Berlin is one of the great cities of Europe, and if you add in some of the best day trips from Berlin, you could easily spend the best part of two weeks there. Especially if, like me, you’re engrossed in the city’s fascinating history.
Berlin is such a good base for exploring northeastern Germany, and also for a trip or two across the Polish border an hour to the east. The stunning palaces and parks of Potsdam are on its doorstep, an hour away by S-Bahn train. The quiet countryside and waterways of the Spreewald are also close by, as is the Memorial at one of the most notorious Nazi concentration camps, Sachsenhausen.
If you want to spread your wings further, two of the best cities to visit in Germany – Dresden and Leipzig – are around an hour and a half away by express train. There are some wonderful off-the-beaten-track smaller cities and towns to discover too, including Magdeburg, the twice-inscribed World Heritage Dessau and perhaps the most beautiful of all medieval towns in Germany, Quedlinburg.
I hope this article gives you some inspiration. Enjoy!
Where To Stay In Berlin
***** – Steigenberger Hotel Am Kanzleramt – luxury 5-star in convenient location across the street from Berlin Hbf, ideal if you’re planning a few day trips
***** – The Westin Grand Berlin – superb location on corner of Friedrichstrasse and Unter den Linden
**** – Leonardo Hotel Berlin Mitte – convenient location, one stop from the main station for day trips
*** – Motel One Berlin-Hauptbahnhof – reliable comfortable 3-star very closer to Berlin’s main train station
Best Day Trips From Berlin
1. Potsdam
Potsdam is the most obvious day trip from Berlin, just an hour from the centre on the suburban S7 S-Bahn train. The small city – capital of the state of Brandenburg – is much smaller than Berlin, with a very different feel. Just outside the metropolis, it is like a large country town, and one of the most architecturally rich in the country at that.
Potsdam was the home of wealthy Prussian kings and princes, many of whom weren’t shy about flaunting their vast fortunes. The first place to head is Sanssouci Park, a blissful country park with an extraordinary collection of buildings. Sanssouci Palace is a lovely Rococo building, while the larger Baroque Neues Palais is a short walk further into the Park. There is also a Dutch-inspired windmill, an Italianate church and a stunning Chinese Teahouse.
The city centre is just as attractive. Karl Friedrich Schinkel’s Neoclassical Nikolaikirche is one of the first buildings you encounter in the city after leaving the station. Inspired by the Arch of Constantine in Rome, the Brandenburg Gate was completed in 1771, 17 years before its more famous namesake in Berlin.
And if you have time, take a walk around the Dutch Quarter, with its cafes and red-brick gabled that could have come straight out of Vermeer’s Delft. The wooden houses of the Russian-inspired Alexandrowka quarter are also well worth a visit.
Tours from Berlin: This half-day Potsdam tour from Berlin includes a tour of the town and visit to Sanssouci Park and Palace.
And this Potsdam boat tour takes you to the Park at Babelsberg, the chateau at Pfaueninsel and the Cecilienhof Palace where the division of Europe was agreed after the end of the War in 1945.
Meanwhile, this guided tour of the town centre and the Sanssouci Park shows you the highlights of the World Heritage-listed town.
Getting there: The S7 runs to Potsdam via Ostbahnhof, Alexanderplatz and Hauptbahnhof.
Spreewald
If you want a complete change of pace from the big city, my tip is to take a day exploring the Spreewald (which means ‘Spree river forest’). It’s a large area of forests, streams and lakes surrounding Berlin, and a huge favourite with Berliners looking to take a break in the countryside.
For convenience, the small town of Lübbenau is the best place to head for – it’s a little over an hour south of Berlin on the train from Berlin Hbf. It’s the most beautiful of the towns in the area, and you can either join a punt boat tour or hire your own boat from there.
The boat tours last two or three hours, with some giving you the option of walking around the village of Lehde for an hour.
The Spreewald Museum is also in Lübbenau, and it’s well worth a short visit to find out more about the area and its history. You’ll also encounter plaenty of shops selling the famous Spreewaldgurken – these pickled gherkins are a popular local speciality.
Tours from Berlin: This cosy winter boat cruise follows the waterways around Burg-Dorf, and you’re warmed up with a fireplace on each table and a glass of mulled wine.
Getting there: Regular trains from Berlin Hbf to Lübbenau, which usually take around 1 hour 15 minutes.
