Tour suggestion Müggelsee
This is also Berlin!The federal and party capital can also be calm, peaceful and relaxed: far outside in the east, on Lake Müggelsee
Lake Wannsee in southwest Berlin is known from history lessons - and from Conny Froboess ‘first hit in 1951:" Pack your swimming trunks ". Lake Müggelsee in the east of the city is much less known to visitors. It offers many good reasons to discover it - and some really lonely pitches.
The Great Müggelsee east and thus up the Spree from Köpenick is the largest lake in Berlin with over 7.4 km². The Müggelsee lido, which still exists today, was built in 1930 at the latest, and the lake is of great importance not only as a local recreation area for the surrounding towns, but also for day trippers from the city center.
The lake is best explored from one of the beautifully located parking spaces on a bike tour. We started the loop from the south, where most of the parking spaces are, and are going counter-clockwise. Of course you can get on where you want and of course drive the other way around. So first drive from your parking space in the direction of the old town of Köpenick. Do not be confused by some of the prefabricated housing estates in the forest, they will disappear again in the course of the tour.
Köpenick Castle
The people of Köpenick call their castle "Moated castle" because it is idyllically situated on an island in the Dahme, just south of its confluence with the Spree. It is the only Baroque palace in Berlin that has been preserved in its original state - if one does not allow the partial restoration of the city palace in Mitte to be seen as the original Baroque. Just like at the other end of Berlin, the first to settle in the area were Slavs in the 8th century who built castles in Spandau and Köpenick. In the middle of the 13th century the Ascanians expelled the Slavs and founded the two cities of Berlin and Cölln on the Spee. In 1558, Elector Joachim II of Brandenburg had a hunting lodge built in the Renaissance style on the former castle island in Köpenick. More than a hundred years later, King Friedrich I, who was yet to be crowned, received this for the construction of his electoral prince's palace. The renaissance castle was demolished and a new baroque building was erected in its place. The Italian plasterer Giovanni Caroveri created a stucco work in Köpenick that was previously unseen north of the Alps. Friedrich only lived in the castle with his wife Elisabeth Henriette for a short time, as she died young. With the electoral prince's second marriage, Köpenick Palace lost its summer residence status to the new palace in Charlottenburg.
In 1730, the palace briefly moved into the center of politics - or rather family politics - when the Prussian court martial met here. The soldier king Friedrich Wilhelm I considered his son, who later became Friedrich the Great, effeminate and accused him of desertion. The Crown Prince was actually convicted and locked up in the nearby fortress Küstrin on the Oder.
Town hall and old town Köpenick
Once the bike is pushed across the wide street, you are almost at what is probably Germany's most famous town hall. This is probably what Heinz Rühmann did in particular, who filmed Carl Zuckmayer's socially and authoritarian-critical drama about the shoemaker Friedrich Wilhelm Voigt from 1931 for the first and not for the last time - but perhaps the most touching. The interesting exhibition in the town hall shows the background of the actual Köpenickiade and presents the largest Berlin district in terms of area. The imposing town hall, built from 1901 in the Brandenburg brick Gothic style, is a popular photo motif.
Boat rental Spreepoint
From Köpenick you cycle on the north bank of the Spree in an easterly direction and you will soon reach the Spreepoint boat rental, which rents out motorboats, electric boats, barbecue boats, kayaks and sailing boats that do not require a license.
Friedrichshagen
Continue along the Spree to Friedrichshagen. In the villa colony of the 19th century, many artists lived in stately old buildings, over a hundred of which are now listed and still house many studios and galleries. The center of the place is in north-south direction the Bölschestrasse with representative houses from two centuries, shops and restaurants. At the very southern end you can stop off in the friendly Bräustübl. The Berliner Bürgerbräu right next to it was not only the oldest brewery in Berlin until it closed in 2010, but also, according to many connoisseurs, the best. Part of the brewery building has been converted into a museum, but a planned craft beer project has not yet gotten it past its plan.
