The best MTB trails around Kietzer Lake

Here you can relax

A good view of the lake, with binoculars you can see a lot here 👍🏻

very beautiful, old hand pump with plenty of decorations

A beautifully landscaped spot practically on the trail. I even found a great swing!

A very nice section of the trail.

Anyone arriving by bike briefly thinks they've landed on a film set. A tall tower, old railway carriages on the bank, sun loungers dotted around the place – and behind it: the Oder, calm and clear as a poem. Stay overnight? Absolutely. But you should call first: for a spot at the top. A deluxe view – just without an elevator. Those who carry luggage also carry stories. And at the top, they'll be rewarded with a view that silently takes your breath away. The food? There's food – but not à la carte. Rather, it's a surprise. One for everyone, freshly cooked and of the quality you'd hope for but rarely get. If you're lucky, you'll sit by the water in the evening, a glass in hand, your bike leaning against the wall, and you'll wonder if you'll ever want to go back to a regular hotel. Across the street, the Café im Turm – an insider tip, like something out of a travel guide that only insiders are allowed to read. A spiral staircase leads up, narrow and slightly vertigo-inducing. Upstairs: a room with a panoramic view. One floor higher: tables. At the very top: a vacation apartment for the brave with heart and wanderlust.

When the wind blows over the Oder floodplains, you see not only ripples in the reeds, but almost something like thoughts in the landscape. A wide, quiet stream flows through the grassland, slowly and serenely, as if it had all the time in the world. And perhaps it does. There's space here, lots of space – for birds in V-formations, for skies with clouds that seem to be painted, for people who rediscover silence while cycling. The path winds along the dike, sometimes elevated, sometimes submerged, accompanied by mosquitoes, seagulls, and their own breath. If you're lucky, you might see a beaver; if you're patient, a stork. And if you simply ride, you experience a nature movie in Cinemascope – with the wind in your face and the feeling that this moment is exactly the right one. The Oder floodplains are not a spectacle. They are a promise: that simplicity can be enough. That vastness heals. And that it's worth entering the silence to hear yourself better again.

Wonderful country tour with a detour to the Oder