Top 9 Attractions in Brandenburg

Considered the German version of Versailles, the Sanssouci Palace lies within a sprawling park in Potsdam. It served as the summer palace of Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, and was designed in an elaborate Rococo style, surrounded by beautifully manicured gardens.

Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff built the Sanssouci Palace between 1745 and 1747 to be a relaxing escape for King Frederick away from the Berlin court. Its name “Sanssouci” exemplifies this, translating from French to “without concerns” or “carefree” ...

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Built to house the High Command of the Army and the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces during World War II, the Maybach I and II were a cluster of above and below ground bunkers built near Zossen in Brandenburg. They were named after the Maybach automobile engine, and together with the nearby military complex, they played an instrumental role in the planning of field operations for the Wehrmacht, connecting the military with civilians along the front lines.

Maybach I was built between 1937 and 1939 in the lead-up to World War II and consisted of twelve above-ground three-story buildings that appeared like local housing ...

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Considered the greatest collection of Dutch buildings outside of the Netherlands, Potsdam’s Dutch Quarter (Holländisches Viertel) was designed by Jan Bouman and built between 1733 and 1740. It is clustered with 169 red brick buildings, most of which have been beautifully restored and renovated, now housing boutique shops and eclectic cafes.

Also known as “Little Amsterdam”, the Dutch Quarter was originally commissioned by Frederick William I to attract skilled workers to the area from the Netherlands. There was an urgency for well-trained craftsmen to help with the expansion of the garrison town of Potsdam and workers were offered not only attractive contracts but also a house reminiscent of their homeland ...

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Established in 1936 as a Nazi concentration camp for political prisoners, Sachsenhausen (“Saxon’s House”) is situated near the town of Oranienburg to the north of Berlin. It served as an administrative center for concentration camps across Germany, with Schutzstaffel (SS) officers being trained here before being posted elsewhere.

Initially Sachsenhausen was not intended as an extermination camp, with executions of Soviet prisoners of war done primarily by hanging or shooting. However, a gas chamber and ovens were constructed by Anton Kaindl in March 1943, giving Sachsenhausen the means to kill prisoners on a much larger scale ...

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Established in 1826 at the request of Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm III, Alexandrowka is a Russian colony located in the north of Potsdam. It was named in honor of the recently deceased Tsar Alexander I and was originally built as a home for the Russian singers of the First Prussian Regiment of the Guards.

Today Alexandrowka is designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and features 13 wooden houses designed in a quintessential Russian style. Few descendants of the original inhabitants still live here, however, preservationists and current owners are working closely to reconstruct the buildings to their original condition ...

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Founded by Ascanian margraves in 1258, the former Cistercian abbey of Chorin is situated around an hour’s drive from Berlin in the Schorfheide. It is considered one of the most important monuments of early brick Gothic architecture in Brandenburg and played a significant role in the Ascanians' influential sphere along the border with the yet-to-be-conquered Slavs.

The Chorin Abbey was secularized in 1542 when the rulers of Brandenburg converted to Protestantism and served as a livestock barn over the following decades ...

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Combining history, architecture and nature, the Tree & Time Treetop path Baumkronenpfad Beelitz-Heilstätten is located a short drive from Berlin. This 320-meter-long wood and steel walkway leads through the picturesque grounds and atmospheric ruins of a 19th-century sanatorium, offering a unique perspective on this historic area.

It was in 1898 that the Landesversicherungsanstalt Berlin bought a 140-hectare parcel of woodland near the town of Beelitz, with a lung clinic and sanatorium opening in the spring of 1902 ...

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One of the largest tracts of forest in Germany, the UNESCO-listed Schorfheide Chorin Biosphere Reserve lies to the northeast of Berlin. It features deep valleys and vast open landscapes that were carved by immense moving glaciers during the last Ice Age, resulting in a variety of different terrains and an abundance of plant and animal species.

The largely undeveloped forests provide a home for ospreys and white-tailed eagles while the wetlands are a feeding habitat for cranes, black and white storks. Both beavers and otters can be spotted in waterways throughout the reserve while 16 of Germany’s native bat species reside here ...

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One of Brandenburg’s most popular family-friendly attractions is the theme park of Tropical Islands Resort, which is housed in a former hangar of the Brand-Briesen Airfield in Halbe. It holds the title of being the largest indoor waterpark in the world, occupying what is the biggest free-standing hall in the world.

The Brand-Briesen Airfield was established for the Luftwaffe in 1938 and taken over by the Soviet Red Army in May 1945. It was returned to Germany following reunification in 1992 and redeveloped to construct airships as the Aerium before the company, CargoLifter, went bankrupt in 2002 ...

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