Potsdam
This glorious park and palace ensemble is what happens when a king has good taste, plenty of cash and access to the finest architects and artists of the…
Must-see attractions in Around Berlin
Potsdam
Frederick the Great's famous summer palace, this rococo gem was designed by Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff in 1747 and sits daintily above vine-draped…
Gedenkstätte und Museum Sachsenhausen
Around Berlin
About 35km north of Berlin, Sachsenhausen was built by prisoners and opened in 1936 as a prototype for other camps. By 1945, some 200,000 people had…
Around Berlin
The 16th-century Spandau Citadel, on a little island in the Havel River, is considered one of the world’s best-preserved Renaissance fortresses. With its…
Potsdam
The original Barberini Palace was a baroque Roman palazzo commissioned by Frederick the Great and bombed to bits in World War II. Since January 2017, a…
Potsdam
The 18th-century fad for the Far East is strongly reflected in the adorable Chinese House. The cloverleaf-shaped pavilion is among the park's most…
Spreewald
In the protected village of Lehde, this cluster of historical Sorb farm buildings gives you a good sense of what rural life in the Spreewald was like a…
Potsdam
Halfway between the Hauptbahnhof and the Altstadt, the Alter Markt is the site where Potsdam's settlement began. Under Frederick the Great, it evolved…
Around Berlin
In 1905 Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Erich Heckel and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner founded Germany’s first modern-artist group, called Die Brücke (The Bridge)…
Potsdam
The final palace commissioned by Frederick the Great, the Neues Palais has made-to-impress dimensions, a central dome and a lavish exterior capped with a…
Potsdam
Park Sanssouci is the oldest and most resplendent of Potsdam's many green patches. It's open from dawn til dusk year-round and is dotted with numerous…
Around Berlin
In January 1942 a group of 15 high-ranking Nazi officials met in a stately villa near Lake Wannsee to hammer out details of the ‘Final Solution’, the…
Spreewald
A highlight of a visit to Cottbus is this palace-and-park ensemble, which stems from the feverish brow of Prince Hermann von Pückler-Muskau (1785–1871) –…
Memorial Leistikowstrasse (KGB Prison)
Potsdam
Now a memorial site, Potsdam's central remand prison for Soviet Counter Intelligence – colloquially known as 'KGB prison' – is a particularly sinister…
Around Berlin
Glienicke Palace is the result of a rich royal kid travelling to Italy and falling in love with the country. Prince Carl of Prussia (1801–83) was only 21…
Around Berlin
'Back to nature' was the dictum in the 18th century, so Friedrich Wilhelm II had this little Havel island turned into an idyllic playground, perfect for…
Around Berlin
Berlin's only surviving baroque palace, on a little island off the Altstadt, houses a branch of Berlin's Kunstgewerbemuseum (Museum of Decorative Arts)…
Around Berlin
This lovely villa was the summer retreat of German impressionist painter and Berliner Secession founder Max Liebermann from 1909 until his death in 1935…
Militärhistorisches Museum – Flugplatz Berlin-Gatow
Around Berlin
Operated by the Bundeswehr (the armed forces of Germany), this exhibit is a fascinating destination for fans of aviation, technology, history and the…
Around Berlin
A popular day trip from Berlin, this romantically ruined monastery near a little lake and surrounded by a lush park was built by Cistercian monks in the…
Potsdam
Attached to the actual Babelsberg film studios, this movie-themed amusement park presents stunt shows, animal shows, outdoor movie sets, a 4D cinema and a…
Potsdam
One of Potsdam's newest landmarks is this replica of the 18th-century Prussian City Palace that was partly destroyed in WWII and completely removed by…
Around Berlin
At 4km long and 2.5km wide, the Müggelsee is Berlin's largest lake. Hemmed in by forest on two sides, it's hugely popular for swimming and boating on hot…
Potsdam
One of Potsdam's most unusual neighbourhoods, Alexandrowka is a Russian colony that was a gift from Friedrich Wilhelm III to his close friend Tsar…
Around Berlin
Tiny Niederfinow would be a mere blip on the map were it not for this spectacular historical ship's lift, which links the Oder River and the Oder-Havel…
Potsdam
As the name suggests, the early-neoclassical Marmorpalais is a symphony in colourful marble on floors, walls, ceilings and fireplaces. The palace was…
Potsdam
This English-style country palace, completed in 1917 for Crown Prince Wilhelm and his wife Cecilie, was the last residence built by the Hohenzollern clan…
Potsdam
The permanent exhibit of this venerable yet completely updated film museum presents an engaging romp through the history of the UFA (one of the world's…
Around Berlin
Pat a potbellied pig or clamber on a historical tractor at this open-air museum that’s actually a modern working farm attached to a rambling manor house…
Around Berlin
Between 1941 and 1942, more than 50,000 Jewish Berliners were deported from Gleis 17 (platform 17) next to the S-Bahn station Grunewald. Some 186 trains…
Around Berlin
On an island in the middle of town, the Dom was founded more than 850 years ago and is predominantly Gothic in style. It's filled with a bevy of treasures…
Around Berlin
The original Checkpoint Charlie guard cabin, a Berlin Airlift plane and a reconstructed spy tunnel are among the dramatic exhibits at the Allied Museum,…
Around Berlin
British architect Norman Foster was the brain behind the ‘Berlin Brain’, a cranial-shaped 2005 masterpiece of modern architecture that houses the Freie…
Around Berlin
This private art museum in the monumental studio of Nazi-era sculptor Arno Breker presents modernist works created in Germany in the years between WWII…
Potsdam
The New Chambers, built by Knobelsdorff in 1748, were originally an orangery and later converted into a guest palace. The interior drips with rococo…
Potsdam
For splendid views over Potsdam and surrounds, ascend the spiralling wrought-iron staircases of this twin-towered palace, commissioned by Friedrich…
Spreewald
Take a trip down the Spreewald memory lane at this regional history museum imaginatively set up like a historical department store. Stops include a…
Around Berlin
Looming above Marktplatz is the crenellated tower of the Church of St Mary, a huge red-brick Gothic hall church. Ruined by war and socialist-era disregard…
Potsdam
This picturesque cluster of 134 gabled red-brick houses was built around 1730 for Dutch workers invited to Potsdam by Friedrich Wilhelm I. The entire…
Around Berlin
Berlin’s vast Freie Universität Berlin–affiliated botanical gardens boast 22,000 plant species. It's an inspirational spot to reconnect with nature…
