact times are in the boat company's PDF timetables.
Prices
Return from Seelände to St. Bartholomä: €23.40 per adult; one way, €11.70. Children up to 5 do not pay and those aged 6 to 17 pay half. For families, the first child aged 6 to 17 pays the child fare and each of the others, €1. Dogs pay €5 and must wear a muzzle. Guest cards give no discount. The fare to Salet is published with the summer timetable: check it on the boat company's website.
You can buy the ticket at the Seelände ticket office or in the online shop. The return from St. Bartholomä or Salet, if you bought one way only, is paid to the person in charge at the landing stage; it is not sold online.
There is a combined lake-and-summit ticket with the Jenner cable car: boat to St. Bartholomä and up and down the Jenner, €56 until 31 December 2026 and €58 from January. It is sold only by the boat company.
How to get there and park
By car, leave the car in the large municipal Königssee car park, in Schönau, open all year: €3 the first hour, €7 up to three hours and €9 for the day. You pay at the meter or with the Parkster app. Motorhomes have a separate car park. From the car park to the landing stage it is about a 5-minute walk.
Without a car, take bus 840, 841 or 843 towards Königssee from Berchtesgaden station.
How long
A return trip to St. Bartholomä with a walk and a coffee, allow 2 hours 30 minutes. If you go to Salet and the Obersee, a long half day. The boat company recommends going to Salet first and stopping at St. Bartholomä on the way back.
Accessibility, children and dogs
The landing stages have no steps, but boarding the boat means three narrow, steep steps; the crew help. One or two manual wheelchairs fit per boat, not electric ones, and the ticket office lends some for free. At St. Bartholomä, the lakeside walk and the path to the chapel of St John and St Paul are flat gravel, suitable for wheelchairs. The boats have no toilets: there are accessible toilets at Seelände, St. Bartholomä and Salet.
