Day Trips From Berlin, Germany?
 

Hi there,


I'll be in Berlin, Germany for one week In mid JUNE and I would like to know if there are other places I can go that are close? I was thinking Prague because I wanted to go there for a night or two.... but is that too far away? I am defiantly open to more ideas. Let know what you guys think!

Thanks!

Prague isn't a day trip, and deserves more time than a night or two, so perhaps keep this week for Berlin and surrounds and plan a trip to Prague another time.

As far as day trips from Berlin, you could consider:

1. Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp Memorial - a moving part of European history; located just north of Berlin; reached by S-Bahn from Berlin then bus/walk

2. Sanssouci - rather stunning Summer palace of Frederick the Great; reached by regular trains to Potsdam, then bus to Palace. You could have a whole day at the palace and in Potsdam.

3. Wansee - the lake area to the sout-west of Berlin. If the weather is good, you can swim, boat or just laze in the sun. the Pfaueninsel (Peacock Island) is a beautiful place to stroll through the gardens and (small) castle and houses.

There is much to see and do (and eat!) in Berlin, so make sure you allow enough time to explore the city and only plan 1 or 2 day trips.

Simplest answer - DRESDEN - but it deserves more than a day if you can fit it in to your schedule. Since Prague is about 5 hours away by train while Dresden is only 2.5 - smack dab in the middle - Dresden would make the perfect 1-2 nighter from Berlin.

Potsdam, which a lot of people always mention as a day trip is really just a suburb of Berlin and can be reached in 35 minutes by S-Bahn. The better part of a day can be spent at the palace (Sans Souci) though

I went to Leipzig for a day... Took a tour of the city on foot and by bus .

Also, I enjoyed Hamburg...stayed overnight, but could have used another day.

With just a week in Berlin, it would be easy to fill up the whole week with places to see and things to do right within Berlin, even if you're not a "museum person" which by the way is truly fantastic sp. the ones in the museumsinsel ( museum island ). What are your interests? We might be able to make more specific suggestions.

I second Sanssouci.

For Berlin locals, Dresden would still qualify as a day trip - even though it would be a pretty packed day trip. Compared with Prague or Hamburg, Dresden is very compact and you can see and do a lot in one day. Though you need to leave from Berlin quite early, so you'd be in Dresden by 9.30 or 10 when the museums and sites open.

Potsdam would be a bit more obvious day trip. Aside from Sanssouci palace and gardens, you will have many other sights there worth visiting, like Cecilienhof palace (where the Potsdam conference was held - the short self-guided audio tour is not bad) and the Dutch quarter in the historic city center, or the Russian neighborhood a bit North of the hstoric city center.

If you want something different, Rostock or Stralsund are also nice day trips. As Dresden, their main sights are more or less all in the central historic city center. So you would be able to cover a lot of potential sights in walking distance from the stations.

Lake Wannsee is actually still within the Berlin city limits and a major hub for lake cruises. You will also find many important historic sites on its Southern shores, like the House of the Wannsee Conference or Glienicke palace and gardens with neighboring Glienecker bridge (where the spies had been swapped during the Cold War - otherwise it's just a bridge).

I think of Dresden as more of an actual overnight destination. Potsdam is really easy to get to, and a great way to spend the day.

Dresden was maybe the most beautiful city in the world prior to one night of bombing by the U.S at the end of WWII.

Some of our family were from Dresden, and they got out on the last ship leaving Hamburg for the U.S. Arrived at Ellis Island on Thanksgiving, 1939.

The city is still being rebuilt, and is a great destination.