Most Peaceful and Beautiful Hike in Brandenburg – Dannenwalde to Fürstenberg

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Friends, I haven’t been keeping track, but I am somewhere near 1,000 kilometers of hiking through Brandenburg. So when I say this is one of the most peaceful and beautiful hikes out there, you can bet your boots I mean it. Sunday Fun Day basically translates to Wandertag Sonntag in Germany. Nearly all shops are closed on Sundays in Germany, so you can’t really run those errands you forgot about during the week. Sundays are great days for sleeping in and doing nothing at home, or for most Germans, going out for a hike. The best trails in Brandenburg, like the Briesetal, the Schlaubetal, or the Kunstwanderweg, are full of Berliners getting out of the city for a change. The fact that we met ZERO day hikers on this beautiful trail from Dannenwalde to Fürstenberg attests to the peacefulness of this trail.

The other reason why I love this trail is the same as my top reason for loving Brandenburg: water. This hike in its entirety follows one body of water or another. The hiker begins the trail by following the Grenzbek, the former border between Mecklenburg-Strelitz and Preußen, the calmest bends of the Havel River, and the shores of the Stolpsee, before arriving in Wasserstadt Fürstenberg an der Havel, itself home to a number of bodies of water.

Things to Know

The Wanderungen Durch Brandenburg guide gives this 23 km hike from Dannenwalde to Fürstenberg 5 stars, and I agree! We additionally agree that this route be undertaken by experienced hikers with a map of the region and/or reliable GPS, as some sections in the woods can be a bit overwhelming. There is a variation however which can be done by less experienced hikers.

The RE5 travels to Dannenwalde every two hours from Berlin Südkreuz, Hbf, and Gesundbrunnen (even hours from 4:42 (Hbf)), just 53 minutes from Hauptbahnhof. The return trip from Fürstenberg occurs every hour at 0:13 and the journey is just over an hour. You can use the Berlin-Brandenburg ticket (worth it if you’re 3+ people or 2 without a BahnCard).

Dannenwalde

Exiting the train station in Dannenwalde, we used the northern most exit onto Lindenallee, heading southeast, which took us directly to Blumenower Straße. We passed the pink polygonal church and then turned left into Pozener Weg. There, we saw the first sign which would guide us more or less to our destination in Fürstenberg, the blue stripe on a white background of the E10. Eventually, the street ends and becomes a bike trail through some farm fields, the very same one we took on our trip from Berlin to Copenhagen.

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When we entered the woods, we took the third right (which was marked), leaving the bike trail. Less experienced hikers can continue to follow the bike trail until Bredereiche. The trail is mostly marked through the woods, but there are some unclear intersections. On the forest path, we followed the signs until we connected with the main road again and turned right to cross the Grenzbek. Just after the creek, the signs led us left back into the woods.

Grenzbek

The Grenzbek is nearly always in view along the way. The trail underfoot is so rarely traveled that moss covers large sections. In other places, the trail has even been upturned by wild boars rooting about for food. This is unusual because normally only the edges of a hardpacked trail are easy enough for the boars to work through, but here the trail in its entirety is up for grubs.

At one unmarked intersection, we continue to curve around to the right, ignoring the path to the left with the white gate. The second time the path is unclear, we took the path to the right which was sandwiched between monoculture pines on the left and a mixed forest on the right, heading slightly uphill and away from the creek. The Grenzbek makes a large curve and eventually we meet it again. Now the trail is well-marked and will lead us all the way to Boltenhof. Despite the few sections of boring, thickly planted and sickly pines, there are many sections of mixed forest.

Boltenhof

When we met the street with a bus stop, we crossed and continued more or less straight on Lindenallee, the unfrequented road to Boltenhof. Along the way we passed red curly haired cows and their calves before we arrived at the tiny settlement. The most exciting thing there was an enormous gaggle of white Christmas geese honking and running about to announce our arrival.

From Boltenhof, we made a large U-like curve to the left through the fields on the edge of town. This portion of the trail was not at all marked with our blue bar, but the orange (and purple) Laufpark Stechlin signs guided us to Bredereiche. The Grenzbek had ended but soon enough we would arrive at the banks of the Havel.

Bredereiche

Out of the woods, we met another main road and turned right to head towards Bredereiche, passing through farm fields. Turning right at the next intersection, we joined up with the Berlin-Copenhagen trail. If you continue across the bridge on Schleusenstraße you can visit the Badestrand, the ice cream parlor, or the old mill. Our journey took us instead northwards on Schwarzer Weg. From here, the trail is well marked by a blue dot, blue X, and blue bar all the way to Fürstenberg.

Peaceful Havel

The Havel makes several impressive winding turns on the five or six kilometers to Stolpsee. The path is so thickly covered with leaves that it is almost impossible to follow. There is a slight depression where others have hiked before us, though we don’t ever see them. Another instance where we know someone was there but don’t see them is the beaver. He has been very obviously busy along the shores of the river. We see several freshly chewed stumps and some cartoon-like trees which have been nearly gnawed through but not quite.

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We passed a campground in Zootzen, finding so much joy in devising different ways to pronounce the name of the town and remarking that the camp would probably not be as enjoyably still in the summertime. Around this time I also realized how calm and silent the forest had been – no noise from people or cars. Just silence.

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A few houses appeared out of nowhere in Regelsdorf, as did a trio of goats at the Forsthaus and some incessantly barking dogs who were so old that they were more raspy than viscious.

Stolpsee

The water temporarily disappeared and then we arrived at Stolpsee. The other side of the lake is where we stayed at a Christmas-themed campground in Himmelfort on the way to Copenhagen. The town is also home to the Weihnachtsmannpostamt, Santa’s Post Office. We left Stolpsee for a detour around the Waldschule, then through the Siggelwiese (meadow) along the Siggelhavel. Coming into Fürstenberg, we passed by the Eisenbahnfähre, a train ferry. The ferry is now stranded on land and you can see where it helped the train cross the river. Then we crossed a covered bridge between the Schwedtsee and Baalensee into Fürstenberg proper and headed towards the train station.

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Fürstenberg

After hiking from Dannenwalde to Fürstenberg, we didn’t spend time visiting our destination on this hike because we’ve been here at least 3 other times, but the town is definitely worth hanging out in. Like its moniker Wasserstadt Fürstenberg suggests, there is a ton of water around for all those fun wet sports. The city has been a long time recreational vacation spot for boating, swimming, hiking, and fresh air. We made note of the campground we saw in Zootzen as well as the second one, called Wilde Heimat, closer to Fürstenberg for some future summertime fun. For another adventure from Fürstenberg see the 2-day hiking loop on my list of Berlin’s Best Hikes.

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