Lakes in Berlin

1. Schlachtensee

Located in South-west Berlin, this is the most convenient lake to get to out of all the three listed here. Literally, the lake appears right in front of your eyes as you exist the Schlachtensee S-Bahn station. In my opinion, it also probably has the most facilities with Stand-up Paddling and restaurants readily available, and also has a seven-kilometer jogging track around the lake, should you choose not to go for a swim!

2. Wannsee

While Schlachtensee, in my opinion, the most convenient to get to, by public transport no less, Wannsee on the other hand is probably the biggest lake out of the three. The Wannsee beach can accommodate up to 30,000 visitors. While we only went to one small part of Wannsee, the whole area is huge and I’ve also heard that they have soccer and beach volleyball facilities for everyone to enjoy.

We went on a day that was really sunny, and we didn’t go too far in from the bus stop that we alighted from, because we found a nice, small sandy area big enough to accommodate our group. Perhaps next time, we’ll venture deeper.

3. Krumme Lanke

Located near Freie Universität Berlin, this one is the closest to where I’m studying. So out came the most impromptu plan to head there after school one day because the weather was going to be good in the evening. And it didn’t disappoint! We had our fair share of sun and „sea“, taking a nice, leisurely swim in the lake. Krumme Lanke, it seems to me, is has more forestry than the other two lakes. The boardwalk is also more or less fenced from the lake itself, so it seems that there are allocated spots for visitors who want to swim.

In conclusion

In all honesty, I don’t think I could pick a favourite. I guess it really depends on which you place as priority – convenience, or a bigger beach space, or it could even be dependent on what you want to do -hiking, soccer, swimming, stand-up paddling.. The list goes on. What I do know for sure, is that it’s definitely a must to take a swim in one of Berlin’s lakes!