Most Berliners tease Brandenburg as being boring, flat, and sandy. It may be sandy, but you can leave those other two adjectives behind! Especially for wanderlust-ing outdoors fanatics, a visit to Brandenburg offers a plethora of landscapes, picturesque villages, and diverse wildlife. Though the region is not mountainous, there are hills which can up the challenge, but Brandenburg’s top wilderness quality is water. The entire Bundesland is saturated with lakes, wetlands, rivers, streams, and creeks. There are nearly 3000 kilometers of hiking trails in Brandenburg and various well-developed cycling networks throughout the region.
Großer Gadsdorfer See 
water break along the Havel
Culturally and historically curious? B-burg has something for you too! I am an absolute castle-fanatic and adore cutesy villages. Both of which abound throughout the area. Find out more about hiking, biking, castle-seeing, and village-visiting in Brandenburg below.
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Hiking in Brandenburg
Hiking without mountains? Is that even fun? After hiking more than 1000 kilometers through Brandenburg’s forests and fields, I can answer with a resounding YES, that it is a grand time! Like I mentioned, water is Brandenburg’s super power, so it’s no wonder that the best trails in the land are in some way connected to its liquid gold.
Caputher See 
Seddiner See 
poppy-filled field
There are 6 trails in the Bundesland which have received a Quality Hike seal from the Deutsches Wanderverband. 4 of these are multi-day trails, although many sections are doable as day-hikes with public transportation. This by no means dictates that there are only 6 hikes worth doing. Au contrair, there are other long-distance hikes, like the 66-Lakes Trail, and day hikes, like the Internationale Kunstwanderweg, which also deserve your attention!
From quality-awarded trails to multi-day treks and single day excursions, you’ll find no shortage of hiking activities here. Find out more about hiking in Brandenburg.
Biking in Brandenburg
There are a plethora of marked bike trails and Knotenpunkten throughout the Bundesland. Even if you’re not doing a signposted route, it is possible to get around on two wheels by using the many biking road signs. There are routes galore for cyclists, bike-packers, and leisure day-trippers. If you like going from A to B, the Berlin-Copenhagen bike trail may be of interest or the Berlin-Usedom Trail to the Baltic Sea. To explore the towns and landscapes, check out the route Historische Stadtkerne Brandenburg or Tour Brandenburg. And for my favorite kind of tour (a river route) try the Havel Radweg. Find out more about biking in Brandenburg (coming soon!).
Castles in Brandenburg
Rheinsburg is by far the most famous, but not the only castle in the region. There’s the Burgenweg hiking route through Höher Fläming which takes you to four castles and the Kunstwanderweg which has castles as endpoints. You can visit the museums in Burg Eisenhardt in Bad Belzig, Burg Ziesar, and Burg Raben.
Burg Ziesar 
Schloss Wiesenburg 
Burg Eisenhardt
Cities to visit in Brandenburg
The biggest cities in the state by population are Potsdam, Cottbus, Brandenburg (an der Havel), and Frankfurt (Oder). And its possible to hike or bike in all of them! Other cities with adorable town centers are Benau (bei Berlin), Neuruppin, Strausberg, Zossen, Wittenberge, Angermünde, Zehdenick, and Bad Freienwalde.
Cutest Villages to visit in Brandenburg
On a visit to Brandenburg, you must see it’s adorable villages where time seems to stand still. Some of the cutest include: Altlandsberg, Perleberg, Wiesenburg, Buckow, Ziesar, Jüterbog, Treuenbrietzen, Werder, Bad Belzig, Beelitz, Herzberg (Elster), Uebigau, Mühlberg, Doberlug-Kirchhain, Luckau, Dahme, Lübbenau, Beeskow, and Peitz to name a few.
Jüterbog 
Treuenbrietzen 
Bad Belzig
If you visit some of the bigger cities in Brandenburg, they have an Altstadt with a village feel, like Brandenburg (an der Havel) and Potsdam.
Visit beyond Brandenburg
Brandenburg is well-located. It’s easy to make day or long-weekend trips to nearby Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony, Lower Saxony, Poland, and to the Baltic Sea.
Day trips from Brandenburg
Some of my favorite day trips are to the castle in Güstrow and to Waren an der Müritz in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
Weekend trips from Brandenburg
Weekend trips can be made to Münster, Quedlinburg, the Lüneburger Heide, the Mecklenburgische Lake District, the castles Schwerin and Ludwigslust, and Wismar.