Why this ride
145 km from Siemensstadt to Siemensstadt, about 3 h 19 of riding. It goes by way of Großsiedlung Britz, Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf, Museumsinsel and Gartenstadt Flakenberg.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Goßsiedlung Siemensstadt and Gartenstadt Flakenberg
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 145 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 19
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. 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
Museumsinsel → Gartenstadt Flakenberg
20 km on Museumsinsel → Gartenstadt Flakenberg.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 20 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Goßsiedlung Siemensstadt
Berlin's Siemensstadt began as a factory town. Werner von Siemens's company moved its electrical works to the edge of Spandau from 1899, and by the 1920s a whole district of workshops and workers' housing was growing there. The Großsiedlung Siemensstadt, built between 1929 and 1931, is one of the great modernist housing estates of that decade, designed by a team that included Hans Scharoun, Walter Gropius, Hugo Häring, Otto Bartning and Fred Forbat. It is part of the UNESCO listing of Berlin Modernism Housing Estates, inscribed in 2008.
Read the complete Goßsiedlung Siemensstadt write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Goßsiedlung Siemensstadt is where the day begins. Next is Großsiedlung Britz.
2. Großsiedlung Britz
From above, the Hufeisensiedlung, the Horseshoe Estate, looks like a giant horseshoe wrapped around a pond, and from the ground it looks like something rarer, a housing project that people actually love. It was designed by Bruno Taut and Martin Wagner between 1925 and 1930 for a cooperative, as part of the effort in Weimar-era Berlin to give working families light, air and gardens instead of the dark tenements of the nineteenth century. Rows of low terraced houses with their own small gardens curve around a central green, and the façades are painted in strong colours, notably a long blue wall. It is one of six Berlin housing estates that UNESCO listed together in 2008 as examples of modern housing reform.
Read the complete Großsiedlung Britz write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Großsiedlung Britz comes up about 20 km into the recorded legs. Next is Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf.
3. Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf
Bright colours were a weapon for Bruno Taut. The architect believed that good housing could change people's lives, and in the 1920s he designed several large housing estates in Berlin for working and middle class families, with light, airy flats, gardens and shared green spaces. The Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf, better known as Onkel Toms Hütte, Uncle Tom's Cabin, after a nearby inn and the underground station, was built between 1926 and 1931 on the edge of the Grunewald forest, and Taut, working with other architects, painted the houses in strong reds, greens, blues and yellows, so that the estate glows among the pine trees. It is one of the great monuments of modern housing in Germany.
Read the complete Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 38 km into the recorded legs you reach Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf. Next is Museumsinsel.
4. Museumsinsel
The northern tip of an island in the Spree in the middle of Berlin holds five museums that between them cover about six thousand years of human history. The Museumsinsel, or Museum Island, grew out of a decision in the nineteenth century by the kings of Prussia to build a cultural centre in the heart of the capital, and the buildings, in neoclassical and neo-baroque style, were added one by one until the 1930s. UNESCO listed the ensemble in 1999. Among the treasures are the Pergamon Altar, the Ishtar Gate of Babylon, and the bust of Queen Nefertiti, which sits in the Neues Museum.
Read the complete Museumsinsel write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Museumsinsel, about halfway. Next is Gartenstadt Flakenberg.
5. 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 sits at 78 km, about halfway. Next is back through Museumsinsel.
6. back through Museumsinsel
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Museumsinsel write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Museumsinsel comes up about 93 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf.
7. back through Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 107 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf. Next is back through Großsiedlung Britz.
8. back through Großsiedlung Britz
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Großsiedlung Britz write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Großsiedlung Britz, late in the day. Next is Goßsiedlung Siemensstadt.
9. Goßsiedlung Siemensstadt
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Goßsiedlung Siemensstadt write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 145 km.
Leg by leg
Goßsiedlung Siemensstadt to Großsiedlung Britz
Goßsiedlung Siemensstadt → Großsiedlung Britz is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Großsiedlung Britz to Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf
Großsiedlung Britz → Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf to Museumsinsel
Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf → Museumsinsel is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Museumsinsel to Gartenstadt Flakenberg
Museumsinsel → Gartenstadt Flakenberg is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Gartenstadt Flakenberg to back through Museumsinsel
Gartenstadt Flakenberg → back through Museumsinsel is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Museumsinsel to back through Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf
back through Museumsinsel → back through Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf is 14 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf to back through Großsiedlung Britz
back through Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf → back through Großsiedlung Britz is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Großsiedlung Britz to Goßsiedlung Siemensstadt
back through Großsiedlung Britz → Goßsiedlung Siemensstadt is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.