Berlin’s Lakes: Beaches, Buzz, and Nudists

FKK - Nudist Culture

[4:15] And then one other term that you should know - and that's actually really interesting, I think, to many people - is FKK. It's an abbreviation, it stands for Freikörper Kultur, which means, nudist culture.

[4:31] And nudist culture or naturism is huge in Germany. It is something that I ... Like as a German, you don't really think about it. It's just kind of a thing that is part of German culture. And I think most people aren't into it, but it's very well known that many people are. And it's just kind of... It's not a thing. It's just a part of everyday kind of things that exist. We don't really think about it. But whenever I hear people who move to Berlin or to Germany from other countries first learn about this, it's super interesting to me how shocked, almost, they are. So basically, I mean, it's a movement - or it used to be a movement, I don't know if you can still call it a movement - but it started as a movement in the late 19th, early 20th century, where people kind of advocated for a return to nature, and part of that was to hang out in nature, naked.

[5:34] And now there's like usually like designated beaches or designated areas where it's allowed to hang out naked, and if you go there, you kind of have to be naked as well, like it's not ... There ... The nudist beaches, it's not like you can be naked but you don't have to, it's like if you go to that beach, you're supposed to be naked, because it would be awkward if some people are naked and then other people hang out there as well but they don't want to be naked. So, the FKK-Strände, you should be aware, don't go there if you don't want to participate in taking off all your clothes. And, yeah, in general, I think ... Like I just know kind of the direct comparison to the to US culture, but I think it's similar in many other countries, where being naked in public and nudity in general outside of like your own home or bedroom, is super taboo and it's kind of very much associated with sex always and it's just not something that happens.

[6:43] Whereas in Germany, it's quite pragmatic and like normal, like if you go to a sauna, people are naked. There's kind of gendered saunas, but the default, I think, or the standard, is mixed sauna. So there will be ... if you go to a wellness center or something in Germany, there will very likely just be a sauna where men and women and people of all genders will be naked together, and the same goes for some of these beaches. And so, many of these lakes actually have like an FKK nudist area, either officially or sometimes unofficially, where people just kind of claim a certain area and they'll hang out there naked.

[7:37] There was this funny story - and I'm looking at the article now - in 2020, I think it made like international news because it was just so funny, where an older man was hanging out naked at Teufelssee in Berlin, which is close to a forest, and a wild boar came out of the forest and stole the man's laptop bag. He had like a yellow laptop bag with his actual laptop inside and the boar just grabbed the bag and ran off. And the poor guy is like: Oh shit, my laptop! and ran after the boar through like the area where people weren't naked anymore and so on.

[8:21] The photos, I'll link ... I'll link an article that has like the photos. There's like all these people like having picnics and looking at this guy who runs after the boar, plus the boar's children, like there's like three boars in one of these photos, with the laptop bag. It's just kind of a hilarious scene. And it all turned out well. Apparently he shouted loudly enough so that the boar dropped the bag and he got his laptop back. But anyway that's a little bit about nudist culture. Don't be shocked if you go to one of these lakes or beaches and you all of a sudden stumble upon an area where people are naked, because that is just a normal part of German beach culture.

[9:09] Okay, so I selected seven lakes to kind of give you a very broad overview of. There's so many more. I'll link some articles of other lakes that you can go to, but these are maybe some of the most popular or most important, starting with Müggelsee.

Müggelsee

[9:31] Müggelsee is the biggest lake in Berlin. It has an area of 7.4 square kilometers, so it's huge. And you can do tons of things on the lake. There's boats, you can do motorboating, there's sailing, there's surfing, so super popular with water sports, and it's also very popular because the Strandbad there is actually free, so you can go ... I think it used to cost money but now it doesn't really have an owner anymore, and so you can go to the beach for free, which is not the case for most beaches. And that Strandbad, in particular, has an extensive nudist area on at the western end, so that's a good place to experience that if you're interested in it. And Müggelsee is - let me just double-check my map here - it's in the southeast corner of Berlin. It's kind of ... yeah, it's it's kind of far from the center but if you look at the map you can ... It's one of the lakes that you can really spot on the on the map instantly because it's so so big, Großer Müggelsee, and yeah, that's the big one. You'll probably travel a little bit on the S-Bahn or whatever to get there, but you should probably check it out.

