Why this ride
159 km from Potsdam to Potsdam, about 3 h 38 of riding. The stops in between: Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf, Museumsinsel, Gartenstadt Flakenberg and Berlin Modernism Housing Estates.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin and Berlin Modernism Housing Estates
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 159 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 38
- 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
Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin → Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf
The ride follows Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin → Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf for 23 km.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 23 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin
Potsdam lies just outside Berlin, in a landscape of lakes, rivers and woods along the Havel, and for over two centuries it was the summer residence of the Prussian kings and German emperors. Frederick the Great built the palace of Sanssouci here in the 1740s, a single-storey Rococo palace above terraced vineyards, where he wanted to live without worries, as its name suggests. His successors added more palaces, gardens and follies, and today the ensemble, together with sites in Berlin, forms one of Germany's largest UNESCO World Heritage sites.
Read the complete Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin is where the day begins. Next is Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf.
2. 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
Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf comes up about 23 km into the recorded legs. Next is Museumsinsel.
3. 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
about 38 km into the recorded legs you reach Museumsinsel. Next is Gartenstadt Flakenberg.
4. 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, about halfway. Next is Berlin Modernism Housing Estates.
5. Berlin Modernism Housing Estates
Most World Heritage sites are palaces, cathedrals or ruins. Berlin got onto the list in 2008 with flats. The Berlin Modernism Housing Estates are six residential developments built between 1910 and 1933, among them the Hufeisensiedlung in Britz, shaped like a horseshoe around a pond, the Gartenstadt Falkenberg with its bright colours, the Weisse Stadt in Reinickendorf and the Siemensstadt estate. Architects such as Bruno Taut, Martin Wagner and Walter Gropius designed them to give ordinary working families light, air, green space and decent bathrooms at a time when many Berliners lived in dark, cramped tenement blocks around courtyards.
Read the complete Berlin Modernism Housing Estates write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Berlin Modernism Housing Estates sits at 83 km, about halfway. Next is back through Gartenstadt Flakenberg.
6. back through 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
back through Gartenstadt Flakenberg comes up about 98 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Museumsinsel.
7. 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
about 118 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Museumsinsel. Next is back through Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf.
8. 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
back through Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf, late in the day. Next is Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin.
9. Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin 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 159 km.
Leg by leg
Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin to Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf
Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin → Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf is 23 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 Berlin Modernism Housing Estates
Gartenstadt Flakenberg → Berlin Modernism Housing Estates is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Berlin Modernism Housing Estates to back through Gartenstadt Flakenberg
Berlin Modernism Housing Estates → back through Gartenstadt Flakenberg is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Gartenstadt Flakenberg to back through Museumsinsel
back through 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 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf to Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin
back through Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf → Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.