Berchtesgadener Land District

San Bartolomé, Lago del Rey, Berchtesgadener Land.

The Berchtesgadener Land is a region in southern Bavaria of the 71 districts into which the Upper Bavarian region of the German state of Bavaria is divided.

Geography

In the northern part of this region there are hardly any mountains and you can find some small lakes such as the Abtsdorfer See, while in the southern part bordering on Austria the "Bavaria Alps" showing large mountain ranges. The northern portion of this region and the southern part are geographically divided by the Salzach river.

In the southern regions there are two beautiful lakes called Hintersee and Königssee; both are famous for having been the reason for landscape painters, as well as being a very important tourist objective in the area.

Economy

The main economic activities of the region are tourism and agriculture; the industry is focused on food (the "Milchwerke Berchtesgadener Land" is very famous, which makes yoghurts and dairy products). There are numerous deposits of salt and salt flats. In the past, handicrafts made of wood were well known, but today they are gradually being forgotten and are reduced to small communities of artisans.

Tourism

The region has a significant number of tourist areas of great natural beauty. It is noteworthy especially the south, where the cities of Berchtesgaden, Ramsau and Schönau am Königssee are located. It is recommended to visit:

• Berchtesgaden National Park
• Lake Königssee, tourist lake, with abundant landscapes of dream.
• Watzmann third highest mountain in Germany.

Cities and Towns

(Surface in km² of the cadastre dated December 31, 2001, number of inhabitants on June 30, 2005)

History

The southern alpine areas belonged to the territory of Bavaria since the Middle Ages. In the 11th and 12th centuries, a certain number of populations were created in the mountains. One of the settlements was Berchtesgaden, which later took on a more administrative role for the region and is possibly the reason the region bears this name today.

The northern portion of this region and the southern part are geographically divided by the Salzach river, and this division was the reason for the division of lands between Bavaria and Austria along this river in 1816. Half of the western area was separated from Salzburg and today is part of the Berchtesgadener district. Relations between these two separate regions improved with the signing of the Schengen treaty in 1990 as well as the introduction of the euro in 2002 in both countries, Germany and Austria.