Traditional punts
Poled by boatmen.
Michael aus Halle — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Jan-Herm Janßen — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Jan-Herm Janßen — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Tiefkuehlfan — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Michael aus Halle — CC BY-SA 3.0
The Spreewald, the «Spree Forest», is a large inland delta of the river Spree in Lower Lusatia, in the state of Brandenburg, eastern Germany. The town of Lübbenau is its best-known gateway, about 82 km southeast of Berlin and 29 km west of Cottbus in a straight line. The landscape was shaped in the last Ice Age, and UNESCO made it a biosphere reserve in 1991. It is known for a traditional irrigation network of more than 200 small canals with a total length of 1,300 km across 484 square kilometres. Sorbs live in parts of it, so signs there are in German and Sorbian. Quiet canals wind between alders and willows that arch over the water, mirroring the green on the surface. Wooden houses and small farms with flowering gardens line the banks, and in the neighbouring village of Lehde the canals take the place of streets, so boats reach the front doors. Visitors ride the traditional flat-bottomed wooden boats, pushed with long poles by boatmen, from Lübbenau harbour, or hire kayaks, and try the region's famous pickled gherkins. Others walk or cycle the paths between the canals, and it makes a day trip from Berlin by train.
Poled by boatmen.
Canals for streets.
The local speciality.
Lübbenau, Spreewald, Brandenburg, Germany
Yes, from Berlin by train.
May to September.