Brandenburg’s Burgenweg in Hoher Fläming

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The 147 km long Burgenweg hikes through the idyllic Fläming landscape southwest of Potsdam in Brandenburg. This Quality Hike takes you to four historic castles in the region: Burg Eisenhardt in Bad Belzig, Schloss Wiesenburg, Bischofsresidenz Burg Ziesar, and Burg Rabenstein in Raben. Much of the region is challenging to reach via public transportation, making this trail an excellent choice for exploring the Naturpark Hoher Fläming.

What you should know about the Burgenweg in Brandenburg

The 8 sections of the Burgenweg in Brandenburg can be hiked in day trips. Originally, this is how I began the hike since it wasn’t possible to stay overnight anywhere during the COVID-19 pandemic. There are a few campgrounds along the way, although if you choose the camping option, you will also need to stay in guesthouses occasionally. All start and end points of the Burgenweg in Brandenburg have at least one guesthouse. If choosing to complete the Burgenweg in day trips from Berlin, be prepared for a two hour trip each way. Supermarkets exist in the major towns like Bad Belzig, Wiesenburg, Görzke, and Ziesar. Likewise, these towns also have restaurants and places to eat. Seldom will you find something in between, so bring lots of snacks!

As a Qualitätswanderweg, the Burgenweg is extremely well marked. There is no guide book for the trail, but I carried a map with me just in case.

Here’s my experience hiking the Burgenweg in Brandenburg:

Section 1: Bad Belzig to Lühnsdorf – 13 km

From Bad Belzig, the trail is easy to pick up. Leaving the station, I crossed the train tracks via the pedestrian bridge and turned left to walk parallel to the tracks. Shortly, I saw a path next to the one I was on, which is the Burgenweg. In no time, a trail marker assured me that I was on the right track.

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The entire section is well-marked by a red tower and path on a white rectangular background. The Burgenweg in Brandenburg is mostly on farm roads through green agricultural fields. The gentle hills are beautiful and there was hardly any elevation gain on this leg. Occasionally the trail passed through a strip of forest. While I didn’t love the first 8 kilometers because of the seemingly never-ending fields, the trail became more interesting after passing through the village of Kranepuhl, which has a cute little church. Coming out of the village, I hiked up a hill through a forest of pine trees. With just two kilometers to go, the Burgenweg left the road for a very cute tree-lined path between two fields. In Lühnsdorf, there was another church: a freie Kirche, which is always open. I rested a while on the bench outside and took a peek at the interior. Along the way there were info stations about the geology, apple trees, and owls.

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If connecting back to Berlin: The bus is a Ruftaxi and you must call at least an hour before the scheduled rides to request and reserve a seat. The Burgenlinie bus runs during the main season, but this stop is a bit further on at the edge of the village. Walk past the church to the end of the road and turn right to see the bus stop (don’t miss the bus by waiting at the wrong stop in the middle of town!). You can stay overnight at the restaurant/guesthouse. Can’t miss it!

Section 2: Lühnsdorf to Rädigke – 16 km

I’m spending a lot of time traveling to and from the Burgenweg from Berlin, but I’m hoping that it will be worth it! I had a beautifully sunny day for this short hike from Lühnsdorf to Rädigke. Although the villages are just 4 kilometers apart, there is a loop from Rädigke which has been added to the Burgenweg (it was not part of the trail on the map I have from 2007). If the hike makes an extra effort to include this 11 km Rundweg, then it must be worth seeing. I looked forward to this highlight along the way.

Leaving Lühnsdorf, I had a great view of the town and its church tower before heading into the pine tree forest. A forest ranger was cutting some dead branches with a chainsaw. Making a sharp right, the trail followed the edge of the forest along a field. No cows were visible, but the pasture was still picturesque. Soon I came to a little stream which I was very excited to see. I learned that it is called the Plane. There was also an info-station about the formation of meanders and the course of the Plane.

