Sanssouci and Potsdam

Potsdam, the capital of the state of Brandenburg on Berlin's south-western edge, was the favourite residence of the Prussian kings, and its palaces and parks form one of the largest UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Germany. The heart of it is Sanssouci, the summer palace that Frederick the Great built in 1745 to 1747 at the top of a hillside of vineyard terraces, and named, in French, without worries. It is a single-storey rococo palace of only a dozen or so rooms, intimate rather than grand, where the king played the flute, wrote and hosted philosophers, among them Voltaire, who stayed for several years. The interiors are some of the finest rococo rooms anywhere, from the oval Marble Hall to the gilded music room and the library. Frederick wished to be buried on the top terrace beside his dogs, and in 1991, after reunification, his remains were finally moved to the simple grave there, where visitors still leave potatoes in memory of the king who promoted the crop in Prussia. Around the palace, Sanssouci Park stretches for kilometres, with fountains, the Chinese House, the Orangery, the Picture Gallery and, at the far end, the enormous New Palace, built after the Seven Years War to show Prussia's power. Beyond the park, Potsdam has the red-brick Dutch Quarter, the Brandenburg Gate of Potsdam, the Cecilienhof palace, where the Potsdam Conference was held in 1945, and the Glienicke Bridge, the Cold War bridge of spy exchanges. Sanssouci Palace is open Tuesday to Sunday from 10am to 4:30pm, with fixed entry times and a limited number of daily tickets, so book ahead; a single ticket costs around 14 euros, and the sanssouci+ day ticket, around 22 euros, covers all open palaces in Potsdam. The guided day trip from Berlin sold through our link takes about four hours with a live guide in English and German.

Guided or independent: the guided tour from Berlin is the easiest option for a first visit, handling transport and explaining the history as you go, and it covers the main sights of Potsdam in half a day. Independent travellers can take the S-Bahn line S7 or a regional train to Potsdam Hauptbahnhof, which is in the Berlin ABC fare zone, then a bus towards Sanssouci; book your timed palace entry online in advance, as daily tickets are limited and can sell out, particularly at weekends in spring and summer. The free SANSSOUCI app provides audio tours, but bring your own headphones.

What is open and what is not: Sanssouci Palace itself is open, but several other buildings in the park are currently closed for restoration, including the Orangery Palace and the Roman Baths, and the King's Apartment in the New Palace, so check the foundation's website before planning a full day of interiors. The park is open year-round, and in winter, when the fountains are switched off and statues are boxed against the frost, it is quiet and atmospheric, though shorter days mean you should start early. All palaces close on Mondays.

Making a day of it: start at Sanssouci at your entry time, walk down the vineyard terraces and through the park towards the New Palace, then take a bus or walk into the town for lunch in the Dutch Quarter, a few streets of eighteenth-century brick houses built for Dutch craftsmen, now full of cafes and shops. In the afternoon, add the Cecilienhof and the New Garden on the Holy Lake, or the Glienicke Bridge on the way back towards Berlin. Families should know that the park is very large, so plan the walking carefully with young children; the free volunteer shuttle runs between the park gate and the New Palace in the summer season only.