Hotels near Sanssouci and Potsdam

Sanssouci was Frederick the Great's summer palace, built in the 1740s on a hillside of six terraced vineyard steps outside Potsdam, and the whole park with its palaces is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The palace itself is deliberately small, a single-storey rococo building of twelve rooms, because Frederick wanted somewhere to escape the court rather than impress it. The park runs to 300 hectares and holds the much grander New Palace at the far end.

October is the right month for the park rather than the interiors. The terraced vines turn yellow, the avenues of lime and chestnut along the main axis go gold, and the crowds that make the terraces unpleasant in summer have gone. Palace entry is timed and the park is free. The S7 from central Berlin reaches Potsdam in about 40 minutes and needs an ABC zone ticket.

Pro Tip: Walk the two-kilometre main avenue from Sanssouci to the New Palace rather than taking the shuttle bus. Almost nobody does it, the avenue in autumn colour is the best thing in the park, and the New Palace at the far end is nearly empty by mid-afternoon.