6 Best Sights in The Bavarian Alps, Germany

The deep, mysterious, and fabled Königssee is the most photographed panorama in Germany. Together with its much smaller sister, the Obersee, it's nestled within the Berchtesgaden National Park, 210 square km (81 square miles) of wild mountain country where flora and fauna have been left to develop as nature intended. No roads penetrate the area, and even the mountain paths are difficult to follow. The park administration organizes guided hikes from June through September.

This remarkable monastery was founded in 1330 by Holy Roman Emperor Ludwig the Bavarian for a group of knights and a community of Benedictine monks. The largest Benedictine monastery in Germany, it still houses 50 monks. The original 10-sided church was brilliantly redecorated in 1744–53, becoming one of the foremost examples of Bavarian rococo. The church's chief treasure is its enormous dome fresco (83 feet wide), painted by Jacob Zeiller circa 1751–52. Today, the Kloster owns most of the surrounding land and directly operates the Klosterhotel Ettal Ludwig der Bayer, the Kloster shop, and the Kloster market, as well as a brewery and distillery. Ettaler liqueurs, made from a centuries-old recipe, are still distilled at the monastery. The monks make seven different liqueurs, some with more than 70 mountain herbs. You can visit the distillery right next to the church and buy bottles of the libation from the gift shop and bookstore. It's possible to tour the distillery and the brewery. However, English-language tours are available only for large groups. Tours of the basilica for individuals are offered on Monday and Thursday at 3. Brewery tours in German are given Tuesday and Friday at 10 and distillery tours are given Monday and Thursday at 4, both from July to early November and in December.

Across the Loisach River stands the original St. Martin church (aka "Die Alte Kirche," or the Old Church), whose original foundation was laid in the 9th century. Its current building dates to 1280 and showcases Gothic wall paintings from throughout the centuries, including a 7-meter-high (21-foot-high), larger-than-life figure of St. Christopher from 1330 and a Passion of the Christ fresco dating to the 1400s.

Beautiful examples of Upper Bavarian houses line Frühlingstrasse. A pedestrian zone begins at Richard-Strauss-Platz and at another end, just off Marienplatz, is this unassuming 18th-century parish church that contains significant stuccowork by the Wessobrunn artist Jospeh Schmutzer and Rococo work by Matthäus Günther, restored to its original vibrancy.

On the back of the altar in this 18th-century church (as in Oberammergau, built by Josef Schmutzer and decorated by Matthäus Günther) you'll find Matthias Klotz's name, carved there by the violin maker himself. Note that on some of the ceiling frescoes, the angels are playing violins, violas da gamba, and lutes. In front of the church, Klotz is memorialized as an artist at work in vivid bronze sculpted by Ferdinand von Miller (1813–79), creator of the mighty Bavaria Monument in Munich. The church, with its elaborate and joyful stuccowork coiling and curling its way around the interior, is one of the most important rococo structures in Bavaria. The Gothic choir loft was added in the 18th century. The bold frescoes on its exterior are characteristic of Lüftlmalerei, where images, usually religious motifs, were painted on the wet stucco exteriors of houses and churches. On nearby streets you can see other fine examples on the facades of three famous houses: the Goethehaus, the Pilgerhaus, and the Pichlerhaus. Among the artists working here was the great Franz Seraph Zwinck.

Hotels here base spa treatments on the health-giving properties of the saline springs and the black mud from the area's waterlogged moors. The elegant, pillared pavilion of the attractive spa gardens is really a sight to behold, with its unusual misting green facade, said to extract salt from the water. All you need to do is walk along the 540-foot Gradierhaus, a massive wood-and-concrete construction that produces a fine salty mist by trickling brine down a 40-foot wall of dense blackthorn bundles (breathing salt-laden air is a remedy for various lung conditions).