To celebrate 28, we took a day trip from Berlin to Waren on the Müritz, Germany’s second largest lake. The town is also known as being a Kurort (spa town), although we wouldn’t have time for that on this visit. Getting to the lake town in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern took a little more than two hours, but with a direct connection from Berlin HBF and Südkreuz, it couldn’t have been easier (the Schönes-Wochenende-Ticket is your best option with two or more travelers for a weekend day trip). On the way, we passed through the Müritz Nationalpark, which looked great for hiking and biking. Definitely made a note of it for another day trip some other time.
Arrival in Waren
Departing the train, it was oddly chilly for the end of August, but the shining sun and blue skies assured me it was still summer vacation. From the station, it was a short walk to the Altstadt (old town). Once in town we quickly found ourselves gravitating towards the water. At the lakeside we saw a kiosk and sign for several different boat trips happening throughout the day ranging from just one hour around the lake up to several hours including multiple lakes and the canal. A boat trip would have been really fun, but unfortunately ended up not fitting into our day.
The Promenade
Deciding to first check out town, we strolled along the promenade eyeing all the different boats in the harbor. Around the harbor we stumbled upon two great finds. The first one was that the boardwalk has recently been extended into the lake, offering a great view of the harbor and town all at once.
The second great find was the Fischerhof Waren, which is slightly hidden a little after the promenade. We stopped there and had some fresh Fischbrötchen (fish sandwiches), eating at one of the rustic picnic tables in the sun. My geräucherte Saibling mit Preiselbeeresoße (smoked lake trout with lingonberry sauce) was simple, local, and delicious.
St. Marien Kirche
From the harbor we had seen a couple of church steeples. Full of fish, we wandered through some tiny alleys in the old town before we reached the St. Marien Kirchengeminde Waren (St. Mary’s church). For just a euro we could enter the tower. Although we passed a number of other tower-stair-climbers on the way up, we were the only ones at the top of the tower and the silence was quite peaceful. There, we could open windows in each cardinal direction to better take in the view. In one direction, the harbor and promenade were visible, while the opposite direction overlooked the Tiefwarensee (lake). Out a third window, we had a view of the old town including the main square and St. George’s church.
Check out Matthias and Kent’s post for 5 more easy day trips from Berlin.
Müritzeum
Continuing our tour of town, we walked through the square, checking out the globe-like fountain and Kunstautomat (art vending machine) on our way to the Müritzeum.
The Müritzeum is the biggest freshwater aquarium for native fish species in Germany. It is really well set up with lots of interesting facts, exhibits, and experiments with information in German and great translations in English. You can learn about bird calls, forestry, sustainability, weather, mushrooms, local regional history and more. Downstairs there’s an aquarium with all sorts of fish big and small, frogs, turtles, crabs, snails, etc. And outside there’s a small lake to walk around with playgrounds and goofy obstacle courses (which we, of course, played on). An outer building hosts collections from the Natural History State Collection.
Time was running out, but there was just enough left to get some Spaghettieis (spaghetti shaped ice cream – one of my favorite things in Germany!) before catching the train back to Berlin. The day went by so fast that I would definitely recommend Waren as a day trip from Berlin. Next time, I would easily make a (long) weekend out of it by including the spa, national park, and other towns on the Müritz. We’ll have to head back to the region again sometime soon!
