Selchow combines village history with an expansive landscape of lakes and wetlands. The village green, Landhaus Selchow and the Groß Schauen Lakes offer different ways to experience the area: architecture and historic village structures sit alongside natural habitats and birdlife. When planning your visit, it is worth considering these highlights separately and checking the current access status of the observation tower.
Lakes, wetlands and birdlife
The Sielmann Nature Landscape “Groß Schauener Seen” is located in the Dahme-Heideseen Nature Park, southeast of Berlin. Its extensive lakes and almost continuous belt of vegetation along the shore, comprising reed beds, swamp forests, bogs and wet grasslands, define the landscape. The water area of the Groß Schauener Seenkette nature reserve covers almost 1,000 hectares and six lakes: Schaplowsee, Groß Schauener See, Großer Wochowsee, Selchower See, Schweriner See and Bugker See.
The chain of lakes is a habitat of regional importance for marsh and water birds. Cranes and great bitterns nest here. Reed-fringed shores and alder carrs are also part of the protected habitat; they provide ideal living conditions for species including the European otter. A nature trail and the observation tower near Selchow are among the nature experiences offered in this landscape.
Important for your visit: The Sielmann observation tower in Selchow has been closed to the public since 20 May 2026, until further notice. Damage to the wooden structure was discovered during a routine inspection. Check its status before your trip. The landscape and its habitats, as described here, are distinct from this; the closure affects access to the tower.
Village green and country house architecture
The Selchow village green is lined with 100-year-old lime and chestnut trees. It is home to the large brick church, the old school, the old fire station with its historic hose-drying tower, renovated in 2019, and the war memorial. As of 1 January 2025, the village church at Selchower Dorfstraße 39 is listed in the State of Brandenburg’s register of historic monuments.
Landhaus Selchow was built in 1913 to designs by Alfred Breslauer and Paul Salinger for the Jewish banker Paul Mankiewitz. The Neo-Baroque building stands on a rectangular plan and has a symmetrical rendered façade with a central three-bay avant-corps. Its features also include a mansard hipped roof with cross-gables and dormers, triangular gables, a balcony with a wrought-iron railing, and a round-arched portal with a double-flight external staircase. The original garden of the country house extended down to the lake.
A route through the chain of lakes
The “Birdwatching along the Groß Schauener Seenkette” route runs via Naturgut Köllnitz, Groß Schauener See, Groß Schauen, Schaplowsee, Wochowsee, Groß Selchow, Bugk, Bugker See, Schwerin and Selchow, before returning to Naturgut Köllnitz. It follows mostly paved paths. For navigation, the sequence of villages and lakes is particularly useful: Selchow is one section of this longer route, while the observation tower here is currently closed.
More to explore in the wider destination of Storkow (Mark)
The historic centre of the wider destination of Storkow (Mark) offers its own cultural highlights: it includes the old town, the market square and the adjoining lanes. Storkow’s St. Mary’s Church dates from the 14th century and has a 36-metre-high tower. Another landscape route is the 8.5-kilometre Salzweg, which leads from Storkow Castle through the Luchwiesen meadows near Philadelphia and on to Groß Schauen, then returns to the castle via the Marstall and Burg meadows. Naturgut Köllnitz in Groß Schauen also has a Heinz Sielmann Foundation exhibition about water, air and the world in between. These destinations are part of the wider destination of Storkow (Mark), not features of the village of Selchow.
Discover more destinations: Langewahl, Tauche, Wiesenau, Fürstenwalde/Spree, Mixdorf, Wendisch Rietz, Vogelsang, Wilmersdorf
See the wider travel overview: Oder-Spree.
