Schwielowsee: Cultural Sites and Waterways
Accommodation in Schwielowsee
Schwielowsee reveals itself through a range of cultural and scenic highlights: in Caputh you’ll find the palace and Einstein’s summer house, Ferch brings together painting and fishing history, and Geltow preserves its historic weaving tradition. Add to that waterways, water sports and views across the Havelseen lakes. When choosing a holiday apartment, it helps to consider which experiences you want to shape your stay: local history, art in the landscape or time on the water.
Waterways and water sports
Schwielowsee is part of the Potsdam and Brandenburg Havelseen lakes water sports area. Leisure activities include houseboat and canoe trips, swimming, fishing and passenger boat cruises. This offers different ways to enjoy the water: getting out on the lake, spending time by the water or taking a trip as a passenger. Which options suit your plans also depends on the activity you’re looking for.
The Caputh cable ferry, also known as Tussy II, connects Caputh and Geltow by water. The Weisse Flotte’s round trips and excursions on the Havelseen lakes offer another perspective and operate from March to October. Stops are located in Caputh at the palace and at the Gemünde, in Ferch at the Haus am See and at the Bootsklause or the lido, and in Geltow at the Baumgartenbrücke. Check the current timetable before making plans.
Art, history and special places
In Geltow, the Henni-Jaensch-Zeymer Active Handweaving Museum demonstrates historic weaving techniques on looms more than 200 years old. Here, the focus is on the craft and on how weaving techniques have been passed down over time. For travellers who want to discover a traditional craft as well as take trips around the lake, the museum offers a distinct cultural highlight.
Caputh Palace and Park comprise a country palace with early Baroque ceiling designs featuring paintings and stucco work. Another chapter of local history is told by the summer house built by Konrad Wachsmann: Albert Einstein lived there with his family from 1929 to 1932. The palace’s history and a home from the more recent past give Caputh two distinct historical points of interest.
In Ferch, the Havelländische Malerkolonie Museum is dedicated to the artists’ landscape around Schwielowsee and its study and documentation. The art trail brings traces of regional painters to life and passes scenes depicted in well-known landscape paintings. The fishermen’s church also tells the story of the local area: built in the 17th century, this half-timbered church is a testament to fishing and shipping. From the observation tower on Wietkiekenberg, you can take in views across the Havelseen lake landscape.
Music with different highlights
In Ferch, four musicians and writers put together concert programmes from May to December beneath an illuminated, hundred-year-old lime tree or beside a fieldstone fireplace. At events, guests can sing along and clap out the rhythm with traditional Brandenburg wooden clogs in their hands. As this is a seasonal programme, check the current listings before visiting. In Caputh, the Caputher Musiken have been running since 1995, presenting around twelve concerts a year. The two towns therefore offer different musical experiences to choose from.
Choose the right focus
You can weigh up the themes when choosing a location: Caputh combines the history of the palace and Einstein with stops for the Weisse Flotte. In Ferch, the artists’ colony, art trail, fishermen’s church, observation tower and other stops mentioned above come together. Geltow offers the weaving museum, the ferry connection to Caputh and a Weisse Flotte stop.
Discover more destinations
Discover more destinations: Gollwitz, Borkheide, Bad Belzig, Rabenstein/Fläming, Linthe, Wollin, Brück, Potsdam.
Back to the regional travel overview: Potsdam-Mittelmark.
