I must say, finding such a warm summer in Europe was surprising for me. To be completely fair, the last two summers haven’t had the usual average temperatures and it’s fair to say that even for people who have been living here longer than me, this weather was unexpected. This is not small talk and I’m not here to warn of global warming, it’s just a note to put you in context about why I’m so happy that around Berlin has an incredible number of swimming lakes.

The Visitberlin.de website has good recommendations on where to go and how to visit. Worth to check it out. I’ve been to four of them and had the chance to swim in three. I also went to the Müggelsee but didn’t have the chance to truly enjoy it as I was on a bike ride - took some pictures though.

The Teufelssee at Grunewald was the first lake I went here and I got there totally randomly. Luísa and I went to visit Grunewald and Teufelsberg that day and we were wondering around until we found a lake in the map. It’s a small lake in a green area there, quite nice. There was also when I found it’s a Freikörperkultur (FKK) place. It wasn’t much of a surprise since I already knew there were spots here where Free Body Culture is allowed. The real surprise was seeing people swimming there since we were in the Spring and the water was quite cold. 😅

As the weather started to get warmer, Luísa and I decided to look for some places to cool off besides drinking cold beer. I knew some of our friends went to some lakes so I asked for recommendations. I received a list that included Schlachtensee, Weißensee, and Wandlitzsee. We went to the first two, and later we found the Liepnitzee.

At the Schlachtensee I’ve got the chance to jump in the water for the first time this summer. I’d missed one opportunity when I was in Zürich, shame on me. I love this lake and it so easy to get there that is my favorite since the first time. It’s not that close, taking about 1 hour ‘door-to-door,’ but it’s totally worth it. It has a S-Bahn station by the lake so you jump from the train to lake on one step. 😄 You can go there early in the morning and spend the day. I think it’s allowed to even do a barbecue. Isn’t it great? The water is not that cold and it’s pretty clean. It’s not crystal clear like Liepnitzee, but you won’t be disappointed. There’s a small biergarten in the S-Bahn station and I believe also a restaurant in the park. Both times I was there, I brought something to drink and eat from home, so I can’t really comment on these establishments.

I believe in the same week we went to the Weißensee. It’s a small lake in a park on a really convenient location. You can get there by tram, in the Lichtenberg quarter. That day we decided to go almost in the end of day, after working hours, and the place was way busy since Berlin was burning in the sun. It was almost impossible to find a spot close to the water but we did. As I said, it’s pretty convenient to get there, so you are going to find it busy quite often. I’d totally go there again.

The last one we went was the Liepnitzsee. This one was the most incredible lake I’ve being so far. The water is crystal clear and you can see your whole body under the water. Besides that, it’s surrounded by a green forest where you can also go for a walking/trekking. It’s not so convenient to go there though. I guess it’s not in Berlin anymore, but on a city close. To get there, you’ll need to take a regional train and then ride about 10 km by bike. That was the path we did. We’ve heard that you can also get out of the train on a different station and the distance to the lake would be closer from there. Although 10 km seems a bit of a ride, I recommend this route. It’s amazing as almost the whole path has cicloway and the most part you ride through the woods. It’s also a good place for camping, but unfortunately you cannot make use of fire there. So, no barbecue.

The hardest part isn’t the way to get there, but to choose where to sit as it has such great spots and views. Fortunately, we found a nice spot with the view I’ll attach below.

I’m glad that we found these places to enjoy the summer here. It’s great to live in a big city that also offers you an easy way out of the concrete & confusion, so you can recover and have the time to just enjoy the nature. 🍃

🎧 Spoon - I Turn My Camera On