Cycling Berlin to Hamburg

Highlights: Berlin, the city of freedom

Berlin has been the stage for significant moments in world history – and not just the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. You can still discover the traces of history in countless places around the capital. And, no Berlin visit is complete without a taste of local cuisine: let’s start with our welcome dinner tonight after getting bicycles and going for a short test ride!

Highlights: Brandenburger Gate, Victory Column, Olympia Stadium and Grunewald Forest

Our route will take you to Potsdam today. This was the royal residence for Prussian kings and the German Kaiser until 1918. The palace’s name Sans Souci, translates to “without concerns.” King Frederick set-up his summer residence here in the 18th century to relax and escape the spectacle of the Berlin court. Take the rest of the day to enjoy the town, its many palaces, and parks.

Highlights: Havel River Bike Path and Brandenburg city attractions

Today you will follow bike paths along the Havel River to Brandenburg. Known for its religious buildings, Brandenburg is perched on the edge of one of central Europe’s largest non-coastal wetlands – the Lower Havel basin – where rare animals such as beavers and otters can be observed in the wild. The cycle route through Brandenburg’s town centre takes in all the main sights, such as the New Town, Cathedral Island and Old Town. The Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul is an impressive testimony to the town’s importance as a major religious centre and is the mother church for the state of Brandenburg.

Highlights: Elbe Valley, Bird Watching and Baroque gardens at our lodging

We’ll follow the Havel River, which appears more like a series of lakes rather than a river, on its south side until Genthin when we cross to the north and pedal west to the Elbe River. A short ferry ride across the Elbe locates us in the Elbe Valley, a paradise for bird watchers because its extensive alluvial flats offer perfect habitat for many avian species. Tonight we stay in Tangermünde.

Highlights: Elbe River and Iron Curtain, Lüneburg – a storybook, brick medieval town

Today we start by taking a 1.45-hour shuttle to Hitzacker, where we start cycling following the Elbe river along a natural area of the Lower Saxony Elbtalaue. With such a picturesque landscape it’s difficult to imagine that you are traveling along the Iron Curtain to Lüneburg, a town whose prosperity for centuries came from its massive salt dome which was mined, sold and traded throughout Northern Europe.

Highlights: Free and Hanseatic City, “Gateway to the world”

We’ll ride through the Lüneburg Heath, a nature reserve through the “Alte Land,” a rural paradise famous for its orchards. We’ll enter Hamburg, Germany’s second-largest city and largest port (despite being located on a river 100 km from the coast), by way of ferry. Hamburg has engaged in business with the world ever since it joined the Hanseatic League back in the Middle Ages, and this “harbourpolis” is now the nation’s premier media hub and its wealthiest city. We’ll enjoy a special dinner this evening to say farewell to the riders who are doing the Berlin to Hamburg stage and welcome the new comers on the Hamburg to Copenhagen stage.

Highlights: Guided harbor cruise of the Hamburg Port

Your tour ends with a guided harbor cruise of the Hamburg Port.