Brandenburg an der Havel
This small city, less than an hour west of Berlin, gives its name to the province surrounding Berlin. Despite being so close to Berlin, it remains well off the established tourist trail, which I’ve always found surprising.
It has some of the best red-brick Gothic architecture in eastern Germany, some of it comparable with the more widely known World Heritage Baltic ports of Stralsund and Wismar.
The Altstadtisches Rathaus (Old Town Hall) is one of the best places to start, with an attractive square and restaurants to explore. There are also several fine brick Gothic churches around the city, including the superb St Gotthardt on this side of the river.
The rest of Brandenburg an der Havel is spread across a few islands separated by channels of the river. The best of these is the small Dominsel (Cathedral Island) – the Dom was founded in 1165, and what you see today is the result of a 14th-century rebuild.
Tours from Berlin: This guided walking tour of Brandenburg takes you to the three town centres in three hours.
KZ Sachsenhausen
Sachsenhausen, an hour north of Berlin, was one of the most infamous Nazi concentration camps. It’s one of the most important Berlin World War 2 sites, a brutal forced labour camp for political prisoners and prisoners of war. Many of the latter were captured Red Army soldiers taken prisoner during the 1941 Barbarossa offensive into the Soviet Union.
These POWs were among around 30,000 murdered at Sachsenhausen. Some were executed, others died from exhaustion and starvation, worked to death on gruelling tasks while being fed minimal, utterly inadequate rations.
Sachsenhausen was the base of a massive operation creating counterfeit banknotes intended to flood the UK and US currency markets and cause financial chaos. They didn’t quite get to this stage, but the forgeries were so well made that it was decided to print banknotes to new designs after the War. The movie The Counterfeiters (Die Fälscher) tells this remarkable story.
Tours from Berlin: This guided tour runs from the centre of Berlin to Sachsenhausen. If you’re pushed for time, this guided tour covers both Potsdam and Sachsenhausen in a single day – something you wouldn’t be able to do travelling by public transport.
Getting there: S1 S-Bahn train to Oranienburg. From there, bus 804 runs to the Memorial (Gedenkstätte) at 19 minutes past the hour. Bus 821 also runs hourly from Oranienburg S-Bahn to the Memorial I the afternoon.
KZ Ravensbrück
Ravensbrück concentration camp, 56 miles (90 km) north of Berlin, receives considerably less visitors than Sachsenhausen, but its terrible story is one that has to be heard, especially in times like these when many of the lessons of 20th -century history are being forgotten – and in some cases denied.
Ravensbrück began as a women-only concentration camp, and female prisoners were treated no differently to their male counterparts. Around 130,000 prisoners were held at Ravensbrück between 1939 and 1945 with an unknown number – believed to be in the region of 50,000 – killed there.
The camp held many political prisoners including the British agent Violette Szabo, and Corrie ten Boom, the Dutch woman arrested for hiding Jews from the Nazis. A small camp for men was added in 1941, and the camp’s gas chamber was built in this part of the site. Children were also imprisoned at the camp in its later years.
In April 1945, as the Red Army approached from the east, most of the remaining prisoners were forced to leave on a death march. Around 3,500 remained, the these were liberated by Soviet forces on 30th April 1945.
Getting there: The R5 regional train from Berlin – Gesundbrunnen to Stralsund and Rostock takes 52 minutes to Fürstenberg/Havel. From there it’s a 25-minute walk to the Camp Memorial, otherwise taxis can be arranged.
Chorin Monastery
If you love the brick Gothic architecture common in northeastern Germany and Poland then this monastery less than an hour north of Berlin is well worth half a day of your time.
The Cistercian Abbey was founded by the Ascanian (Anhalt) margraves in the 13th century, just a few miles from the present Polish border. It survived until the Reformation in the early 16th century, after which it gradually fell into decay. Architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel did much to save the church in the 19th century, rebuilding part of it.
Chorin Abbey is unusual in that it’s partly covered, and partly left open to the elements. The arches on the southern side of the nave serve as the outer wall of the main body of the church. Usually there would be an aisle between these arches and the outer wall of the church, which was not rebuilt. It’s a bit disconcerting, but the church, in idyllic countryside, is one of the quieter, more rewarding day trips from Berlin you could hope to find.
