Märkischer Landweg, hiking trail

Along the route you can admire a landscape formed during the Ice Age. There are channel lakes and terminal moraines, as well as meadows, fields and many forests. You will not only find sandy pine forest on your way, but also various types of mixed deciduous forests with beech and oak trees. This sparsely populated area near the Oder is characterised by ancient swamp and floodplain forests along the oxbow river arms, which are lined with sedge reeds and reed beds. This area is considered the most intact river meadow landscape in Europe and is a paradisiacal habitat for water birds offering space for breed, resting or overwintering.

Alternatively you can start in Fürstenberg/Havel, which you can reach by taking the RE5 from Berlin. The hiking trail takes you to Lychen via Himmelpfort and is also marked with the hiking sign. In it meats the main route, which continues to Odertal via Templin and Angermünde.

Length: 187 kilometres (9 - 10 days)

Start: Feldberg / Finish: Mescherin

Logo/route sign: blue cross against a white background

How to get there: Take the RE5 (Rostock) from Berlin central station to Neustrelitz. From here, take bus no. 619 to Feldberg (about 2.5 hours).

Return journey: From Mescherin, you can take to bus to Schwedt via Gartz. From here, the RE3 (Wittenberg) takes you to Berlin central station (about 1.5 hours). Alternatively, you take the bus from Mescherin to Tantow. From there, you continue by train to Berlin (with one change in Angermünde).

Route: Feldberg, Lychen, Alt Placht, Annenwalde, Röddelin, Templin, Milmersdorf, Ringenwalde, Poratz, Peetzig, Wolletz, Angermünde, Crussow, Schöneberg, Stolpe, Alt-Galow, Stützkow, Criewen, Meyenburg, Schwedt, Vierraden, Hohenfelde, Heinrichshof, Hohenreinkendorf, Geesow, Mescherin

Route description (stages):

• Feldberg, Kolbatzer Mühle (14 kilometres), alternatively: Fürstenberg/Havel, Himmelpfort (20 kilometres)
• Kolbatzer Mühle, Lychen (13 kilometres), alternatively: Himmelpfort, Lychen (11 kilometres)
• Lychen, Templin (26 kilometres)
• Templin, Ringenwalde (27 kilometres)
• Ringenwalde, Wolletz (21 kilometres)
• Wolletz, Angermünde (10 kilometres)
• Angermünde, Stolpe (15 kilometres)
• Stolpe, Schwedt (24 kilometres)
• Schwedt, Groß Pinnow (17 kilometres)
• Groß Pinnow, Mescherin (19 kilometres)

Sights:

• Lychen: historic town centre with St. Johannes town church (13th century), Rafting Museum, visitor centre of the Uckermärkische Seen Nature Park, excursion boats, boat rental, raft trips
• Carwitz: Hans-Fallada museum
• Panoramic mountain on the Bohnenwerder peninsula
• Alt Placht: Church
• Ringenwalde: Church & castle grounds
• Poratz
• Wolletzsee
• Angermünde: Old Town with churches, castle ruins, powder tower, sculpture park at the Lake Mündesee promenade, town hall with market fountain, Ehm Welk and local history museum, zoo
• Crussow: Church
• Stolpe: Tower and ramparts
• Criewen: Landscape park, national park visitor centre
• Schwedt: Uckermärkische Bühnen Schwedt theater, Galerie am Kietz art gallery, Schwedt City Museum, Jewish Museum with ritual bath, Huguenot Park, art in public spaces
• Vierraden: Tobacco Museum, church
• Mescherin: Observation tower

Possible combinations:

• Stübnitz Circular Trail
• Uckermärker Landrunde Hiking Trail
• Templiner Stadtsee Circular Trail
• Wolletzsee Circular Hiking Trail
• From the Grumsin Beech Forest information point through the World Natural Heritage Site Grumsin Beech Forest
• Wild Woods Way - Hiking in the Lower Oder Valley
• The Wetland Views Trail - Hiking in the Lower Oder Valley

Trail conditions/surface: mostly natural surface, about 20% paved