Day trip to Potsdam

Berlin's royal neighbour

Talk of the town: Once an East German backwater, Potsdam's elegant villas have recently become the ultimate address for Berlin's power set.
Word to the wise: Potsdam is easily and quickly reached by S Bahn from Berlin Hauptbahnhof, Alexanderplatz and Zoologischer Garten, but make sure you buy a ticket valid for Zones A, B and C.

Just beyond Berlin's limits, the city of Potsdam is the place to come for lavish baroque palaces, beautiful lakeland parks and charming old cobbled streets. The former summer capital for the kings of Prussia (and later, Germany), it has an extravagance of historical buildings and a languid small-town feel otherwise hard to find elsewhere in exciting but gritty Berlin.
The main draws here are Frederick the Great's summer palaces, the exquisite but modest Schloss Sanssouci and the massive, pompous New Palace, both located in a wooded park. The streets beyond the palace are also worth exploring, with spruced-up 18th century houses and a quarter built for Dutch weavers that looks liked it's been shipped over wholesale from Amsterdam.

The chances are you won't be alone here - Potsdam is one of the Berlin region's most visited places - but as Berlin's smaller, prettier alter ego, it's worth the trip.