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Several city-trains and regional express trains open up the neighbouring surroundings, a dense net of public transport trains connects Berlin and Brandenburg also for the non-driver. Schönefeld airport lies outside the city's borders in the southeastern surroundings of Berlin.
Further information: TMB Tourismus-Marketing Brandenburg GmbH
Main attraction of Berlin's surroundings is Brandenburg's capital Potsdam, a gem of splendid historical buildings that every Berlin visitor should get to know. The calmness of a small town on the idyllic shore landscape of the Havel lakes is balm for both, the metropolitan's and the tourist's soul, who can reach downtown in less than twenty minutes.
Not without reason Potsdam was declared world culture heritage by the UNESCO: with every step the visitor encounters vital history, from castle Sanssouci with its magnificent park in the West, home of many Prussian kings and emperors, over the restored city centre with its 18th century townscape to the Dutch quarter (Holländisches Viertel). In castle Cecilienhof in the Northeast Stalin, Truman and Churchill debated about Germany's future after the war, and in the eastern suburb Babelsberg Germany's leading studios UFA (in the GDR relabelled as DEFA) have been producing films since the 1920s.
But also other towns around Berlin are charming: small towns like Bernau or Strausberg not far from horse-racing-track Hoppegarten; or Erkner, continuing Köpenick's attractions over the city borders. Near Oranienburg in the North, the Nazi concentration camp Sachsenhausen is located. In the direction of Hamburg you will encounter Rheinsberg, whose castle was perpetuated by Kurt Tucholsky's bestseller "Schloss Rheinsberg" and which attracts thousands of guests with its open air festival every year. Still, Theodor Fontane's detailed travel diary "Walks in the March of Brandenburg" ("Wanderungen durch die Mark Brandenburg") is an excellent guide for excursions into Brandenburg's countryside, which opens the eyes for scenic lovelinesses like the many lakes or the Spree forests.