For most of its history, Grünheide was a sleepy village of lakes and pine forests on the south-eastern edge of Berlin. Then Tesla arrived. The enormous electric car factory that opened here in 2022 transformed the place into a symbol of industrial change, controversy over water and forests, and new traffic. Even so, the countryside around it still offers some of the nicest lake landscapes near the capital.
The area is threaded with water: the Werlsee, the Peetzsee and the little Löcknitz river, whose valley is a nature reserve with alder woods and wet meadows. The lakes are glacial, left behind by the last Ice Age, and their shores are lined with holiday cottages and bathing spots. In summer, Berliners come out for swimming and boating, and the air smells of pine resin and warm sand.
The roads around Grünheide are typical Brandenburg: flat or gently undulating, often straight through forest, with the occasional curve around a lake. Avenues of old trees line many of them, and some village streets are still cobbled. Traffic can be heavy near the factory and the A10 motorway junctions, especially at shift changes, but the minor roads east and south quickly become quiet. Watch for wild boar and deer, particularly at dawn and dusk.
Fuel is available along the main roads and in nearby Erkner, which is also the place to find a proper selection of shops. There are lakeside cafés and inns around the villages, especially busy on summer weekends. From here, routes lead east towards the Oderbruch and the Polish border, or south towards the Spreewald and Saxon Switzerland, making Grünheide a convenient pause on the way out of the city.