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Potsdam Travel Guide

Potsdam reflections

ABOVE: Reflections in a Potsdam puddle. INSET BELOW: A statue at Frederik II's Schloss Sanssouci, and the restored Stadtcanal, or City Canal, in Potsdam's center.

Sanssouci Palace statuePotsdam might be termed "dessert for the visitor to Berlin." The city, which is the state capital of Brandenburg, is about half an hour from Berlin's main railroad station by train, and it's also easy to reach by car or boat.

What's more, it looks like a meringue-and-whipped-cream confection after Berlin's meat-and-potatoes modernity, with its Baroque city center, 12 palaces, three historic parks, and tasty tidbits such as the Dutch Quarter, the Russian colony of Alexandrowka, and the lakefront villas of Neubabelsberg (a district made famous by rich Berliners and German movie stars).

Stadtcanal PotsdamLarge areas of Potsdam have been on UNESCO's World Heritage List since 1990, and more sections of the city were given World Heritage status in 1999.

You could easily spend a week in Potsdam, but two or three nights will give you a taste of what the city has to offer.

In this miniguide and its accompanying articles, I'll provide an introduction to Potsdam, point you to other official and unofficial tourist resources, and describe several attractions that I enjoyed during my own visit to the city.

Next page: Sightseeing


Potsdam travel guide:
Potsdam - Introduction
Sightseeing
Museums, attractions
Hotels, restaurants
Transportation
Tourist information

Related Potsdam articles:
Lindenstrasse 54/55 Memorial Site
Pfingstberg Belvedere
Schloss Cecilienhof - Hotel and Museum

Also see:
GDR Tourism

About the author:

Durant Imboden photo.Durant Imboden is a professional travel writer, book author, and editor who focuses on European cities and transportation.

After 4-1/2 years of covering European travel topics for About.com, Durant and Cheryl Imboden co-founded Europe for Visitors (now including Germany for Visitors) in 2001. The site has earned "Best of the Web" honors from Forbes and The Washington Post.

For more information, see About Europe for Visitors, press clippings, and reader testimonials.


Top photo copyright © Martyn Unsworth.
1st inset photo copyright © Ine Beerten.
2nd inset photo copyright © Christina Hanck.