Berlin Travel Forum

Friends,
I need your recommendations and advice for vacation in Germany. We are coming in August to Berlin with the kids 13, 3.5, 1.5 years old. We are staying in Germany for 2.5 weeks.
We'd like to stay in some countryside place in a small house / zimmer close to river or lake.
To be located in the area with a different short track (1 - 3 days) or bike rides or canoe trips. Forest, mushrooms, berries, fishing.
Would be great to visit couple children parks / attractions, may be see some castles or nice small towns.
But the accent is on the active nature vacation.
Who can recommend a place fits or close to what I've described. I prefer that it would be close enough to Berlin, but if it worth it is possible to drive to another part of Germany.
I will be very appreciate your advices and personal experience.

Thanks!!!

Andrei, If it has to be close to Berlin, then take a closer look at Potsdam. There are lakes (with boat rentals) and castles, and hiking would be possible, too. Still, it wouldn't be what I call an "active nature vacation".

If possible, I would rather look at either southern Bavaria or Baden (Black Forest, the area around Lake Constance).

Take Bad Tölz: There's a summer tobbogan run, you can have mild wild water rafting and can do day trips to Munich and Salzburg or see some castles. After a 20 minute walk, your are standing in the middle of a forest or a so called Alm (mountain pasture). Bad Tölz is a nice, small town, Potsdam does have its nice corners, but is not really picturesque.

In any case, I think you need a permission to go fishing.

Do make a trip to Sansucci palace via Potsdam.The palace is amazing and also the trip via potsdam by boat is pleasant and enjoyable.my son enjoyed it.the pergamnon museum is great.
have a good time

Potsdam is definitely not a nature vacation.

Within reach from Berlin and suitable for a family holiday, I see two options:

a) the Harz mountains.
Old towns like Quedlinburg, Goslar, Wernigerode. Lots of legends about witches (witches' dance floor / Hexentanzplatz in Thale, Brocken). Hills and forests. Old narrow gauge steam railways - the most scenic route is from Wernigerode up to the Brocken summit. Endless hiking trails. No natural lakes but several water reservoirs, some of which are open to water sports (Okertalsperre, for example). And a bit of history for the adults, as the Harz was divided between West and East Germany and the traces of those 40 years are still visible.
I grew up close by and the Harz was our usual weekend destination... I guess there is not a single hiking trail in the western half of the Harz my little feet have not been on. More than three decades ago, though, so my memories are not of much use now...
This may be useful: http://www.harzinfo.de/pages/allgemein-english.html

b) Mecklenburg's lakes.
Hunreds of lakes, big and small, some more toeuristy, many remote. Hiking, boating, biking. I have not (yet) been to that area so let's hope someone will look in who knows Mecklenburg better.

> To be located in the area with a different short track (1 - 3 days) or bike rides or canoe trips.

The Spreewald southeast of Berlin is a large forest with some 1000 km of small rivers and channels that run through it, in some parts even the postman comes by boat.
You can take canoe trips of several days if you like. Great adventure for small kids. Bike rental is possible, too. The entire area is an UNESCO biosphere reserve.
For more info see http://www.spreewald-info.com/en/ (English) and http://www.spreewald.de/ (official tourism site, select English on the right).

There's a children's activity park near the town of Storkow (situated between the Spreewald and Berlin) that your kids might be interested in, your 13-year-old will especially like the rope/climbing garden ("Kletterzirkus"). See http://www.irrlandia.de/ (German only, but quite some photos on all pages, so you'll get the idea), contact lollybeier@t-online.de for detailed infos.

A classic themepark with rollercoasters etc is Bellantis near Leipzig, by car an hour from Berlin via Autobahn 9. See http://www.eventpark.de/ (unfortunalty again no English). Leipzig itself is worth a visit, too, BTW, but larger cities are not on your list. See http://leipzig.de/int/en/tourist/ (English!).

In the other direction, north of Berlin, it's not far to the Baltic coast with its sand beaches and the island Rügen with its famous white cliffs. See http://ruegen.de/tourismus_ruegen.html?L=1

> A classic themepark with rollercoasters etc is Belantis near Leipzig, by car an hour from Berlin via Autobahn 9, then 38.

URL is http://www.belantis.de/ , sorry. The park is located right next to Autobahn 38, exit 30, Neue Harth/Belantis.

I think you are probably spoilt for choice by now.
Just to add: I correspond regularly with the German National Tourist Office (more precisely, they send me information and emails on a regular basis!), and they seem to be 'pushing' Mecklenburg-Vorpommern quite hard, and especially 'water-based' activities. I think the area would be pleased to see more visitors. The Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Tourist Information website http://www.auf-nach-mv.de/ seems to have an awful lot of information (in English).
Cheers, James (JHR).

You might check this website - it is common for families in Germany to do holidays on a farm - especially for those who are from the cities. There are many farms offering special family holidays where kids can help with farming, feeding animals etc. Here the link:
www.bauernhofurlaub.de
If you need further help (maybe with German texts) - let me know.

Mecklenburger Seenplatte is cool. Many lakes that are connected for perfect canouing...

I have some tips on Germany in general, more in Hamburg. Which also might be of intest for you (around 2,5 hours by car from Berlin).

Best Chris.