Germany (Lonely Planet, 6th Edition) - Andrea Schulte-Peevers [116]
This is a region shaped by water – not only by the rippling Oder, Havel and Spree Rivers that sinuously wend through it, but also by the thousands of ponds and lakes and the labyrinthine waterways connecting them. Water also characterises the Spreewald, where indigenous Sorbs keep alive their customs in island hamlets, and the Lower Oder Valley National Park, whose idyllic wetlands provide shelter for rare and endangered bird species. Like a fine wine, Brandenburg is best appreciated in sips, not gulps. It invites slowing down and exploring by bike, boat or on foot.
As the germ cell of Prussia, and thus modern Germany, Brandenburg is a land of great culture. Nowhere is this more apparent than in off-the-charts Potsdam, the ‘German Versailles’, with its wealth of parks, museums, stately palaces and resurrected film studio. Fine architecture awaits in the Rheinsberg palace and the Chorin monastery, while the Niederfinow ship-lift ranks as one of the great technological monuments of the early 20th century.
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HIGHLIGHTS
Royal Riches Drain your camera batteries as you try to capture the magnificence of Potsdam’s Schloss Sanssouci and the park that surrounds it Click here
Watery Ramblings Pull up for a forest beach picnic while kayaking through the idyllic Spreewald Biosphere Reserve
Techno Marvel Rub your eyes in disbelief while watching entire barges being hoisted 60m in the air at the massive ship-lift Click here in Niederfinow
Monastery Magic Feast your ears on classical music during a summer concert at the romantically ruined medieval monastery at Chorin
Scorching Skates Combine exercise with sightseeing while skating or cycling along the car-free trail network of Flaeming Skate
POPULATION: 2.53 MILLION
AREA: 29,478 sq km
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Information
The excellent website maintained by Tourismus Marketing Brandenburg ( 0331-200 4747; www.brandenburg-tourism.com) should satisfy all your pretrip planning needs and also has a room-booking function.
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Getting Around
The Brandenburg-Berlin Ticket (www.bahn.de; online or at station vending machines €27, from a Reisezentrum ticket agent €29) entitles you and up to four accompanying passengers (or one or both parents or grandparents plus all their children or grandchildren under 15 years old) to one day of travel anywhere within Berlin and Brandenburg on local and regional public transport from 9am to 3am the following day (midnight to 3am the following day on weekends). It is valid in 2nd class on RE, RB and S-Bahn trains as well as buses, U-Bahn and trams. There’s now also the Brandenburg-Berlin Ticket Nacht (€20), which is valid any day from 6pm to 6am. The 1st-class versions cost €47 in the daytime and €40 at night. For timetable information, see www.vbb-online.de.
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POTSDAM & HAVELLAND
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The prime attraction of Brandenburg state and the most popular day trip from Berlin, Potsdam is a mere 24km southwest of the capital’s city centre and easily accessible by S-Bahn. If time allows, venture another 36km west to the historic city of Brandenburg an der Havel, the centre of the watery Havelland region. Picturesque and less tourist-saturated than Potsdam, it’s a perfect introduction to the state for which it’s named.
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POTSDAM
0331 / pop 152,000
Potsdam, on the Havel River just southwest of Greater Berlin, is the capital and crown jewel of the state of Brandenburg. Scores of visitors arrive every year to admire the stunning architecture of this former Prussian royal seat and to soak up the elegant air of history that hangs over its parks and gardens. A visit here is essential if you’re spending any time in the region at all. All this splendour didn’t go unnoticed by Unesco, which gave World Heritage status to large parts of the city in