If you think Berlin is primarily a collection of stone and concrete - albeit a beautiful one - you're wrong. If you add up all the idyllic baths, natural lakes and quarry ponds in and around Berlin, you come up with more than 100 bathing fun options.

By train to the Tegeler See: Plan arrival

The large Wannsee in Steglitz-Zehlendorf is known far beyond Berlin. Actually not a lake in its own right, but an extended bay of the Havel, it is the bathtub of Berliners in good weather. Sailing, boating, swimming or even just a big picnic on the Wannsee beach are fine ways to enjoy yourself in sunny times. Or as the Toten Hosen suggested in their Wannsee song, "Without you it would only be half as nice here, let's party and go dancing."

However, it is not Wannsee but Müggelsee that is the largest and most popular bathing lake for Berliners, occupying a large part of the area of the borough of Treptow-Köpenick. The Spree River even flows through the lake, and there is the Müggelsee lido on the lakeshore, as well as numerous hiking trails and a well-developed cycling network. Quite different and very special is the location at Tegeler See in Reinickendorf: Here the Berliners meet in many small cafes and restaurants picturesquely on the shore or get on one of the numerous ships that sail from here across Tegeler See at the landing stage Greenwich-Promenade. At dusk on one of the spectacular paddle steamers, you'll feel like you're on the Mississippi River in the American southern states - a fascinating experience. And these are just a few of the ways to discover Berlin by water - what a city!

You can find more information about Berlin here: Great freedom on the Spree

By the way, you can find tips on how to travel comfortably and inexpensively on long-distance and local trains with Deutsche Bahn here.

Cover photo: Lake Tegel © visitBerlin, Photo: Dagmar Schwelle