Bike Tour through Berlin-Pankow

Pankow is Berlin's greenest district, and this bike tour shows why: from the listed Bürgerpark to Schönhausen Palace with the city's only original Rococo hall, and to the Karower Teiche (Karow Ponds), where over 60 bird species breed. The route is practically flat, a good 26 kilometers long, and takes about an hour and a half to ride.

Bike Tour through Berlin-Pankow: Palaces, Parks, and Quiet Ponds

The bike tour through Berlin-Pankow leads through the city’s greenest district and is best started at Bürgerpark. Newspaper publisher Hermann Killisch von Horn bought the grounds in 1856; by 1871, the English landscape park on twelve hectares was largely complete, and the imposing entrance portal was built around 1865. It has been open to the public since August 25, 1907, and since 1978, its trees, buildings, and sculptures have been completely under monument protection. Rare swamp cypresses, mulberry, and tulip trees grow here, along with a rose garden from the early sixties next to a sandstone pergola.

Less than two kilometers further lies Schönhausen Palace, built from 1705 to 1708 according to plans by Johann Arnold Nehring and Johann Friedrich Eosander. Elisabeth Christine, the wife of Frederick the Great, lived there for over 50 years. The ballroom on the first floor is the only original late Rococo room preserved in Berlin. From 1949 to 1960, Wilhelm Pieck held office here, after which the house served as a guesthouse for Brezhnev, Castro, and Gorbachev. Admission costs 8 Euros.

From the Palace Park to the Karow Ponds

Schönhausen Palace Park covers around 30 hectares, eight hectares of which are a walled former presidential garden. Peter Joseph Lenné redesigned it into a landscape garden from 1827 to 1829, and Reinhold Lingner revised the inner part from 1950 onwards, which has been open to everyone again since 1991. The Panke river flows through it, with old acacia, oak, and chestnut trees standing in between. Admission is free.

To the north, the Barnimer Dörferweg (Barnim Villages Trail) leads for 34 kilometers through Karow and Blankenfelde to the Tegeler Fließ. Along the way is the Karower Teiche (Karow Ponds) nature reserve, approximately 130 hectares in size and protected since 1994. The ponds were created at the end of the 19th century by peat cutting and were later expanded for fish farming; today, over 60 bird species raise their young there. An observation platform at the northwest end of the Duck Pond and Reed Pond makes watching easier; binoculars are a must-have. Further north is Buch Palace Park, whose manor house dates from 1670 and was demolished in 1964.