Krumme Lanke, the Gemeindewäldchen Zehlendorf woodland and various museums offer different focal points for a trip to Zehlendorf. If you are looking for a holiday apartment, you can plan your stay around whether you would prefer to spend your free time by the water, on trails or in exhibitions. Distances also vary considerably: from the lakeside path to a route connecting several places.
Krumme Lanke and Trails
Krumme Lanke is a swimming lake in Zehlendorf, in the heart of the Grunewald, and is part of the Grunewald lake chain. Walkers, anglers and swimmers use it as a place to relax. A lakeside path more than two kilometres long runs along Krumme Lanke; it is suitable for walking, jogging and cycling.
The 48-kilometre Teltower Dörferweg is on a different scale. Among other places, it connects Krumme Lanke, the Gemeindewäldchen Zehlendorf nature reserve and Paul-Mebes-Park. When planning your outings, you can distinguish between the two routes by their scale: the lakeside path and the longer route linking several destinations.
The Gemeindewäldchen Zehlendorf is a park-like woodland with a stand of mature European beeches (Fagus sylvatica). Alongside the lake, it offers a distinct nature-focused option: woodland scenery and its tree species.
Museums and Local History
On 26 July 2026, the Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf was added as the seventh component of the World Heritage Site “Berlin Modernism Housing Estates”. The permanent exhibition at the Heimatmuseum Zehlendorf offers a different historical perspective: “From Farming Village to Suburban Municipality” traces the development of the area from its rural beginnings to the early post-war period of the 20th century. A detailed model of the village around 1800 is also on display. Exhibition details may change; if you are planning around a particular focus, check the latest information.
As of 31 August 2026, admission to the Heimatmuseum Zehlendorf is free. Check this information before your trip. The events calendar includes talks, historical tours, walks and readings. As individual dates may change, it is worth checking the calendar if you are planning to attend an event on a particular day.
Opened in 1975, the DĂĽppel Museum Village seeks to reconstruct a village from around 1200, in the High Middle Ages, across an area of about 16 hectares. Visitors can learn about medieval crafts there, including blacksmithing, tablet weaving and tar making. On every opening day, families with children aged five and over can climb, play and make flame bread over an open fire.
Art and Contemporary History
The English country house-style villa is known as Haus am Waldsee and has a history of almost 77 years of cultural use. The sculpture park at Haus am Waldsee covers around 10,000 square metres, extending to the lakeshore. Changing displays of sculptures invite visitors to stroll through the grounds.
Kunsthaus Dahlem is housed in the former state studio of sculptor Arno Breker. The studio building was constructed between 1939 and 1942 to designs by architect Hans Freese. Here, a specific building and its history meet its present-day use by Kunsthaus.
Using numerous original artefacts, the permanent exhibition at the Allied Museum tells the story of the Soviet blockade, the Cold War in Berlin and German reunification from the Allies’ perspective. Together with the local history at the Heimatmuseum and the historical crafts at Düppel, it offers further ways to explore the past, although not all the topics cover the same period or take the same perspective.
Discover more destinations: Buckow, Hermsdorf, Altglienicke, Steglitz, Berlin-Reinickendorf, GrĂĽnau, Biesdorf, Marienfelde.
For the main travel overview: Berlin.
