Gartenstadt Flakenberg and Serrahn

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Gartenstadt Flakenberg

   On the southeastern edge of Berlin, near the Dahme river, a few streets of small houses are painted in colours so bold that locals nicknamed the place the paint-box estate. This is the Gartenstadt Falkenberg, or Falkenberg Garden City, designed by the architect Bruno Taut and built in the years just before the First World War. Taut believed that colour could improve ordinary lives, and so he gave the terraced houses facades of deep blue, red, ochre and green, with gardens, tree-lined lanes and a central square. It was an early experiment in affordable housing for working families, and UNESCO included it in 2008 among the Berlin Modernism Housing Estates.

   Read the complete Gartenstadt Flakenberg write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Gartenstadt Flakenberg is where the day begins. Next is The ADGB Trade Union School.

2. 2. The ADGB Trade Union School

   In the pine woods just outside Bernau, north of Berlin, a cluster of yellow brick buildings steps down a gentle slope toward a lake, and it is one of the purest expressions of Bauhaus architecture anywhere. The Federal School of the General German Trade Union Federation, known by its German initials ADGB, was designed by Hannes Meyer, the second director of the Bauhaus, with Hans Wittwer, and built between 1928 and 1930 as a training college for union officials. Every detail, from the arrangement of the dormitory wings in staggered blocks to the glass corridor that runs down the slope, was designed to encourage community, light and a healthy life. It was added to the UNESCO Bauhaus site in 2017.

   Read the complete The ADGB Trade Union School write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   The ADGB Trade Union School comes up about 45 km into the recorded legs. Next is Grumsin.

3. 3. Grumsin

   North-east of Berlin, the last ice age left behind a landscape of hills, hollows and lakes, shaped by glaciers that advanced and melted back again. In one corner of it, between Angermünde and Joachimsthal, lies the Grumsin forest, a beech wood that has been left largely undisturbed for a long time. It is part of the UNESCO site of Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe, inscribed as one of Germany's contributions in 2011. Old beeches tower above a forest floor scattered with fallen trunks, small ponds and bogs, and in spring the canopy glows a fresh, translucent green.

   Read the complete Grumsin write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 93 km into the recorded legs you reach Grumsin. Next is Serrahn.

4. 4. Serrahn

   Between the lakes of Mecklenburg, north of Berlin, a pocket of old beech forest has been left to grow for the better part of a century, and it is now one of the most unusual places in Germany. Serrahn is a part of the Müritz National Park, a few kilometres from Carpin, and its beeches were once part of a ducal hunting reserve that was protected from logging, so some trees are two hundred years old and more. The Serrahn woods are part of the UNESCO listing of Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe, a serial site that protects the finest remaining beech forests, from Ukraine and Slovakia to Germany, Spain and Italy.

   Read the complete Serrahn write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Serrahn, about halfway. Next is back through Grumsin.

5. 5. back through Grumsin

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Grumsin write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Grumsin sits at 237 km, about halfway. Next is back through The ADGB Trade Union School.

6. 6. back through The ADGB Trade Union School

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete The ADGB Trade Union School write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through The ADGB Trade Union School comes up about 336 km into the recorded legs. Next is Gartenstadt Flakenberg.

7. 7. Gartenstadt Flakenberg

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Gartenstadt Flakenberg write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Gartenstadt Flakenberg closes the day.