Here are five good hikes, mostly about 10 or 15km long, each reachable with public transport, around Berlin.

this isn’t a cooking blog, but you’re still getting the preamble

In late 2020 I made a habit of walking somewhere in nature once a week. In October that year, a cascading set of planning failures meant that I was stuck in Berlin but very, very desperate to spend some time walking in the forest – the original plan was to do a permaculture workshop in the mountains in Austria for a week, but then the borders closed. Then, the plan was to walk the Schwarzwalder Westweg, but a close friend needed me around after a jar fell off a shelf, landed on her foot and severed a tendon.

Anyway, cutting a long story short: I ended up stuck in Berlin. But it turns out there’s a lot of good nature around Berlin! I mean, just look at the map:

Nature Park!

Nature Park!

This actually under-represents the amount of nature park! If you zoom in further, there’s a bunch of smaller protected areas too ✨.

And so I found myself looking for “hiking routes around Berlin”, which turned up the 66-Seen-Weg (the “66 lakes trail”), which apparently got eighth place in a 2006 poll for the most beautiful walking trails in Germany. That feels like a stretch to me, but it does have some good bits.

In the years since, I’ve walked probably two-thirds of it. But also, once you’re on the trail, you start discovering other trails… and over time, you start figuring out how to splice them together to make things that work really well for you.

Anyway I could talk about this kinda thing all day. Here are a few of my “standard hikes” that I choose when I’m taking friends out for a walk. I’ve done most of them in most seasons.

All of these are:

#1: Wensickendorf → Birkenwerder

This one has been reviewed as “nothing compared to the Asturias, but I liked getting away from the Berlin chaos”, which honestly is about as good as you can do 👍

Why I like it

Lots of good forest. Minimal roads. Follows a river most of the way through the valley. Has a cool swampy river thing that feels kinda mystical. Good powerlines. I’ve seen or heard woodpeckers every time I’ve walked this route.

Along the Briese.

Along the Briese.

Food / Amenities

Lots of options, most only open on weekends:

Getting there and back

#2: Melchow → Eberswalde

Why I like it

Melchow train station is very cute. High chance of sheep sighting. Good for mushrooms. A weird cobbled path / former road leading through a forest for part of it. Cool powerlines. A long stretch along a gorgeous river in a beech forest with lots of evidence of beaver activity.

a path leading into the distance with forest and a huge electricity tower
sheep
the Nonnefließ creek in a beech forest

What’s not so nice about it

The last few km are next to the Eberswalde zoo (very smelly) and then next to train lines (very noisy).

Food / Amenities

Lots of stuff in Eberswalde if you head east from the train station. Firstcrack Coffee Roasters is great and they make all their own pastries 🥐

Otherwise not much on the way, though Melchow’s got a bakery on the main street (closed Sundays) and you’ll walk past Restaurant and Cafe Waldhof in Specthausen (it very much felt more like a sit-down restaurant than a cafe last time I walked past, and so we decided to skip it).

Getting there and back

Notes on direction

I typically walk from Melchow to Eberswalde because the trains to Melchow are every hour, and the trains back from Eberswalde are roughly every half hour (so you’re less likely to wait as long at the destination). But:

#3: Hangelsberg → Bhf Fangschleuse

Why I like it

Short and sweet, clocking in at 8km.

The first two kilometres start off a little gross / weird, along an oddly straight forest trail and then under an electricity corridoor.

But after that: walking through the Löcknitztal is really beautiful – small trails, lots of diverse vegetation.

Along the way, you walk past Forellenanlage Klein Wall, which sells smoked trout.

I’ve done this a number of times as a mushrooming / short walk combo expedition. You could easily extend it further towards Erkner or all the way to Rüdersdorf along the 66-Seen-Weg (more info + GPX track) if you felt like walking further.

through the Löcknitztal

through the Löcknitztal

Klein Wall

Klein Wall

Getting there and back

#4: Bad Saarow → Wendisch Rietz

This one’s a little different from the others in this list:

I did really enjoy it, it’s just a bit more painful to get to. It’s on this list so that I remember that it exists and think to walk it next time I head out. Stay tuned 👀

There’s more details and the route here.

There are sand dunes on this route.

There are sand dunes on this route.

Getting there and back

#5: Eberswalde Straße → Pankeweg → S Blankenburg

This one’s a trick - it’s not outside the city at all (ha!).

But! It’s one of my favourite walks. This is basically a riff on the Pankeweg, and it’s the sort of thing where you can look out the window, notice that the weather is beautiful and just go without much prep or thinking.

Why I like it

I have the feeling it’d be a nice walk to show visitors part of the city aside from all the usual tourist stuff. But it does still go past Mauerpark.

Food / Amenities

Loads of options the whole way along the path. My standard stopping-in points are:

That’s it!

Enjoy your walk! ❤️ Let me know if you’ve got any favourite day hikes that you think I should take a look at, or if you’ve done one of these and want to tell me what you thought.