Treptow-Köpenick: Berlin's Green Paradise

Anyone who thinks Berlin is nothing but concrete slabs and club nights has not yet seen Treptow-Köpenick. The city's south-easternmost district is a complete counterpoint: forests, lakes, a medieval old town and a river that takes its time. Around two thirds of the district is protected nature. That might sound like a day-trip destination, but for many Berliners it is simply everyday life.

Treptower Park and the Soviet War Memorial

Treptower Park sits directly on the Spree, easily reached by S8, S9 or S41 to the Treptower Park station. Walking in through the main gate on a late spring afternoon and heading along the long path towards the memorial, you have little sense at first of what you are approaching. Then the site opens up before you.

The Soviet War Memorial is the largest outside Russia. Seven thousand Soviet soldiers who fell in the Second World War are buried here. A twelve-metre-high bronze statue of a soldier carrying a child in his arms and standing on a shattered swastika dominates the entire site. The figure is so large that you instinctively take a step back. Beneath it lies a crypt lined with mosaics.

Entry is free and the site is open daily. It is both deeply impressive and thought-provoking — this is not a place for a quick photo and moving on. You take your time, read the inscriptions and come to understand more fully what this war meant in human terms. Children sometimes run between the granite slabs and notice that the adults around them have grown quieter.

Insel der Jugend

Less than 500 metres from the memorial, a small footbridge leads to a Spree island: the Insel der Jugend. The bridge costs nothing, the island costs nothing — you simply walk onto it. In summer, the Café Atlantic operates here, serving beer and simple dishes while the Spree drifts lazily past. Boats are available to hire; kayaks cost around 12 euros per hour.

In the evenings during the summer months, when it is still light, an open-air cinema runs on the island. Bring a blanket, buy a ticket, lie on the grass, watch a film. The programme changes regularly and features international productions as well as Berlin classics. The Insel der Jugend is one of those places where Berlin makes no effort and is wonderful all the same.

Alt-Köpenick: A Town Within a City

Take the S3 to Köpenick and walk a few minutes — and you suddenly find yourself in another era. Alt-Köpenick is a medieval island town, founded in the 10th century, surrounded by the Dahme and the Müggelspree. The narrow lanes, the old townhouses, the quiet: none of this is staged — it has simply stayed this way.

Schloss Köpenick stands on its own island and houses the Kunstgewerbemuseum; entry costs around 6 euros. Baroque silverware, medieval applied arts, a surprisingly rich programme — the museum is underestimated because most visitors come only for the castle itself.

Most visitors will, however, know the story of the Hauptmann von Köpenick. In 1906, Wilhelm Voigt — a trained cobbler and repeat offender without valid papers — put on a captain's uniform, commandeered a group of soldiers, marched into Rathaus Köpenick, arrested the mayor and had the town treasury handed over. The real captain arrived only hours later. The story went around the world and became a symbol of Prussian blind obedience — uniform beats reason. Berlin celebrated Voigt when he was released after a short prison term. A permanent exhibition in the Rathaus commemorates the episode to this day.

Müggelsee: Berlin's Largest Lake

Take the S3 to Friedrichshagen and walk to the shore — the Müggelsee receives you with eight kilometres of shoreline and a Strandbad that has been in operation for over a hundred years. Entry costs 4 euros. Those who prefer to swim for free will find several unofficial bathing spots on the northern shore — less developed, but quieter.

The Müggelturm is reached after a walk through the forest. Three euros entry, and from the top a panoramic view over the lake and Berlin's outlying woodlands. The full walk around the lake is eight kilometres and can be managed comfortably on a normal summer day. Along the way you pass boat hire stations, fish restaurants and stretches where the forest reaches right down to the water's edge.

Grünau and the Water

Further south lies Grünau, Berlin's regatta course. Rowers train here, regattas are held here, and there are boat hire services that require no course and no special prior knowledge. Simply head there, hire a boat and be on the water. That sounds unspectacular — and it is, in the best possible way, the kind of thing you desperately want after a few days in the city.

Treptow-Köpenick works at any time of year, but summer is the right season. The lake, boats, open-air cinema, a café on the Spree island — the district is fully in its element then. Setting out from a central base, you are in the thick of it within thirty minutes by S-Bahn.

If you are coming to Berlin for a few days and want exactly that experience — city and water, history and stillness — you will find at BevoFlats Berlin apartments from which the district can be explored at a leisurely pace.