Getting there: The regional RE3 train stops at Chorin station, a 20-30 minute walk from the church.
Magdeburg
Magdeburg, on the River Elbe, is the capital of the Saxony-Anhalt region, and is fairly easy to reach, as little as 1 hour 45 minutes by regional train from Berlin.
It’s best known for its Cathedral, one of the outstanding churches in Germany. It’s one of the first Gothic cathedrals in the country, and is also the burial place of Otto I, King of the East Franks and, later, Holy Roman Emperor from 962 to 973 AD.
The rest of the restored Altstadt – Old Town – is also well worth a look, especially the main square, the Alter Markt, which hosts the city’s main market from Tuesday to Saturday each week.
Magdeburg’s other main sights are close to the Cathedral and River Elbe. The city’s Art Museum – Kunstmuseum Magdeburg – is just behind the Cathedral in the striking setting of the medieval Monastery of Our Lady (Kloster Unser Lieben Frauen).
And Magdeburg’s most unusual modern building, the Green Citadel of Austrian architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser, is just off the Domplatz (Cathedral Square). It’s an environmentally friendly apartment block which replaced a grim GDR-era building in 2005. He’s best known for the apartment block named after him in Vienna, and has been compared with the likes of Antoni Gaudi. He was certainly a complete one-off. And, by the way, the building is pink, not green.
Tours from Berlin: This comprehensive walking tour of the city takes in all of the main sights including the Cathedral.
See Also: 30 Best Places To Visit On The River Elbe
Quedlinburg
If your ideal vision of Germany is row after row of centuries-old half-timbered houses, then you should start planning to visit Quedlinburg. There are thousands of these fachwerk houses around the World Heritage-listed town, and a Castle and Romanesque Church (St Servatius, the cradle of modern Germany, where the Kingdom of the East Franks was first proclaimed in 936 AD.
Ideally Quedlinburg warrants an overnight stay, but if this isn’t possible take a took at my guide to the most beautiful streets in Quedlinburg. This takes you to the pick of the half-timbered houses around the town. One of them is believed to be one of the oldest such houses in Germany, and the small museum inside is open from April to October.
Quedlinburg is well off the beaten path for English-speaking tourists – though not Germans, with whom it’s very popular. It’s in the province of Saxony-Anhalt, one of the best unexplored regions in Europe. The wonderful Harz Steam Railway takes you on a long, slow journey through the hills, and eventually up the Brocken, the highest mountain in the region.
Tours from Berlin: This private group walking tour of Quedlinburg is a great option, as it covers any number up to 12 people – ideal if you’re travelling as a family or group.
Getting there: Quedlinburg is 3 hours 20 minutes from Berlin Hbf, with two changes. Which makes for a long day.
See Also: 20 Best Things To Do In Quedlinburg and 6 Best Churches In Quedlinburg To Visit
Leipzig
Leipzig is the second largest city in the former East Germany, and along with Berlin, the least East and most western city in this part of Germany.
Its two biggest draws are its classical music history – particularly Johann Sebastian Bach – and its connections to the fall of Communist Germany in 1989.
If you plan to spend one day in Leipzig, you’d probably spend a lot of time in the historic centre, a 5-minute walk from the station. Here you’ll find Nikolaikirche Leipzig, the church where the Monday demonstrations that brought about the fall of the GDR, began. To grasp what everyone was protesting against, look no further than the Stasi Museum Leipzig, which sets out the insidious methods used by the GDR secret police to spy on and persecute their citizens.
A short walk from there, the Gothic Thomaskirche is best-known as the church where JS Bach was choirmaster from 1723 to 1750. He’s buried in the chancel of the church, and the Bach Museum is set in the house where he once lived, a few metres across the street.
As rents in Berlin have gradually risen over the last 15-20 years, many in its artistic community have been forced to relocate. And many of them have moved to Leipzig. Check out the canalside district of Plagwitz for many of their workshops and street art.
Tours: This hop-on-hop-off bus tour is a great introduction to the main Leipzig sights. Another way to see the city that helped bring down the GDR is a tour in a Trabant, the iconic car much loved by cult car fans across the world.
Getting there: ICE trains take as little as 1 hour 16 minutes to reach Leipzig.