Tegeler See

[10:58] The next one is Tegeler See, almost at the other end of Berlin in the northwest, and it's close to Tegeler Forst, which is a big forest area, and it's kind of behind the Tegel airport, which shut down last year - last year or the year before then. It finally shut down after many years of struggles with the new airport, the BER airport, but when BER finally opened, this airport, Tegel, closed, and it's now going to be some kind of business university center, I don't know the exact plans. But anyway, be that as it may, the Tegeler See is behind it, and it's also quite big, it's the second biggest. It's quite popular as well. And what else? You can swim there as well. I don't actually have that much to say because I think I've only been there once. It's quite big, but it's not crazy big. I think it's nice to actually cycle all around it. I think it takes around an hour and a half if you want to cycle around the lake. Honestly, that's kind of more my kind of thing, cycling around a lake instead of go and lie on the beach.

Wannsee

[12:35] Then we have Wannsee, which is not the biggest but probably the most famous and most well-known. There's songs about this lake. People who know Berlin, know about Wannsee. If you look at the map, it's in the southwest, and it's kind of between Berlin and Potsdam. And it doesn't really look like a lake at first sight because it's connected with the river Havel, which is like a whole kind of river system, and ... yeah, so it's huge, it's quite big as well. And it has a Strandbad, Strandbad Wannsee, which is super famous, super popular. There's an entrance fee, and that Strandbad is actually Europe's largest inland beach. So while it's not the biggest lake, technically, in Berlin, it does have the largest Strandbad, which I would assume is a good choice if you do want to go on a Sunday during the summer at some point. At least there's like lots of space there, you know, I wouldn't maybe go to one of the small ones within the city, you might have more luck there. And obviously you can also do boat tours starting from the Wannsee and then go across the Havel, go to Potsdam, those kinds of things. So, lots to do at Wannsee.

Schlachtensee

[14:09] Then there's Schlachtensee, which is very close to Wannsee, actually, which is smaller but also super popular. Apparently the water quality there is especially good, so very popular for swimming. You can also rent a boat, you can rent one of these little boats, Tretboot. What's Tretboot in English? I used to love to do that as a child. It's a pedal boat. I love pedal boats. You can rent one for an hour or however long you like, and just hang out on the lake. And it also has a nice kind of forest trail all around it that you can run or walk or cycle on.

Weißensee

[14:57] Then we have Weissensee, number five in my list. Weissensee is in Pankow, so we're switching directions once again. This would be the northeast of Berlin. See there's something for everyone! So Weissensee is quite small but it's obviously super nice if you live close by. There's a small Strandbad there as well, but it's also there's a lot of like areas all around it where you can have a picnic or have a walk. There's a nice café restaurant there too, if you just want to go and have a coffee or whatever, and there too, you can rent paddle boats. And in the winter, it might freeze. It hasn't happened for a while, but I've seen pictures of people kind of ice skating on the lake in the winter. But hasn't happened for a while.

Plötzensee

[16:05] Number six is Plötzensee, which is a place that I go to often because I live in Wedding, and Plötzensee is in Wedding. Officially it appears it's in Charlottenburg-Nord, but really it's in Wedding. Yeah, it feels like Wedding still, and it's very easy to go to by tram if you live in kind of the north of Berlin. And it also has a small Strandbad, quite small, and I often go around the lake with my dog. It's also close to Volkspark Rehberge, which is a nice park to go with your dog, as well, so you can go to the lake and then go to the park or vice versa.

[16:53] And I recently stumbled on the nudist area there. I wasn't aware of it. I was just going to like walk around the beach ... walk around the lake, and I was going to take a look at the entrance of the Strandbar to like take a look at the prices and stuff. And all of a sudden I see tons and tons of naked people just hanging out on the grass. Even I was a little bit ... I mean I was more worried about the dog, honestly, because he wasn't on a leash at that moment. I was just like: Okay let's go! Let's skedaddle! But yeah, that's ... it's a nice lake if you live close, but nothing major.

Grunewaldsee

[17:30] And then honorable mention is the Grunewaldsee, the last one on my list, Grunewaldsee in the southwest. I don't think you can swim there Maybe you can. I've never seen people swim there, honestly. What you do see there is dogs. A lot of dogs. It is super, super, super popular for dog owners ... with dog owners, and I think it's because there ... it's one of the few places where you can officially take dogs off of the leash. And so you can walk around the lake, takes, I don't know, 45 minutes, maybe an hour, and just have your dog off the leash, if your dog is the kind of dog where that's okay. And there's just tons and tons of dogs and they're all playing, and there's even a dog beach where they can go for a swim, specifically a Strandbad for dogs, so to say. And there's forest all around it, so that's also super pretty. And yeah, I recommend it if you like dogs. If you don't like dogs, do not go there.

[18:44] That's my brief overview of Berlin's lakes. Go check them out yourself. Make it a point to try different ones. And I will post some links to overviews with more information and additional lakes that are popular in the show notes.