Weekend and day trips out of Berlin

So a friend and I are working here until August and are looking for some cool places to check out near Berlin. We were thinking a day or one night trip to a neat smaller town. It sounds kind of awful but we are trying to find a place that wasn't leveled during the wars to experience what the old north Germany was like. Suggestions? I figure y'all some of the less touristy places to go check out.

You can get to Wittenberge fairly quickly and cheaply (it's within Brandenburg). It's a town north west of Berlin. I was there 2 years ago and the town is partially being rebuilt (especially by the station), but the old town is still there, right by the Elbe, and then there are still ex-DDR buildings as well.
The train stops at various places along the way (eg. Nauen) but it's not really worth getting off anywhere else!

Görlitz miraculously survided the last war undamaged (but divided between Germany and Poland) ... Photo Gallery

Cottbus is is about a 2 1/2 hour drive and has Park Branitz with Schloss Branitz and beautiful gardens. It was Fuerst Pueckler's castle built in the 1700s. He was one of the great landscape artists of his day and entertained Kaiser Wilhelm I. There is an excellent restaurant on the grounds too.

Park Branitz is cool but Cottbus is definitely not "a place that wasn't leveled during the wars to experience what the old north Germany was like." I second miwild with Görlitz!

Dresden is also cool. a 2 hour trip by train from Berlin.

You could also go to the Spreewald, definitely pretty and picturesque. It's between Cottbus and Berlin, near the Autobahn to Dresden. Unfortunately it's not free of tourists. Best place to start is a town called Burg.

have fun!

Spreewald is a good bet...there are many towns that are linked together on all these canals and water ways...you can rent canoes/kayaks relatively easily and inexpensively...great for picnics, day trips, big groups, etc.

Teltow-Fläming...many hiking, biking, skating/blading trails with lots catering to such activities.

Take an ostsee ticket (you can take up to 5 each ticket) early saturday morning up to Rügen or Usodom, perhaps with bikes...bike tour, eat fresh seafood, lounge on the beaches, swim...be back in berlin by saturday night around 9:30pm Great, painless getaway.

Dresden, Leipzig, Weinmar...Jena is also neat area. The Harz Mountains...

obviously a little closer is Potsdam, Babelsburg (all rennovated, very nice, playground for rich and famous with many pockets of interesting boutiques, cafe's, sightseeing, activities, etc.)

a bit further from Postdam, is Werder...neat Island Town, also reachable by Ferry.

Wannsee, one can take the BVG Ferry over to Kladow (about 1 hour) with your bikes or without...i prefer the bike trails going all the way back up the Havel.

Something for you hikers and history enthusiast alike: tour, freely as you wish, an old abandoned Soviet/DDR Military Flughafen:

look on google maps where 111 (96n) intersects the E26 Berliner Ring...just north of the ring, south of Oranienburg...it's all open and easily accessible...been out there and spent hours...dont be surprised to see some of the ammo dump bunkers open, with mess kits, gas masks, etc. Very cool experience. (see below)

I would also mention Magdeburg as a city which is worth a side trip. It's only 1 1/2 hours away from Berlin. Easy to arrive by train (departure always around the full hour, from both cities) or by car via A2 (no speed limit most of time...)

Sightseeings of Magdeburg:

• Dom
• Fürstenwall (near Dom)
• Hegelstraße (near Dom)
• Breiter Weg (includes the one of the last designed buildings of Friedrich Hunderwasser called "Grüne Zitadelle")
• Hasselbachplatz
• Rathaus
• Schiffshebewerk Rothensee (a master piece of engineering work, located outside from Magdeburg but easy to reach by car)
• Kulturhistorisches Museum
• Otto-von-Guericke Denkmal (memorial of the inventor of the air-pump aka the discoverer of the vaccum)
• Jahrtausendturm im Elbauenpark
• Eisenbahnhubbrücke
• Stadtpark(near Eisenbahnhubbrücke)
• Gruson Gewächshäuser

let me add a few bullets...

• Neo nazis
• Far left punks
• car burning
• minority and/or foreigner harrassment
• police looking the other way with smirks

maybe some people should read the full question... where are the suggestions for "a place that wasn't leveled during the wars to experience what the old north Germany was like"? Another suggestion from me is wismar, but it is - like Görlitz - rather touristic.

Pack your BILD newspaper away, shut your PC down and make a step in the REAL world!

bild? sorry, that is some german crap, apparently for the average german iq...lol...no thanks...

but thanks for your blind eye...typical of the germans...pretend, deny, delude themselves that "things arent that bad", until the floor falls out from beneath them...hence, why they dont really set the world on fire in any industry or field.

kid, you wouldnt make it 10 minutes in the REAL world. go collect your hartz vier.

dont miss quedlinburg.

Lutherstadt Wittenberg (different from Wittenberge) is also worth a day trip. This is where Luther nailed his thesis to the door. It has a beautiful Rathaus, Luther's House / Seminary (still going). The church is part of the old city wall / castle. The train is/was a major stop about an hour south of here and the walk to the city center is not far. They have a lot of medieval festivals. It is a big tourist draw.

Uh? Congratulations! You have just proved that there is no limit to human stupidity. Once again, you have no idea what you are talking about. You're just another Internet-addicted idiot suffering from diarrhea of the mouth and constipation of the mind.
Just when I thought I have read the stupidest posts ever I come across yours. Have you ever thought of doing us all a favor and disconnecting your computer from the Internet? Why don’t you go back to fondling your brother instead of posting?

Um, I think that is THE example of being "leveled during the war."

I went to Stralsund a couple of weeks ago. 2.5 hours by train. Cute town with lots of old buildings. They just opened the Oceanographic Museum. Rügen, the island up there, is GEORGEOUS. It can get kinda touristy, so I have heard, but it wasn't when I was there.