Dresden
Dresden is the nearest major city to Berlin, a two-hour train ride from the capital. The ‘Florence on the Elbe’ one of the best places to visit in Germany, a stunning Baroque city rebuilt from the rubble after its destruction during an Allied bombing raid in February 1945.
Dresden’s a great choice for a day trip from Berlin because many of its sights are concentrated in a small area near the River Elbe. My advice is to absolutely not miss the Frauenkirche Dresden, one of the most beautiful Baroque churches in Europe. The Protestant church has been meticulously restored, and standing inside you feel like you’re looking up the heavens. You can get a closer look by climbing to the dome’s viewing gallery.
A short walk from the Frauenkirche takes you to the amazing Residenzschloss, sometimes called Dresden Castle. It was home to the Electors of Saxony, including the wealthiest of them all, Augustus the Strong. Some of his treasures are on display in the Historic Green Vault and the New Green Vault upstairs.
Across the street from there, the Zwinger Palace is one of the great Baroque buildings of Dresden. There are three sections – Augustus’ Porcelain Collection, the Mathematics & Physics Salon and one of the best art galleries in Europe. Check out my guide to Visiting Dresden Old Masters Gallery for more information.
Tours: This boat trip on the Elbe takes you from the historic centre past the Elbe Palaces to the lovely suburb of Loschwitz and back. Otherwise, the hop-on-hop-off bus tour of Dresden is a great way to see even more of the city.
See Also: One Day In Dresden – a day trip to the ‘Florence on the Elbe’
Dessau
The small city of Dessau, 80 miles southeast of Berlin, has the rare distinction of being home to two UNESCO World Heritage Sites. It would be quite a push to visit both on a day trip from Berlin, though you could have time to cover one in its entirety and get an overview of another.
The first Dessau World Heritage Site is the Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Kingdom, a few miles to the east of the city. Influenced by the Enlightenment and English gardens (including Stourhead in Wiltshire), Duke Leopold III of Anhalt-Dessau set about creating a vast English park, with several palaces also built in the surrounding area. The nearest equivalent I can think of is the Lednice-Valtice Cultural Landscape in the Czech Republic, close to the border with Austria.
Dessau is also famous for its connections to the Bauhaus architectural movement in the 1920s. There are several sites around the city, including Walter Gropius’ Bauhaus building, the nearby Masters Houses and the Bauhaus Museum. There is also a housing estate – Torten – in the south of the city which maintains some of its original Bauhaus elements.
Tours: This Dessau guided walking tour is a great way to see the old city centre and Bauhaus buildings.
Getting there: RE7 train takes 1 hour 40 minutes.
Görlitz
Görlitz is gorgeous, a stunning town on the border with Poland, rather out on a limb if you plan on a day trip there from Berlin. It’s much easier if you visit as one of your day trips from Dresden.
Sao why go out of your way? Görlitz got through the Second World War almost unscathed, so its Altstadt or Old Town is beautifully preserved. This authentic feel has drawn many film directors to shoot there – including movies such as The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Reader and Inglourious Basterds.
The most beautiful streets inGörlitz are around the Untermarkt square, with some wonderful Renaissance houses and superb sculpture and arched doorways. The square is also home to two of the best museums in Görlitz, the Silesian Museum and Barockhaus. The square is a short walk up Neisstrasse from the river, which forms the border with Poland. You can walk across the footbridge to the town of Zgorzelec.
The Kaufhaus is the Art Nouveau department store where many interior scenes of The Grand Budapest Hotel were filmed. It’s not open regularly – guided tours are usually held one day a week.
Tours: This Old Town walking tour is a great introduction to the town.
Getting there: The best way to reach Görlitz from Berlin is by car, which takes about two hours. The layout of this part of the Deutscha Bahn network means that it’ll take you over three hours to travel by train from Berlin to Görlitz. So you could also tie it in with one of the other locations I’ve suggested nearby, including Bad Muskau.
See Also: Things To Do InGörlitz – our complete guide to the easternmost town in Germany
Hamburg
Hamburg is one of the best cities to visit in Germany, and just over two hours away by fast train from Berlin. It’s a great port city near the mouth of the Elbe, with a restored historic core and the harbour at St Pauli a great place to take a boat trip.
One day in Hamburg is enough to give you an overview of the city. For historic sights, head to the inner Alster lake with its arcades and views of the Rathaus, the ornate city hall. I also recommend a visit to St Michaelis, the Protestant church whose spire still dominates the Hamburg skyline. You can climb it for exceptional views of the city.