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Radigke

Before I knew it, I had reached Rädigke. Small boulders, leftover from the ice age, line the streets and contain tiles with quotes from authors and poets written about the region. I saw two from Theodor Fontane, who visited much of Brandenburg and sang its praises in his writing. Arriving at the center of town, I was disappointed to find a sign announcing that half of my loop was closed due to dead and dying trees in the Neuendorfer Rummel – what I had supposed to be the highlight of this section.

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Looking at the map, there wasn’t a good option for creating a different loop without spending too much time along the road. Instead, I decided to hike the half of the loop to the village of Garrey and back. The map showed a lookout tower and “romantic” church, so I figured why not?

Neuendorfer Rummel

Leaving Rädigke, I had to hike under the Autobahn, which was extremely noisy as I approached and departed the tunnel. On the other side, I hiked the 3 kilometers to Garrey on a continually inclining trail through the pine forest. At a bench on the edge of the woods overlooking an agricultural field, I took a break to eat some lunch. There an information stand told me about the Ortolan and the Neuntöter, two birds common to the region. Neuntöter translates to “nine killer,” which sounds like a rather menacing name for a bird the size of a sparrow. The bird prefers to live in thorn bushes and places insects it catches on the thorns. People thought the Neuntöter had to have a collection of nine bugs before it would eat them. Then I learned that the bird really is a bit menacing: it will even eat small birds and rodents!

Garrey

The rest of the journey to Garrey was through fields. Now that I was higher up in elevation, I had a nice view of the surrounding area and was looking forward to the lookout tower. On the way, I passed a herd of goats who were very excited and curious to see me. A lot of them had just had kids. They were all different sizes and some were completely black, others completely brown, and some a mixture of both.

The lookout tower had a slightly more elevated view of the fields around. I think it used to be a water tower. Inside was a museum about the history of water in Garrey. Outside there were some fun rocking chairs and a giant stone painted like a ladybug. Then I walked through the village, past the romantic church and a guesthouse, and back the way I came to Rädigke.

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Back to Rädigke

Just before Rädigke, I noticed some strange formations at the far end of one of the fields. I wasn’t sure if I was just seeing things out of mounds of dirt, or if it was a herd of cows way up there. One of them stood up and I realized I was watching a herd of at least 20 deer resting in the field. Some of them had budding antlers and one had a great big rack! They were far away, so my pictures didn’t turn out great, but I had a wonderful time observing them. In Rädigke, I waited for the bus by a pond and a pair of Mouflon sheep cared for by the fire department.

Section 3: Rädigke to Wiesenburg Bahnhof – 24 km

I thought there would just be one highlight today and pretty early on too: Burg Rabenstein. It was great! But I was wrong. There would be lots of highlights today!

When I got off the bus in Rädigke, I crossed the Plane stream and walked through some fields. A tractor passed me and I soon left the wide open fields for a path through the forest. This section of the trail is called Planetal, or Plane Valley after the stream that runs through it. There was an info sign about how important this little creek is because the region is so water-poor. I think the area does get a bit flooded when there is a lot of water at once, so the trail is not directly next to the stream. I passed over a recently built boardwalk and bridge over one marshy spot. At another point, I came across an old “border mound” which delineated where Rädigke ended and Raben began. Today it is used to mark hunting zones.

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Raben

Arriving in Raben, I crossed the Plane and was in the center of town. From here, the trail makes a loop, which I followed clockwise. Heading up the big hill towards Burg Rabenstein, I passed several signs for the learn/experience trail. They were about the musicality of wood, how to use triangles and math to determine the height of a tree, the value of oak wood, woodpeckers’ abilities, and listening to the sounds of the forest.

As if that wasn’t enough fun, there’s also the castle! It is often open on weekends for half hour tours of the castle and to visit the tower (but not while I was there during Corona). Walking back towards the village there are more learn/experience trail stations. In Raben, there is a fieldstone church and several places where you can stay the night. To eat, there is a restaurant at the castle and another in town.

