Why this ride
An 87 km round trip from Reinickendorf - roughly 1 h 50 in the saddle. It goes by way of Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf, Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin and back through Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Weiße Stadt and Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 87 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 50
- 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
Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf → Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin
The ride follows Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf → Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin for 27 km.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 27 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Weiße Stadt
The first thing you notice in the Weiße Stadt is how little it shouts. This is a housing estate in Reinickendorf, in the north of Berlin, built between 1929 and 1931 to a design by Otto Rudolf Salvisberg, with Bruno Ahrends and Wilhelm Büning, and its smooth white walls, strip windows and flat roofs were a quiet manifesto for a new way of living. It is called the White City for obvious reasons, and in the late Weimar years it was meant to show that ordinary people could have light, air and a balcony.
Read the complete Weiße Stadt write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Weiße Stadt 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 18 km into the recorded legs. Next is Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin.
3. 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
about 45 km into the recorded legs you reach Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin. Next is back through Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf.
4. 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 Weiße Stadt.
5. Weiße Stadt
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Weiße Stadt write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Weiße Stadt. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Weiße Stadt to Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf
Weiße Stadt → Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf to Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin
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.
Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin to back through Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf
Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin → back through Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf to Weiße Stadt
back through Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf → Weiße Stadt is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.