Nearby Destinations to Berlin

Full Berlin Travel Guide »    Berlin Interactive Map »    Print This Article »

• Potsdam is the capital of the surrounding federal state of Brandenburg, not far southwest of Berlin, and makes a perfect day trip. Especially the park of Sanssouci, a world heritage site with its great famous palaces, is worth a visit. You can get there with the S-Bahn S7 or Regional-Bahn RE1 to the station Potsdam Hauptbahnhof or Park Sanssouci (fare zone C). It takes about half an hour from Berlin Hauptbahnhof or Friedrichstraße.
• Sachsenhausen is in outer Oranienburg, a quiet suburb housing the remains of one of the Nazi concentration camps on German soil. There's also a small palace in the center of Oranienburg.
• The Müritz lake region to the north is a national park with a few hundred lakes.
• To the south, Dresden is 2.5 hrs & Leipzig is about one hour by train.
• The beautiful Baltic seashore (e.g. Usedom) is near enough for a day trip by train.
• The Spreewald is a protected UNESCO biosphere reserve. It includes low-lying areas in which the river Spree meanders in thousands of small waterways through meadows and forests. It is a beautiful, unique landscape about one hour south of Berlin and well worth a day trip or a weekend trip to relax from the buzzing city life.
• Frankfurt an der Oder on the Polish border is within easy reach.
• Lutherstadt Wittenberg is about 1.5 hours south of Berlin. Schlosskirche was the church where Martin Luther hung his Theses. Across the street from there is a visitor's center with great information. Great city to tour and one can easily explore on foot.
• The Raststaette Grunewald at the S-Bahn station Nikolassee is a good spot for hitching if you're heading south or west.
• Bernau is a small town north of Berlin with some medieval remains from the 14th and 15th centuries, such as a city wall and the late Gothic church St. Marien. The S-Bahn S2 takes you there in about half an hour from S-Bahn station Friedrichstraße.

The Polish border is just some 90km to the east of Berlin, therefore it might be interesting to do a trip to:

• Szczecin (Stettin) in Poland is about two and a half hours by train.
• Poznań (Posen) in Poland is three hours by train.