Berlin to Potsdam and Wittenberg private day trip

Potsdam's UNESCO palace gardens and royal architecture spread across an island of lakes and forests as Prussia's answer to Versailles.

What to see

• Sanssouci Palace (UNESCO) — Frederick the Great's intimate rococo summer retreat of 1747
• The Park Sanssouci spreads across 290 hectares of lakes, woodland and garden architecture
• The Dutch Quarter (Holländisches Viertel) — 134 red-brick houses built for Dutch craftsmen invited by Frederick William I in the 1730s

What to eat

• Brandenburger Landente (Brandenburg roast duck)
• Teltower Rübchen (a small, sweet local turnip variety grown only in the Teltow region south of Potsdam) at one of the restaurants in the Dutch Quarter

Take note

• Sanssouci Palace interior is accessible by timed ticket only — book well in advance as daily visitor numbers are strictly capped

Wittenberg is where Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the castle church door in 1517 — the act that set the Protestant Reformation in motion, in a town that has changed remarkably little since.

What to see

• The Castle Church (Schlosskirche) — the door on which Martin Luther is said to have nailed his 95 Theses on 31 October 1517
• The Lutherhaus — the world's largest museum dedicated to the Protestant Reformation, housed in the Augustinian monastery where Luther lived for most of his adult life
• The Market Square (Marktplatz) with the Town Church of St Mary — where Luther preached regularly and where the first Protestant communion service was held in 1521

What to eat

• Lutherrose pastries — a Wittenberg confection shaped after Luther's personal seal — from the bakeries on the Marktplatz