Last updated on 06/25/2026
Especially at the weekend, many Berliners are drawn to the countryside, and Brandenburg has plenty to offer for a day trip. These ten destinations combine culture, nature and industrial heritage and are just as suitable for families as for a group of friends. On a traditional punt tour in the Spreewald, a lard sandwich and a Spreewald pickle are simply part of the deal. On the eastern shore of the Grienericksee lies the enchanting little town of Rheinsberg with Schloss Rheinsberg, and Kloster Neuzelle is considered a true Baroque wonder. If you want to reach great heights, you can walk along the treetop path in Beelitz with a wide view over the Flaeming. Kloster Chorin on the edge of the Uckermark also beckons, and not only for the Choriner Musiksommer. Where should your next weekend trip take you?
Yulia Veksler
For this list I explored the countryside around Berlin and researched Brandenburg's most beautiful destinations, from the punt tour in the Spreewald through Kloster Neuzelle to the treetop path in Beelitz. I made sure there is something for everyone, whether you are looking for culture, nature or industrial history. Here are my tips for a successful weekend trip.
About 100 kilometers southeast of Berlin, in the Spreewald Biosphere Reserve, lies Brandenburg's most famous waterway: a network of over 300 kilometers of streams that winds through forests and Sorbian-influenced villages. A punt tour from Lübbenau is the classic weekend excursion destination from the capital, which has lost none of its charm in over 150 years.
About an hour north of Berlin, in the midst of Zehdenick's clay pit landscape, lies a former industrial area transformed into an adventure park: The Ziegeleipark Mildenberg in Zehdenick combines industrial history, nature, and a vibrant event program across 40 hectares directly on the Havel river.
About 90 minutes north of Berlin, on the shores of Lake Grienericksee in the Ruppiner Lakeland, Rheinsberg awaits with one of Northern Germany's most beautiful Rococo castles. This small town in Brandenburg combines Prussian history, Kurt Tucholsky's romanticism, and the Brandenburg lake landscape into a weekend trip that is far more than just a castle visit.
Located at the easternmost tip of Brandenburg, near the Oder River, Neuzelle boasts its Cistercian monastery, the largest Baroque monument in Northern and Eastern Germany. A magnificent collegiate church, a restored Baroque garden, and a centuries-old monastery brewery make this gem in the Oder-Spree Lake District the most worthwhile weekend trip from Berlin.
About 50 kilometers southwest of Berlin, the treetop walk in Beelitz-Heilstätten invites you on an excursion to Brandenburg that spectacularly links history and nature. Up to 23 meters high, you float through treetops and past decaying ruins above the roofs of one of Germany's most photographed lost places.
The NABU Blumberger Mühle Nature Experience Center in the Blumberger Mühle district of Angermünde is the multimedia heart of the Schorfheide-Chorin Biosphere Reserve in the Uckermark. Where a building in the shape of a hollow tree stump meets osprey views and bog turtles, a weekend trip to Brandenburg becomes a true nature experience.
One of the most significant brick ruins in Northern Germany is not located in a city, but in the middle of the Schorfheide-Chorin Biosphere Reserve, just over an hour from Berlin. The former Cistercian monastery in the village of Chorin combines medieval architecture with one of Brandenburg's most beautiful music festivals.
One of Brandenburg's best-preserved medieval castles is enthroned in the Hoher Fläming Nature Park southwest of Berlin: Rabenstein Castle in the district of the same name, Rabenstein/Fläming, combines medieval architecture, lively castle tours, and an active falconry to create an excursion destination where history truly comes alive.
In the Elbe-Elster district, the former overburden conveyor bridge F60 towers visibly into the Lusatian sky. At 502 meters long, it is considered one of the largest working machines in the world and attracts technology enthusiasts and day-trippers from Berlin and Brandenburg as the "Lying Eiffel Tower of Lusatia".
Out of Berlin, into the forest: Eberswalde Zoo is located on the southern edge of the Barnim district town, a good 40 kilometers northeast of the capital, and is one of the most popular family excursion destinations in Brandenburg. Over 1,500 animals from five continents live here on 15 hectares of mixed forest landscape, including free-roaming monkeys, Siberian tigers, and a white lion.
