Velten: Bernsteinsee and Ceramic History

Velten combines Bernsteinsee with a rich history of stoves and ceramics. Time by the water can be combined here with a themed route and museum visits.

Swimming, the beach and water skiing at Bernsteinsee

Bernsteinsee in Velten is 750 metres long and 170 metres wide, and offers opportunities for swimming. Wide sandy beaches and sunbathing areas, a playground and a beach volleyball court add to the lakeside amenities. The lake is also home to the Velten water-ski and wake park, with a 720-metre circular course. This means you can choose between swimming and beach time, play, beach volleyball and water skiing during your stay by the lake.

The Velten Töppertour and its family version

The approximately three-kilometre-long Velten Töppertour starts at the station square and ends at the museums. Using 25 information panels, it explains how the stove-tile boom changed the town and the daily lives of its people. The route combines a hands-on discovery tour with an insight into the history of stove tiles.

There is also a family version: an interactive children’s tour of about one kilometre, with a digital audio guide. The two options differ both in approximate length and in how information is presented. You can decide whether the more detailed route with its 25 information panels or the shorter interactive children’s tour is a better fit for your planned outing.

Stove art and ceramics in the museums

The Velten Museum of Stoves and Ceramics is housed in the former Schmidt-Lehmann stove factory, a listed building, and presents stove art spanning three centuries. Its collection includes more than 4,000 individual tiles, stove parts, stove decorations and stove models. It also features well over 2,000 decorative and functional ceramic objects; the collection focuses particularly on the 1920s and 1930s. The different collections offer a range of ways to explore ceramics, from individual tiles and stove models to decorative and functional objects from a particular era.

Another focus is the Hedwig Bollhagen Museum. Around 1,600 objects from Hedwig Bollhagen’s ceramic estate are on public display there. Together with the Museum of Stoves and Ceramics, it provides several museum destinations for anyone interested in ceramics and stove art.

Cycle routes, a circular trail and getting around

Around the stove-making town of Velten, quiet country and forest paths, including routes through the Luchwiesen meadows, invite you to explore by bike. A longer route is the German Clay Route: this 215-kilometre circular trail starts and ends at the Velten museums. Compared with the Töppertour, which is about three kilometres long, the circular trail covers a much larger area, though both routes are connected to the Velten museums.

Velten is served by regional railway line RB55. Check the current timetable before travelling. Digital information kiosks at the station, on Museumsgasse and at Bernsteinsee provide directions and up-to-date information.

Discover more destinations: Adlershof, Bohnsdorf, Weißensee, Wedding, Pankow, Wannsee, Kladow, Friedrichshagen.

For the main travel overview: Berlin.