Spree tunnel
A special feature in Friedrichshagen is the Spreetunnel from the 1920s, which enables pedestrians eight and a half meters below the surface of the water to cross under the Spree. The reason for the tunnel was the growing excursion traffic of the capital city residents in the Roaring Twenties, who crossed from Friedrichshagen with a ferry and overwhelmed its capacity hopelessly. Because a bridge would have impaired shipping, after the Thames in London and the Elbe in Hamburg, the Spree at the outlet of the Müggelsee also received a 120-meter-long pedestrian tunnel. When it was completed in 1927, the first reinforced concrete tunnel to be built using a caisson construction was considered a sensational structure in Germany.
Neu-Venedig
Push your bike through the tunnel and then keep to the left, always along the banks of the Müggelsee. You will pass the recommended excursion restaurant Rübezahl with its adventure playground for children as well as the landing stage for the boat trip. At the Kleiner Müggelsee you will pass a very beautiful sandy beach, which is good if you have swimming trunks or a suit with you. Shortly afterwards you will reach the idyllic settlement of New Venice. Here the Müggelspree branches into 5 canals, over which 13 bridges lead. It is certainly one of the least known and probably atypical places in the capital - but it is precisely these characteristics that you are looking for on this tour. The settlement can be visited by canoes or small boats, but you will also experience its magic from a bicycle. The history of New Venice began in 1890 with the sale of two agricultural goods to the city of Köpenick. This also included swampy Spree meadows. From 1926 canals were laid through the swamp and the settlement built along them. A total of 374 water plots were created, today there are 450. Small villas were built on the edge and summer houses were built in the inner ring of the leisure colony. After the Wall was built in 1961, notables from the GDR leased land from the now locked-out West Berliners. New Venice became a popular area for the so-called dachas - Germanized from Russian да́ча, dacha - that is, small weekend houses. The land was later returned to the previous owner. The restaurant, which has the same name as the district itself, has a beautiful, large beer garden on Finkenweg, which is right on the water.
Müggelturm tower
Keep to the right in New Venice, heading south, you will reach Müggelheim. Drive straight through the village. You reach an arm of the Dahme, the Große Krampe, on the left hand side. Always stay on the riverside path southwards. When you reach the main river, follow the path sharply to the right and thus the Dahme downstream. About 500 meters after the beach you have to take the path to the right into the forest, which leads you directly to the Müggelturm.
The Müggel Tower in the middle of the so-called Müggelberge is a popular excursion destination. From the viewing platform at a height of 30 meters you have a great panoramic view of the Great Müggelsee and the dense forests. In the distance in the west you can see the Berlin city center, in the southeast the Spreewald. The observation tower was built in 1889 and rebuilt in 1961 after a fire. After four years of renovation, it was only reopened in 2018. The ascent over 126 steps is possible every day from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Small food and drinks are available downstairs on a terrace.
The Müggelturm is located in the middle of a natural recreational area. Our tip: Walk the three kilometer nature trail around the Teufelsee - and marvel not only the fauna and flora, but also the bikers on Berlin's only official downhill route.
More information about the Müggelturm tower
From the Müggelturm you drive over the Teufelsee in a north-westerly direction through the forest until you reach the Spree tunnel to Friedrichshagen again. Before the tunnel turn left and drive first by the water, later in the forest back to Köpenick - or you have already completed this stage and return to your parking space after visiting the Müggelturm.
Best parking spaces around Lake Müggelsee
Parking lot on the banks of the Seddinsee
Parking lot at the Müggelsee
Forest parking lot at the Müggelturm
Forest parking lot on the Dahme
Parking space at the Wendenschloss marina
Source & Further information:
visitberlin.de/en
Text: Gerd Henghuber
Insider tip
And then another tip for those who don't like big cities in Berlin: There are still other villages to discover in the east of the city, even if some of them have developed into satellite towns over the course of history. Somehow they remained villages. That is why the very interesting five-village tour leads through the Hellersdorf-Marzahn district. Beyond the prefabricated building district, it becomes rural, village-like and even mountainous. Many small oases are hidden between traffic hubs and business parks. Historic village green, manor houses, churches and a post mill slumber in the shadow of the skyscrapers.
More tours by bike
The city's tourist office has put together a further eleven bike tours in and around Berlin, you can find them here.