Around the Harbour, don’t miss the Speicherstadt (it means ‘Spice City’), a World Heritage-listed network of vast red-brick warehouses where imported goods – and those meant for export – would be stored.
The newest sight on the Harbour is the Elbphilharmonie concert hall, one of the most famous landmarks in Germany. It’s a short ride from there to the notorious Reeperbahn, known for its seedy nightlife and for being where the Beatles learned their craft in the early 1960s. The Beatlesplatz, with a statue of the Fab Four, is near the bottom of the Reeperbahn, close to An Grosser Freiheit.
If you’re visiting Hamburg with kids, I strongly recommend a boat trip around the harbour and a visit to Miniatur Wonderland. It has the world’s largest model railway, and models of various Hamburg landmarks and famous places around the world including Neuschwanstein Castle, Venice and the Grand Canyon.
Tours: You can’t beat the hafenrundfahrt, a 90-minute boat cruise around Hamburg harbour.
Getting there: Intercity trains take around 1 hour 45 minutes to Hamburg Hbf.
See Also: 16 Best Hamburg Landmarks To Discover
Day Trips From Berlin To Poland
Poznań
Poznań is the largest city in western Poland, and is considered by some to be the birthplace of modern Poland. It was certainly where Christianity first became established in Poland, and the country’s first cathedral was built there in the 10th century.
There are two main areas to explore in Poznań – the quieter Cathedral Island (Ostrow Tumski) and the Old Town (Stare Miasto). The latter gives Krakow, Warsaw and Gdansk a run for their money in the picturesqueness stakes, with an exquisite Renaissance Town Hall (Ratusz). The Town Hall clock is famous for its two mechanical goats which headbutt each other on the hour. And the interior is also well worth an hour of your time, as it’s home to the excellent Historical Museum of Poznań.
The Ratusz dominates the Stary Rynek (Old Square), one of the loveliest squares in Poland and Europe. There are four fountains around the Rynek, and some beautiful sections of pastel-painted houses. There is enough to keep you in Poznań for two or three days, but this would easily fill a day trip all the way from Berlin.
Tours: This guided walking tour is a great introduction to the city.
Getting there: It’s a 2 hour 40 minute train ride from Berlin Hbf to Poznań Glowny.
Szczecin
The Polish port city of Szczecin (Stettin in German) has fallen under the control of several different European powers in its 1,300-year history. It’s been under the rule of Sweden, Prussia, Germany and Poland just in the last few hundred years, and is one of the best hidden gems in Poland, with a wealth of things to see.
Szczecin’s Stare Miasto is lovely, with a restored main square, streets, townhouses and a Cathedral originally built in the 14th century. The white Renaissance-era Ducal Castle is one of its most beautiful buildings. It was the residence of the Dukes of Pomerania, and Its elaborate exterior decoration was restored after the Second World War.
The city also has some fascinating architecture from the last century, from Socialist Realist buildings to the recent Szczecin Philharmonic. The latter is remarkable, resembling an ice palace or fortress with upturned spikes or spires pointing skywards. The building won the EU Prize for Contemporary Architecture in 2015.
Tours: This private guided walking tour of the Old Town is a great way to discover Szczecin. As is this cruise around Szczecin harbour and port.
Getting there: It’s usually a two-hour train ride from Berlin. At the time of writing (March 2025) track works mean a replacement bus service is running the final part of the journey.
Best Day Trips From Berlin – Final Thoughts
I hope you’ve enjoyed this guide to places you can visit from Berlin on a day trip. Potsdam and Sachsenhausen are the two most popular with international visitors, but some of the smaller destinations nearby – and larger cities further afield – are well worth the effort to see too.
If you’re wondering about more things to do in Berlin, take a look at the rest of my series of articles on the city:
9 Best Churches in Berlin To Visit
Photographing Berlin – 13 fascinating places to seek out
Berlin Landmarks – 21 unmissable sights in Berlin
Berlin World War 2 Sites – including several memorials and outstanding museums
Berlin Cold War Sites – from the Brandenburg Gate to the Berlin Wall and much more
And if you’re planning further travel around the region, also check out my guide to the Best Places To Visit In Eastern Germany.