Description

Wannsee lake is a massive expanse of water, full of boats, surrounded by woodland, a beech, elegant houses, and draped in history.

It's located around 20 kilometres southwest of Berlin, right next to Potsdam.

For over 100 years, Strandbad Wannsee has been a happy refuge for locals from the heat of summer in the city.

Its imported sand from the baltic coast cover over 1275 metres, which is dotted with beach chair rentals, a water slide, and heaps of sunbathers.

The Wannsee lake was traditionally a place for wealthy Berliners to have their summer homes; notably, the painter Max Liebermann, whose house, which is open to the public, contains a collection of his paintings and the history of his family's struggle against the Nazis.

Further along from the Liebermann Villa is the House of the Wannsee Conference, which is famously the site where high ranking Nazis gathered in January 1942 to plan the Final Solution (i.e., the Holocaust).

The house has now been turned into a museum containing a lot of detailed information about the Holocaust.

Find out about visiting times here: https://www.museumsportal-berlin.de/en/museums/haus-der-wannsee-konferenz/ Wannsee Lake has a footpath and cycle path around its perimeter.

If you want to explore the whole lake, we recommend doing so by bike and beginning at Westkreuz train station.

Cycle through the forest of Grunewald, passing the Grunewaldturm, a 19th-century tower built in commemoration of the German Emperor Wilhelm I.

Continue on through the forest, until you eventually hit the edge of Wannsee lake.

Jump on the signed bike path for "Großer Wannsee Circular" and follow the path all the way around the lake in a clockwise direction.

Eventually, you will come out at the point you began along the lake, then retrace your tracks back through Grunewald to Westkreuz train station. **Sources: ** https://www.visitberlin.de/en/strandbad-wannsee https://www.berlin.de/sehenswuerdigkeiten/3560626-3558930-grunewaldturm.html https://www.liebermann-villa.de/start.html