Why this ride
Out of Oranienburg and back again: 299 km, roughly 5 h 19 in the saddle. On the way it passes Neuruppin lakefront, Rheinsberg palace stop, Stechlinsee water stop and Oranienburg exit.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Berlin · Ruppiner Lakes and Rheinsberg Palace + Ruppiner Seen and Rheinsberg Castle
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 299 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 19
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Scenic road chapters
Oranienburg fuel gate → Neuruppin lakefront
62 km on Oranienburg fuel gate → Neuruppin lakefront.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 62 km
Back to Oranienburg → Oranienburg exit fuel
1 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it. Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 51 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Oranienburg fuel gate
Oranienburg is a town on the Havel river, a short way north of Berlin, and it carries two very different histories side by side. On one side there is the palace, built in the seventeenth century for Louise Henriette of Orange, the Dutch-born wife of the Elector of Brandenburg, who gave the town its name. It was the first baroque palace in Brandenburg, and its Dutch influence is seen in the proportions and brick. The town became known as Oranienburg, the castle of Orange, and the palace now houses a museum and gardens.
Read the complete Photo stop near Oranienburg write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Oranienburg is where the day begins. Next is Neuruppin lakefront.
2. Neuruppin lakefront
Neuruppin is where Theodor Fontane was born, in 1819, in the pharmacy his father ran on the main square, and he began his famous walking tours of Brandenburg with the county around the town. The architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel, who would shape so much of Berlin, was born here too, in 1781. For a town of thirty-two thousand people, that is quite a pair of local boys.
Read the complete Neuruppin lakefront write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Neuruppin lakefront is where this day stops to eat. Next is Rheinsberg palace stop.
3. Rheinsberg palace stop
Rheinsberg is where a prince became a king, or at least learned to think like one. Frederick, the Prussian crown prince later called the Great, spent four happy years here, from 1736 to 1740, in a palace on the shore of the Grienericksee, away from his violent father, with books, flute music, friends and the philosophers he corresponded with. He had the architect Knobelsdorff remodel the building, and the result is a pale, graceful Baroque and early rococo palace, with a double-winged courtyard facing the water. Later he spoke of this period as the happiest of his life.
Read the complete Rheinsberg palace stop write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
79 km in you reach Rheinsberg palace stop. Next is Stechlinsee water stop.
4. Stechlinsee water stop
Few lakes in Germany have as strong a hold on the imagination as the Stechlinsee. It is deep, nearly seventy metres, and so clear that you can see far down through the water, with a bed of white sand and a ring of beech forest around the shore. Fontane made it the setting for his last novel, Der Stechlin, in which the lake is said to stir whenever something great happens in the world, a kind of seismograph of history. It is a beautiful idea, and standing on the shore you can almost believe it.
Read the complete Stechlinsee water stop write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Stechlinsee water stop, about halfway. Next is Back to Oranienburg.
5. Back to Oranienburg
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Photo stop near Oranienburg write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Back to Oranienburg. That is the ride. Next is Oranienburg exit fuel.
6. Oranienburg exit fuel
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Photo stop near Oranienburg write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The day opens at Oranienburg exit fuel. Next is Gransee backroads.
7. Gransee backroads
Gransee is a small town with a big memory. In 1810 the young Queen Luise of Prussia died suddenly at her family's summer residence, and her coffin was carried back to Berlin in a slow procession that rested overnight in Gransee. The town later raised a monument on the spot, designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel, a delicate cast-iron canopy that still stands in the market square, a rare piece of early German neo-Gothic metalwork. It is lovely and a little sad.
Read the complete Gransee backroads write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
237 km in you reach Gransee backroads. Next is Rheinsberg castle and lake.
8. Rheinsberg castle and lake
Rheinsberg belongs to the water. The town sits on the Grienericksee, with the long Rheinsberger Rhin running out toward the Ruppin lakes, and it is surrounded by a chain of lakes and forests that forms one of the quietest corners of Brandenburg. The palace is the headline attraction, but the lakes explain why the prince Frederick, later the Great, found the place so restful. On a still summer evening, with swans on the water and the pale walls of the castle reflected in the lake, it is easy to understand.
Read the complete Rheinsberg castle and lake write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Rheinsberg castle and lake, late in the day. Next is Neuruppin lakefront food.
9. Neuruppin lakefront food
In 1787 a great fire destroyed most of Neuruppin, and the town was rebuilt on a grid, in a clean neoclassical style, with wide streets and a large parade ground. The plan, drawn up by royal officials, gives the place an unusual openness, and walking through it you can feel the order of the Enlightenment. The lake side of the town, however, kept its old character, and the lakefront is where you want to eat.
Read the complete Neuruppin lakefront food write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Food at 316 km, roughly 5 hours into the riding. Next is Kremmen moor roads.
10. Kremmen moor roads
Kremmen sits at the edge of a marsh, and the roads around it are a lesson in how the Mark Brandenburg was made. The ground here is the Rhinluch, a broad, low-lying fen of peat and sand that was drained, diked and farmed from the eighteenth century onward, and the word Luch means exactly that, a wet meadow.
Read the complete Kremmen moor roads write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Kremmen moor roads comes up 356 km in. Next is back to Oranienburg exit fuel.
11. back to Oranienburg exit fuel
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Photo stop near Oranienburg write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at back to Oranienburg exit fuel. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Oranienburg fuel gate to Neuruppin lakefront
Oranienburg fuel gate → Neuruppin lakefront is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Neuruppin lakefront to Rheinsberg palace stop
Neuruppin lakefront → Rheinsberg palace stop is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Rheinsberg palace stop to Stechlinsee water stop
Rheinsberg palace stop → Stechlinsee water stop is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Stechlinsee water stop to Back to Oranienburg
Stechlinsee water stop → Back to Oranienburg is 83 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Oranienburg exit fuel to Gransee backroads
Oranienburg exit fuel → Gransee backroads is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Gransee backroads to Rheinsberg castle and lake
Gransee backroads → Rheinsberg castle and lake is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Rheinsberg castle and lake to Neuruppin lakefront food
Rheinsberg castle and lake → Neuruppin lakefront food is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Neuruppin lakefront food to Kremmen moor roads
Neuruppin lakefront food → Kremmen moor roads is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kremmen moor roads to back to Oranienburg exit fuel
Kremmen moor roads → back to Oranienburg exit fuel is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
More motorcycle rides nearby
- Berlin · Ruppiner Lakes and Rheinsberg Palace · 155 km
- Ruppiner Seen and Rheinsberg Castle · 141 km
- Neuruppin Ruppiner Schweiz · 165 km