Best of Potsdam Day Tour from Berlin

The Prussian kings ruled Berlin with pomp, grandeur and an iron fist, but Potsdam is the place where they really left their mark. Spectacular palaces, endless gardens, gushing fountains, winding waterways and faux Greco ruins compose this summertime playground of royal proportions – a worthy rival to the splendour of Paris’ Versailles if ever there was one.

After a short train ride from the city centre we’ll spend the day taking in the big-hitters, including Frederick the Great’s pleasure palace, Sanssouci, his boastful Neue Palais and the Schloss Cecilienhof, where Churchill, Truman and Stalin carved Berlin and Germany into four.

Be prepared to venture off the beaten track and into some of the hidden corners of Park Sanssouci and the Neuer Garten, too.

At the end of the day we’ll stop on the edge of the Havel river and sip on a cold beer or several, courtesy of the bankside brewery The Meierei. And if you’re up for a swim, bring your trunks – one of Berlin’s best swimming lakes, Heiliger See, is a stone’s throw from where we finish.