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TOURISM

Six hiking tours to try in the north east of Germany

If you want to explore Germany this summer, look no further than these cool hiking tours in the north east of the country.

Published: 20 May 2020 16:58 CEST
Updated: 9 June 2022 17:04 CEST
Six hiking tours to try in the north east of Germany
National Park on the island of Rügen. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Stefan Sauer

The following hikes can be found in Berlin’s neighbouring state of Brandenburg and Meckenburg-Western Pomerania. Don’t forget that you can use your €9 public transport ticket on local transport and regional trains for the months of June, July and August 2022. 

READ ALSO: How to explore Germany by train with the €9 ticket 

Round the Schwielowsee

This route takes in the idyllic village of Caputh in Brandenburg, which is best know as the place Einstein escaped to when he needed respite from the mid-summer Berlin heat. You can visit his house at the start of the trip, after getting off the bus from Potsdam.

The Schwielowsee is a real beauty spot. From Caputh head southwest to the small village of Ferch and then back up the west bank, making sure to take a route through the gardens of Schloss Petzow, a bucolic country house with gardens that roll down to the lakefront. A hidden tip: the Japanese garden in Ferch has been described by visitors as “a truly beautiful and peaceful place.” 

If you’re feeling up to it, take a detour into Werder, a town with charming centre famous for its apple orchards.

There are also several beer gardens along the way which offer respite during the hot summer months. The Gaststätte Baumghartenbrück is particularly charming and has great views over the waters.

The whole circuit is doable in about three and a half hours.

Enjoying the Schwielowsee. File photo: DPA

Looping the Mühlenbecker Land in Brandenburg

Another one that is easily accessible from Berlin, this two and a half hour walk takes you past the abandoned palace of Dammsmühle a beautiful baroque building that has sadly fallen into ruin.

The starting point in Summt can be reached with the 806 bus from northern Berlin. From there the route progresses around the Summter See before passing north of the Mühlenbecher See between two smaller mini-lakes. The route comes out above the Mühlenteich and then cuts south to visit Schloss Dammsmühle before returning along the north bank of the Mühlenbecker See.

There are ample opportunities for bathing on remote and largely empty lakesides. And another Japanese secret should be noted here: a hidden Pagode on the north shore of the Mühlenteich.

Circuiting the Stechlinsee

This one takes us into the heart of the nature reserves north of Berlin. People travelling from the capital will need to take the train to Gransee – about an hour from Gesundbrunnen. A short bus journey later and you will arrive at the start of the tour in Neuglobsow.

The route couldn’t be more simple. You just stick to the banks of the lake. A clockwise route is recommendable as you then finish with the Fischerei Stechlinsee smokehouse, where you will be served delicious locally-caught fish.

The whole tour takes about four and a half hours. Hikers have often remarked on the clarity of the lake’s waters.

Boats tied up on Stechlinsee. Photo: DPA

Bodden-Panorama Path, Rügen

The next location on our trip takes us into serious hiking territory. This is a 24 kilometre trip on the beautiful island of Rügen in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, so you need a pretty good level of fitness if you are going to attempt it. It starts in the village of Neuenkirchen and follows the banks of the Jasmunder Bodden before finishing just south of the fishing village of Sassnitz.

READ ALSO: Germany’s best beaches – The Local’s ultimate guide

It gets going with a site of historical note – the oldest church bell on the island at Neukirchen’s Maria Magdalena Church. The next stop is Lasse before one crosses the bridge over the Liddower stream. This route also delivers a palace – you’ll pass the Ralswiek Schloss on your way.

A little tip: if you are a fan of salt water fish, visit the harbour at Sassnitz at the end. The fish shops there fry up the day’s catch of cod, herring and lots more. Delicious and affordable.

This trip can be broken down into two days with an overnight break in the community of Ralswiek.

Sea Birds on the Jasmunder Bodden at sunset. Photo: DPA

The monastic triangle

This huge hike will demand five days of your time, but it could well be five of the most relaxing days you will spend in the German countryside. It starts in a Unesco nature reserve at Zarrentin in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania before heading north along the Schaalsee to the monastery at Rehna. The route then heads east to Ratzeburg and finally winds back down south to the monastery at Zarrentin.

All of the monasteries are classic examples of “backstein gothic” or red brick gothic and date back to the 13th century.

READ ALSO: Weekend Wanderlust: How to travel the world without leaving Germany

The route involves hikes along lakesides, though forests and into charming cobble-stoned villages. It also crosses the former border between East and West German on several occasions and offers the chance to see a border crossing from that era that has been preserved.

