Wannsee: the lakes, the lido, and the dark villa
The great 1920s lido, a painter's garden, a ferry to a peacock island, and a villa best not forgotten. This is a Claude-drafted route awaiting the editor's walk.

1. Strandbad Wannsee
The vast 1920s *Strandbad* (lido) — a kilometre of imported sand and a long ridge of changing pavilions. You don't have to swim. Walk the boardwalk and read the building, which is the real reason to come: Weimar-era public architecture, built to give working Berlin a beach.

2. Liebermann-Villa
Max Liebermann's summer house, and the garden he painted obsessively until the Nazis pushed him out. The flower terraces and the lakeward lawn are restored to his canvases. A small entry fee; the café terrace over the water is worth the stop on its own.

3. House of the Wannsee Conference
In this lakeside villa, on 20 January 1942, senior Nazi officials coordinated the murder of Europe's Jews. It is now a memorial and education centre, free to enter. Go in if you have the time and the steadiness; this is not a stop to hurry past.

4. Wannsee shore path
Between the villas, the public shore path threads along the water under old trees. Sailboats, swimmers in season, the *See* (lake) wide and bright. Follow it back toward the ferry pier at Nikolskoer Weg.

5. Pfaueninsel ferry
The little BVG ferry across to *Pfaueninsel* (Peacock Island) — a short crossing that counts as transit, no car needed. Check the timetable and the season; it doesn't run year-round and the last boat back is earlier than you'd like.

6. Pfaueninsel
A UNESCO landscape garden on its own island: the white toy-castle *Schloss* the Prussian king built as a folly, lawns laid out like a painting, and the peacocks that give the place its name. Cars never came here; it's all on foot. Walk a slow loop, then catch the ferry back.

Wannsee: the lakes, the lido, and the dark villa