Bicycle tour around Lake Ruppiner See

On this tour you cycle around Brandenburg’s longest lake, the 14-kilometre-long Ruppiner See, taking in idyllic landscapes and visiting the original sites described in Fontane’s Walks through the Brandenburg Marches. Please note: don’t forget your swimming gear in summer!

On the way you cross the lake dam: this is the only bridge that crosses Lake Ruppiner See. Wuthenow village church, designed by master architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel, houses a treasure – a painting with the oldest view of Neuruppin dating back to 1694. In Karwe it is worth making a detour to the Art Trail (“Kunstweg”). At the former sheep farm, ceramics specialist Ursula Zänker and sculptor Matthias Zágon Hohl-Stein – creator of the sculpture “Parzival am See” – live and work by the lakeside in Neuruppin. The old fishing village of Altfriesack is a great spot to visit: here, the lock and lift bridge, the Old Fishermen’s Cabin, the Rhin riverway and Lake Bützsee go together to form a picturesque ensemble. At the southernmost tip of Lake Ruppiner See lies the Zieten village of Wustrau. It is a place rich in history and stories. The Brandenburg-Prussian Museum, the former castle of hussar general Zieten, the ice cellar and the summer lake festival are just some of the fascinating sights the town has to offer. The cycle path now runs parallel to the lake past a wooded area. A Slavic castle wall once stood on the peninsula tip in Lake Ruppiner See. A small plateau still bears witness to this. The circuit then follows on from the bike trail that runs straight through Neuruppin.

Places of interest along the route:
Neuruppin: Fontane monument, Löwenapotheke pharmacy – birthplace of Theodor Fontane, monastery church, Neuruppin parish church, Neuruppin Museum, Temple Garden, Predigerwitwenhaus, Wuthenow lake promenade: Fontane’s novel “Schach von Wuthenow” (translated as “A Man of Honor”) is set here, though he invented the palace; the village church was designed by Schinkel and houses the oldest view of Neuruppin dating back to 1694

Gnewikow: former manor house, today a youth village with a beautiful bathing area
Karwe: Fontane tells of the lake battle of 1785 – held for fun between friends, namely the sons of old Knesebeck of Karwe and old Zieten of Wustrau: it was won by the young Knesebeck by means of a ruse
Altfriesack: historic fishing village with lock, lift bridge
Wustrau: Brandenburg-Prussian Museum, former palace of the hussar general Zieten (today conference centre of the German Judges Academy)
Buskow: Fieldstone church