The Alps in Brandenburg? Even though the Berlin area has some beautiful hiking trails to offer, one rarely thinks of high mountains. Brandenburg is characterized more by lakes and pretty castles than by kilometer-high peaks. But in one corner of our flat surroundings, a little surprise awaits us: just outside Potsdam, near Werder an der Havel, lies a rugged mountain landscape. The word “mountain” may need to be put in quotation marks, because of course the Alps are a size larger. But if you don’t want to travel that far, you can also awaken alpine feelings near Berlin with a little good will.
Nature by human hands
Photo: Shutterstock
The name “Alps” is, of course, meant to be a little tongue-in-cheek, but the steep slopes and deep gorges are real. However, they were not created by nature, but by us humans. More precisely, the “Alps in Brandenburg” are a legacy of brickmaking. The landscape was created by the massive extraction of clay.
From the 15th century to the early 20th century , billions of bricks were fired here for Berlin and Potsdam. Where the clay was mined, deep pits and mounds of earth were left behind. After mining ceased, nature finally reclaimed the land. The result was a densely forested area with elevation differences of up to 40 meters in a very small space. By Brandenburg standards, these are real peaks.
Hiking with panoramic views
Swan on the Flakensee lake in Brandenburg. Photo: Shutterstock
Today, a well-signposted nature trail leads through the area. You hike along narrow ridges, while steep gorges descend to the left and right.
As the area is now a nature reserve, rare plants and animals have settled here. The damp depressions form a microclimate of their own, in which ferns and mosses thrive. And, of course, there are some beautiful viewpoints over Lake Glindow and the Havel landscape – you rarely get much higher than this in Brandenburg.
Incidentally, a trip to the Glindow Alps is not complete without a visit to the neighboring brick museum. It is one of the last functioning museums of its kind. There you will learn how the “Glindow Yellow” bricks – the famous yellow bricks used to build half of Berlin – were made.