Pamoramawanderweg (panorama hiking trail) around Bad Belzig

Length: 15 kilometres (four to five hours)

Start/Finish: Bad Belzig, market

Logo/Route sign: Red panorama symbol on a white background

How to get there:

• Public transport: Take the RE7 (Dessau) from Berlin central station to Bad Belzig (about one hour).
• Car: From Berlin, take motorway A115, A10, A9 or the B102 to Bad Belzig (about one and a half hours).

Route description: The best starting point is the market square in the lovingly restored historic town centre. From here, it is just a few steps until you hear the rippling of water left of the trail. You will come to Belziger Bach brook again at the end of the tour.

It rises on the outskirts of the town and is one of the clearest brooks in the nature park. In Mühlenhölzchen, it runs through an idyllic brookside meadow full of anemones and few-flowered garlic (a relative of wild garlic). Past the spa gardens and SteinTherme, the trail heads upwards. At Unter Kiefern, you will have climbed the first Fläming hill to reach the beautiful views from there. After the Roederhof concentration camp memorial, you soon see the "Sphären” (Spheres), an art work on the Internationale Kunstwanderweg (international art hiking trail) at the edge of an orchid meadow. The trail then continues on away from the town through mixed woodland to the first dry valley, known in Fläming as the "Rummel". Through the landscape reminiscent of Tuscany around Mehlsdorf, you come to the "Steilen Kieten", an expansive, branching system of dry valleys.

Past the train station, you can enjoy what is probably the most beautiful view along the trail of the picturesque little town and Eisenhardt Castle from Presseberg. From here, the trail leads up to the town, past the historic posting milestone, a reminder of the towns Saxon past, and Eisenhardt Castle. In the castle meadows, you are greeted once again by the familiar rippling of Belziger Bach brook. You my even be lucky enough to see a grey wagtail, a songbird with a yellow underbelly. Then back to the historic town centre along the Belzig castle meadows under shady trees.

Sights:

• Roederhof concentration camp memorial
• the "Sphären" (Spheres) (an artwork on the Internationale Kunstwanderweg (international art hiking trail))
• "Steile Kieten" (branching system of dry valleys)
• Bad Belzig: Eisenhardt Castle, posting milestones, historic town centre

Possible combinations:

• Internationale Kunstwanderweg (international art hiking trail)
• Burgenwanderweg (castle hiking trail)

Conditions of the trail/surface: not specified

Maps/Literature: "Topographische Freizeitkarte - Wandern, Reiten, Radfahren Naturpark Hoher Fläming", 1:50.000, Verlag: Landesvermessung und Geobasisinformation Brandenburg, Auflage: Neuauflage. (1. Januar 2012), ISBN 978-3-7490-4073-5, Euro 6