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To Mützdorf

On the way from Raben to Mützdorf, the trail continues along the Plane. Occasionally, the route left the forest and passed through a meadow. Closer to Mützdorf, the trail is a bit one dimensional and passes through farm fields. Although I was very happy to observe different kinds of birds there, I was beginning to think the rest of the day would be uninteresting.

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Mützdorf to Jeserigerhütten

The trail after Mützdorf was amazing! I couldn’t believe what a magical forest I had entered into. The trees were very diverse and the evergreens were full and healthy. The trail was lined by blueberry shrubs. Occasionally, there were sections of monoculture pines, but the pristine nature of the rest of the forest was more than enough to make up for it.

In Jeserigerhütten, the trail just hugs the edge of the village while remaining in the forest. An info sign indicated that this village was also called Glashütte because of the glass industry there in the 1600-1800s.

Jeserig

In no time I had reached Jeserig. There a sign informed me a little about the many fieldstone churches in the region, which I also noticed on the Historische Stadtkerne Brandenburg bike route. Glaciers from Scandinavia brought bountiful stones to the region during the ice age. In the middle ages, this was the most prominently used building material, evidenced by the churches today.

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There are a few options for accommodations in Jeserig. When leaving, the trail hikes half way around a pleasant pond and then heads out of town. It’s just 2 kilometers the train station in Wiesenburg. Again, the forest is really nice here and passes a few more small ponds before reaching the station.

Section 4: Wiesenburg Bahnhof to Görzke – 16 km

The trail from Wiesenburg to Görzke was pretty, but uneventful. The hike from the train station in Wiesenburg to the castle passes through a beautiful garden. Mid to late Spring is the right time of year to hike through the castle gardens. There are a lot of rhododendrons, but they unfortunately weren’t yet in bloom when I hiked through. This section of the Burgenweg overlaps with the Internationaler Kunstwanderweg, one of my favorite hikes around the Berlin area. At the end of the gardens is the fantastic Schloss. You can visit the gardens and the tower, but the castle has been converted into apartments and cannot be toured.

Along the way, I heard a lot of woodpeckers taunting me, but I could never spot them. The little village of Neuehütte was quiet. What made this section less enjoyable was the vast amount of monoculture pine forest, although sometimes there were beech trees. I learned about the Alte Hölle and the Waldhotel Adlerhof, about disappearing villages, and the likeness of the region to the rolling hills of England. More than usual, I saw lots of horses on this section, even some adorable baby horses. Despite the monotonous trail, I reached Görzke quickly. The town is known as a Töpferstadt for its pottery. Each year they host a large festival for the artform.

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Section 5: Görzke to Ziesar – 23 km

When I left Görzke, the trail soon passed through farm fields where the birds were noisily chirping away. They would continue to do so most of the morning. I passed a tractor working to till the dirt. After crossing a small stream, the Riembach, I entered the woods. Then I came across the ruins of a church. Already abandoned in 1375, this church is one of several ruins which remain after villages were deserted in the Hoher Fläming region.

Fläming has a few interesting claims on old stuff: it has the one of the highest concentrations of abandoned villages and it has an unusually high concentration of old fieldstone churches. Every three kilometers there is a village, and each village has an approximately 700 year old church. These tiny churches were mostly built by grandchildren of farmers with stones their fathers and grandfathers took out of the ground to farm. A small church needs roughly 8000 fieldstones!

Dahlen

Before long, I arrived in Dahlen. Here, I took a small detour to the center of the one-road village to see the church. The cobbled street led past the Waldcafé (which is open Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from 1:30pm) and the Gutspark. First mentioned in 1515, the manor was built in the mid-19^th century with a park in the “English style.” You can visit the park today, but the buildings have been transformed into a care home. The church is from the 1700’s and was built in a brick-half-timber style. All in all, worth a short detour from the trail to see Dahlen.

