A network of quiet paths
From Neuenhagen to Werneuchen - Along the Erpe River
18,4 km Hiking Time: 4:42 h
Start: Station: Neuenhagen Return: Station Werneuchen
The Erpe is a shy river — yet its waters nourish that green ribbon which will enchant you today: the grass grows a little taller there, and the willows bend their branches a little lower.
Hardly have you left Neuenhagen when you find yourself in the Wiesengrund, a broad, damp hollow with the stream running through its middle.
Over there, in dreamy Elisenhof, you might pause for a moment — from here on, it seems, everything is allowed to be different.
As you walk through the town of Altlandsberg, a splendid Cross Pond with a baroque palace garden awaits you — its waters, modestly, fed by the little Erpe.
It’s worth a stop here, for like in a theatre, the curtain soon rises — for the second act of your walk.
A change of scene: deep within a riverside forest along the Langer Elsenfließ — as the Erpe is now called — forest lakes slumber like in a fairy tale.
The path turns shady, the air cool; somewhere, perhaps, a frog waits for your kiss.
A long field track toward Werneuchen brightens the mood again, yet the walk gently draws to its close.
“Twilight lies over the village street. The playmates slip right and left into gate and door, while our friends stop before the parsonage. The stars come out, and stillness settles over village and home.” *
+ Several places to stop for food in Altlandsberg (Armenaus after 7.12 km, Restaurant Brauhaus im Schlossgut after 7.7 km).
– The first 1.5 km up to the outskirts of Neuenhagen lead through residential areas.
– No swimming lake.
+ There is also a longer version of this hike with a total length of 21.4 km.
It starts earlier, at the Hoppegarten S-Bahn station (instead of Neuenhagen),
adding a beautiful extra section along the Erpe River..
* Fontane, Theodor. Wanderungen durch die Mark Brandenburg.
Vierter Teil: Spreeland. Kapitel „Werneuchen“. Berlin: Wilhelm Hertz, 1882,
English translation (own rendering)
More than 33 three-star hikes for every type of weather await you in the Wander Different Package (€15) – compact, clear, and perfectly prepared.
From Lindow to Gransee - With Meseberg Castle
19,2 km Hiking Time: 4:59 h
Start: Station Lindow Return: Station Gransee
“Lindow is as charming as its name. It rises between three lakes, sheltered by old lime trees. … The soul finds its truest peace there, where rows of graves stretch up and down; and in summer evenings, a gentle calm hovers over the half-fallen tombs.” *
The shade grows denser when Lake Wutzsee lies before you — like a thought you begin to follow.
At its far end, the Lindow Rhin becomes a passage: a valley of woods and meadows stretching to the other side.
Beyond, at Lake Huwenowsee, Meseberg Castle reigns — at least on certain days.
A rest by the lake or at the village inn surely won’t hurt.
No more lakes, no more worries — wide fields and deep forests mark the second half of the way.
A bell tolls from a tower in Gransee — or is it only memory?
Life catches up with you again, like a station calling for departure — not always an end, sometimes the beginning of another story.
The Lindow Monastery Ruins
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Swimming spots: after 4 km in Lake Wutzsee and after 10.2 km in Lake Huwenowsee.
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After 11.2 km, excellent place to stop for food at the Dorfkrug Meseberg.
* Fontane, Theodor: Wanderungen durch die Mark Brandenburg. Die Grafschaft Ruppin.
Kapitel „Lindow“. Berlin: Wilhelm Hertz, 1862.
English translation (own rendering)
From Hennickendorf to Beelitz - Along the Nieplitz River
19,2 km Hiking Time: 4:50 h
Start: Bus Stop Hennickendorf (Hauptstraße
Return: Station Beelitz
Perhaps it was the peppermint blooming along its banks that gave the stream its name.
The Pfefferfließ is a place of magical stillness — marshy, threaded with rivulets,
a line of sight drifting into infinity, and a silence of rare intensity.
And as if that weren’t enough, a second act awaits: the Pfeffergraben —
the smaller brother, trying its best to outshine what came before.
A bench with a view of a nameless lake to your left — sit down.
You won’t find a more peaceful panorama anytime soon. It will stay with you.
A short ramble through today’s world of meadows and ponds, and you stand by the Nieplitz River.
From now on, it walks beside you all the way to Beelitz: not a river that urges you on, but one that slows your step. Wet meadows, reed belts, and canals trace the lowland.
At the end, it leads you into the city park, from which you cross the asparagus town to reach the station.
+ Quite a solitary route.
– No swimming opportunities.
*The Pfefferfließ is a roughly 12-km-long tributary of the Nieplitz River, flowing through the Baruth glacial valley.
The Nieplitz, at about 50 km in length, is the longest tributary of the Nuthe River.
From Wolletzsee to Angermünde - Grumsin Beech Forests
19,5 km Hiking Time: 5:09 h
Start: Bus Stop Am Wolletzsee
Return: Station Angermünde
“… enclosed all around by old beeches, whose branches, bent downward by their own weight, touch the lake with their tips.” *
Fontane wrote this about Lake Stechlin, yet the beeches of Grumsin tell a similar story — perhaps an even more intimate one.
Already the beginning, along the southern shore of Lake Wolletzsee, promises a feast for the senses:
the whisper of beech leaves, the silver shimmer of water between the trunks, and the rolling fields stretching solitary to the horizon — a day as the Mark grants it in its most beautiful hour.