The gates of the Rehna monastery. Photo: DPA

To Darß lighthouse and back

This hike starts in Prerow, a holiday village on the Darß peninsula in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. From there you walk north to the coast and then head out west. You can either walk along the beach or take the hiking route through the forest. The route to the lighthouse is well-marked and takes about an hour and a half.

A museum inside the building tells the history of the lighthouse and explains why it won’t be around forever…

Hikers who return along the beach can trawl the seaweed for amber before stopping off for a beer at the surf bar at the Regenbogen campsite.

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TRAVEL NEWS

Why are fewer British tourists visiting Spain this year?

Almost 800,000 fewer UK holidaymakers have visited Spain in 2023 when compared to 2019. What’s behind this big drop?

Published: 23 August 2023 11:36 CEST
Updated: 26 August 2023 18:32 CEST
Why are fewer British tourists visiting Spain this year?

Spain welcomed 12.2 million UK tourists between January and July 2023, 6 percent less when compared to the same period in 2019, according to data released on Monday by Spanish tourism association Turespaña.

This represents a decrease of 793,260 British holidaymakers for Spain so far this year.

Conversely, the number of Italian (+8 percent), Irish (+15.3 percent), Portuguese (+24.8 percent), Dutch (+4 percent) and French tourists (+5 percent) visiting España in 2023 are all above the rates in 2019, the last pre-pandemic year. 

German holidaymakers are together with their British counterparts the two main nationalities showing less interest in coming to Spanish shores.

Britons still represent the biggest tourist group that comes to Spain, but it’s undergoing a slump, with another recent study by Caixabank Research suggesting numbers fell particularly in June 2023 (-12.5 percent of the usual rate). 

READ ALSO: Spain fully booked for summer despite most expensive holiday prices ever

So are some Britons falling out of love with Spain? Are there clear reasons why a holiday on the Spanish coast is on fewer British holiday itineraries?

According to Caixabank Research’s report, the main reasons are “the poor macroeconomic performance of the United Kingdom, the sharp rise in rates and the weakness of the pound”.

This is evidenced in the results of a survey by British market research company Savanta, which found that one in six Britons are not going on a summer holiday this year due to the UK’s cost-of-living crisis.

Practically everything, everywhere has become more expensive, and that includes holidays in Spain: hotel stays are up 44 percent, eating out is 13 percent pricier, and flights are 40 percent more on average. 

READ ALSO: How much more expensive is it to holiday in Spain this summer?

Caixabank stressed that another reason for the drop in British holidaymakers heading to Spain is that those who can afford a holiday abroad are choosing “more competitive markets” such as Turkey, Greece and Portugal. 

And there’s no doubt that the insufferably hot summer that Spain is having, with four heatwaves so far, has also dissuaded many holidaymakers from Blighty from overcooking in the Spanish sun. 

With headlines such as “This area of Spain could become too hot for tourists” or “tourists say it’s too hot to see any sights” featuring in the UK press, budding British holidaymakers are all too aware of the suffocating weather conditions Spain and other Mediterranean countries are enduring. 

Other UK outlets have urged travellers to try out the cooler Spanish north rather than the usual piping hot Costa Blanca and Costa del Sol destinations.

Another UK poll by InsureandGo found that 71 percent of the 2,000+ British respondents thought that parts of Europe such as Spain, Greece and Turkey will be too hot to visit over summer by 2027.

There’s further concern that the introduction in 2024 of the new (and delayed) ETIAS visa for non-EU visitors, which of course now also applies to UK nationals, could further compel British tourists to choose countries to holiday in rather than Spain.

READ MORE: Will British tourists need to pay for a visa waiver to enter Spain?

However, a drop in the number of British holidaymakers may not be all that bad for Spain, even though they did spend over €17 billion on their Spanish vacations in 2022. 

Towns, cities and islands across the country have been grappling with the problem of overtourism and the consequences it has on everything from quality of life for locals to rent prices. 

READ ALSO: ‘Beach closed’ – Fake signs put up in Spain’s Mallorca to dissuade tourists

The overcrowded nature of Spain’s beaches and most beautiful holiday hotspots appears to be one of the reasons why Germans are visiting Spain in far fewer numbers. A recent report in the country’s most read magazine Stern asked “if the dream is over” in their beloved Mallorca.

Spanish authorities are also seeking to overhaul the cheaper holiday package-driven model that dominates many resorts, which includes moving away from the boozy antics of young British and other European revellers.

Fewer tourists who spend more are what Spain is theoretically now looking for, and the rise in American, Japanese and European tourists other than Brits signify less of a dependence on the British market, one which tends to maintain the country’s tourism status quo for better or for worse.

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