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Kiefern

After Dahlen, the trail felt like it went through a never-ending forest of pines, pines, and more pines. Occasionally the pines would be at various stages of growth: recently cut down, little saplings, teenage trees, and very tall adults. Sometimes the monoculture was so thick that you couldn’t see any light through them. At other times, there was enough space between them for moss, grass, or berries to grow.

Clay

At a rest stop, there was an information sign about the clay in the area. Brandenburg has a lot of it. The extraction of clay leads to strange pond formations and leaves unique ground formations from the leftover pits. Clay was extracted from the ground near Buckautal in the 17^th through 19^th centuries, part of the reason why Görzke is so renowned for its pottery. After the invention and development of glass making, the town’s clay production was reduced to just dishware.

Finally leaving the pine tree nightmare, the rest of the hike was through agricultural fields and pastures. When I first left the forest, a fox spotted me and began to run away before I had a good look at him. The birds were becoming chatty again and I saw a tree full of starlings. They continued flying off to the next tree on the trail as I walked onwards.

Köpernitz

I could see Köpernitz since I had exited the woods, but it was about 5 kilometers away. When I arrived in the town, it also had a cobbled street and a fieldstone church. The town has just celebrated 600 years in 2020. Crossing the B107, I also crossed paths with the Historische Stadtkerne Brandenburg 4 bike trail.

I crossed a small creek with an information station about Edelkrebs, known as the European crayfish or noble crayfish. Edelkrebs were once abundantly available and widely eaten during the 18^th century. A fungus brought about by waters dirtied during the industrial revolution and the addition of other freshwater crayfish led to the decline of noble crayfish. The clear freshwater in Hoher Fläming and the restoration project ongoing from the 1990’s are enabling the Edelkrebs to make a comeback.

Unfortunately, much of the rest of the hike was within earshot of the A2 highway. The trail eventually crosses the highway and the scenery becomes more idyllic heading towards Ziesar. Leaving the tractor road, the new path is wide enough only for foot traffic. It continues through a field and along two sides of a horse pasture. The backside of the Bischofsresidenz welcomed me as I entered Ziesar.

Bischofsresidenz, Ziesar

The Bischofsresidenz in Ziesar existed as a castle since the middle of the 10^th century. In the 14^th century, Bishop Ludwig von Niendorf extended the castle to become the bishop’s residence. During the Reformation, the castle stopped being the bishop’s residence, although the administration remained there until 1819. The castle then became private, later owned by the state. It served as a home for refugees and as a boarding school. Since 2001, it serves as a museum.  

the end before the end

This is where I ended the Burgenweg in Brandenburg. 54 km short of the 147 km long trail. I completed the first five sections of the Burgenweg during the pandemic when travel for pleasure was not possible within Germany. So I did these five legs as day trips to and from Berlin. There are bus connections and it is possible to do the entire trail as day trips, but it became exhausting to spend nearly as much time in transit as I did hiking. As a thru-hike, this trail is enjoyable to do in one big chunk, but less so as day hikes. If you prefer to visit the region for the day, I would instead suggest hiking the Internationaler Kunstwanderweg or cycling on the route Historische Stadtkerne Brandenburg Loop 4.

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Brandenburg Burgenweg Sections:

Bad Belzig to Lühnsdorf – 14 km
Lühnsdorf to Rädigke – 16 km
Rädigke to Jersig (Wiesenburg Bahnhof) – 20 (24) km
Wiesenburg Bahnhof to Görzke – 16 km
Görzke to Ziesar – 23 km
Ziesar to Groß Briesen – 25 km
Groß Briesen to Dippmannsdorf – 16 km
Dippamnnsdorf to Bad Belzig – 16 km

There is some wiggle room with the first few sections because of the loop through the Neuendorfer Rummel. An alternative route might be:

Bad Belzig to Rädigke – 18 km
Rädigke to Raben – 20 km
Raben to Wiesenburg Bahnhof – 16 km

To plan my time on the Burgenweg in Brandenburg, I used this page from Wanderbares-Deutschland. You can see a detailed map and altitude profile for each section. Learn more about Brandenburg and hiking in Brandenburg.