A chestnut-lined path leads you into the tranquil village of Altkünkendorf.
From here, the old cobbled road winds onward, reverent and uneven, into the next beech forest.
Between moss and fern lies the moor by Lake Buckowsee — dark, reflective, watched over by ancient trees.
A few fallen giants rest there as if asleep, and above all floats that quiet, dreamy air Fontane would have called märkisch.
Beyond the ridges, the land opens again, and a sandy field path carries you over gentle waves of landscape toward Angermünde.
+ Swimming opportunities at the start along Lake Wolletzsee, and again after 6.9 km at Lake Heiliger See.
+ At certain times, the Gallery & Café Louisenhof No. 2 at km 11.8 is open.
– The last two kilometres lead through the Angermünde outskirts.
* Theodor Fontane: Der Stechlin. Berlin, 1898.
English translation (own rendering)
The beech forests are partly part of the UNESCO World Natural Heritage site “Ancient Beech Forests of Germany”, specifically the Grumsin sub-area.
From Wußwerk to Raddusch - Spreewald
20,4 km Hiking Time: 5:09 h
Start: Bus Stop: Wußwerk, Feuerwehr Return: Station Raddusch
“Here is the homeland of the punts; they glide beneath alders and willows as if seeking sleep, not a destination.” *
A path across wide, water-threaded land marks the beginning.
Soon you reach the great North Flood Canal, where the horizon dissolves into reflections and the forest receives you — still, dense, solemn.
Along the North Stream, the trail follows pure aesthetics: a landscape that seeks nothing, for it is already complete.
Then the green opens up — fields and clearings unfold like a vast garden, where everything seems natural and yet gently ordered.
Everywhere there is water: the Neues Fließ, the Mittelkanal, the Weidenfließ, the Burg–Lübben Canal — all telling the same story.
Locks, wooden bridges, wet meadows, and finally the Spree River itself — this is the fabric of the day.
To walk among such elements is to know you can hardly take a wrong step.
+ Especially beautiful in spring, when the deciduous forest unfolds its fresh leaves.
+ The route lies far from the bustle of Lübben and Lübbenau — here, silence prevails.
Places to stop for food include:
+ after 8.38 km at Waldhotel Eiche,
+ after 10.9 km at Waldschlösschen,
+ and after 15.4 km at Gasthaus Dubkow-Mühle, which has a small beer garden.
– No proper swimming spot.
* Fontane, Theodor: Wanderungen durch die Mark Brandenburg. Vierter Band: Spreeland.
Berlin: Verlag von Wilhelm Hertz, 1882, Kapitel „In den Spreewald“.“.
English translation (own rendering)
From Thyrow to Rangsdorf - Along the Nuthegraben
20,4 km Hiking Time: 5:10 h
Start: Station: Thyrow Return: Station Rangsdorf
Fontane wrote that he had searched in vain for the Nuthe Castles — already legendary in his day.
These were ancient, partly mythical fortifications and settlements along the Nuthe River, whose exact locations could no longer be determined.
"Deep silence; only water and meadow; no raft, no boat; nothing living — nothing but the white clouds that, slowly drifting, follow the slow course of the water.” *
The landscape along the Nuthegraben is a vast sea of meadows and fields — no other route gives you so much room to breathe.
Beneath the shelter of old trees, you follow the quiet watercourse, at its loveliest when the fields stand in fresh green.
The banks are a small feast for the senses: broom meadows glowing yellow, grasshoppers chirping, dragonflies shimmering.
You leave the canal only briefly — new waterways soon open up again, until the broad Zülow Canal draws a shining final line.
Following the railway embankment, you arrive at Rangsdorf.
+ Pure solitude.
– No restaurants or cafés along the way — only at the end of the tour in Rangsdorf.
* Fontane, Theodor. Wanderungen durch die Mark Brandenburg. Band 4: Spreeland. Beeskow-Storkow und Barnim-Teltow. Berlin, 1882, Kapitel „Saarmund und die Nutheburgen“.
English translation (own rendering)
From Marienwerder to Joachimsthal - Werbelin Canal
21,1 km Hiking Time: 5:30 h
Start: Bus Stop Marienwerder, Kirche
Return: Station Joachimsthal, Kaiserbahnhof
Hardly have you crossed the Oder–Havel Canal when a narrow path leads you down from the road into an idyll.
The Werbellin Canal runs beside you; lakes, wetlands, and small villages line the way.
Now and then a canoe glides past — lively enough to stir the scene, quiet enough not to disturb it.
What a lovely stretch of land.
For the final act, the water widens into the great Lake Werbellinsee; its lakeside path stretches far.
A rest in Altenhof is highly recommended — Fontane once sat here and enthused:
"It is a fairy-tale place on which we sit, for we sit on the shore of the Werbellin" *
There is no more water to wish for.
At the upper end of the lake, the final stretch leads you to the Kaiserbahnhof Werbellinsee.
+ Many swimming spots.
– In summer, Lake Werbellinsee is very busy.
*Fontane, Theodor: Wanderungen durch die Mark Brandenburg. Zweiter Teil: Das Oderland. Kapitel „Am Werbellin“. Berlin: Wilhelm Hertz, 1863.
English translation (own rendering)
The station was built in 1898 at the request of Kaiser Wilhelm II, so that the court and hunting parties could conveniently reach the Hunting Lodge Hubertusstock in the Schorfheide.