AT A GLANCE
Why go?
The Sacrow–Paretz Canal (Sacrow-Paretzer Kanal) is a 12.5-kilometre waterway in Brandenburg that slices through the lake country just north of Potsdam, giving ships a faster, safer way between two arms of the River Havel. Opened in 1876, it links the Jungfernsee at the Berlin–Potsdam city edge with the Göttinsee near Paretz, shortening the river route and skipping the old, awkward bridge passages through Potsdam and Werder.↗↗↗
This is a working federal waterway rather than a polished sight: there are no locks, traffic flows freely, and the banks are lined with the trees and earthen embankments thrown up from the original excavation. For visitors, the pleasure lies in the open water, the steady parade of barges and pleasure craft, and the quietly engineered landscape around Potsdam and the Havelseen.↗↗
A shortcut built to outsmart the Havel
In the early 1870s engineers were searching for better ways to move goods between Berlin and the Elbe, and the Sacrow–Paretz Canal was one of the first solutions built. Work began in 1874 and, remarkably quickly, the first vessels sailed straight between Sacrow and Paretz in 1876. The canal solved three problems at once: it bypassed the difficult low bridge passages at Potsdam and Werder, it cut about 13.5 kilometres off the water route, and it spared ships the open, wind-tossed crossing of the Schwielowsee, which could turn dangerous in a westerly gale.
