52.87° N · 13.91° E
A day trip from Berlin: the Gothic monastery of Chorin, beside a lake, and the boat lifts of Niederfinow, with a boat trip included.
What to do
Each plan says how long it takes, who it's for and whether you can book.
Monastery · 1 h 30 · €7 · The ruins of northern Germany's most famous brick Cistercian monastery, among forests and beside Lake Amtssee
Guided tour · 1 h 30 · From €13 with the old lift · You go up the most modern boat lift in Europe, opened in 2022, which raises boats 36 metres
Technical monument · 45 min · €7 · Germany's oldest working boat lift, a steel tower from 1934 that you explore on your own
Itineraries
Days and weekends already planned out, with how to get between each stop and who to book with.
Plan the trip
Each choice narrows the next: the season shapes how best to travel, and how you travel decides where you stay and where you eat.
When to go
From April to October, with the boat through the lift, guided tours at the monastery and summer concerts. In November and December both open on short hours; in January and February the lifts cannot be visited.
How you travel
Choose how you're travelling and we'll tell you where to stay, how to get around, where to eat and which services you'll need. We only show the ways of travelling that make sense here.
It works better by car: the monastery and the boat lifts are about 8 km apart, and both are an hour from Berlin on the A11. The monastery in the morning, lunch in Niederfinow at midday and the lift and the boat in the afternoon.
Without a car, Chorin Monastery is easy: the RE3 from Berlin and a 25-minute walk. Niederfinow has its own station, 2 km from the lift through the village or along the canal embankment. Combining the two on the same day without a car calls for a careful look at the timetables.
For Chorin and Niederfinow, you fly to Berlin: BER airport has direct flights from Madrid, Barcelona and other Spanish cities. From Berlin Hauptbahnhof, the RE3 regional train reaches Chorin in about an hour; with a hire car from the airport, you can combine the monastery and the boat lifts in the same day.
Who you're with
A trip with a toddler is not the same as one with a teenager. Pick yours to see what works and what to bear in mind.
This is one of the best days out from Berlin with children: a ruined monastery in the forest and, a few kilometres away, giant lifts that raise boats. What they like most is being inside the boat as it rises.
For the youngest, the boats are the star. The lift site is spacious and there are slopes; the monastery is ruins and lawn.
Where to stay
We show you what suits the way you travel.Change how you travel
Why we like it: Hotel on the shore of Lake Amtssee, a few minutes' walk from Chorin Monastery, with a restaurant, double rooms and apartments.
Why we like it: Simple 18-room hotel 400 metres from the Niederfinow boat lift, with a restaurant and two apartments.
Services for this trip
Where to eat
From set lunch menus to Michelin stars. We mark the price level and what to order at each place.
What to order: a cake with coffee, or the seasonal hot dish
What to order: the Hungarian cauldron goulash or a pork knuckle if you come hungry
What to order: dinner after the last boat, if you are staying in Niederfinow
Map
The places to stay and services on the map are the ones for the way you travel. Turn on the layers you want and tap a point to see its details.
Nearby
The closest places, whichever country they are in.
52.52° N · 13.41° E
By planeCar-freeBy bike
53.10° N · 12.89° E
By carCar-freeBy plane
52.92° N · 12.81° E
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52.40° N · 13.07° E
Car-freeBy planeBy car
Tips
It opens earlier and the lift tours run until mid-afternoon.
It does not run every day the sites are open.
Guided tour of the new lift and entry to the old one.
The canal bridge and the Oder valley are windy.
North-east of Berlin, an hour along the Baltic motorway, there are two visits that combine well in a day and that almost no Spanish traveller knows. The first is Chorin Abbey, a thirteenth-century Cistercian brick monastery, half in ruins, hidden in a forest beside a lake. The second, eight kilometres away, is the Niederfinow boat lifts: the canal linking the Oder with the Havel drops 36 metres here in one go, and boats rise and fall inside a trough of water hung from a steel structure. There are two, one from 1934 and one from 2022, and both work.
It is a very different plan from Museum Island: countryside, water, engineering and brick Gothic, and it works just as well with children as without.
Chorin Abbey. The west facade of the church, with its openwork gables, is one of the great images of brick Gothic in northern Germany. You walk it on your own in an hour and a half: the roofless church, the cloister, the outbuildings with exhibitions. Entry costs €7. From May to October there is a guided tour at weekends, with no booking.
The new boat lift. Opened in 2022, it is visited with a guide; tours leave several times an hour and cannot be booked. The combined ticket includes the old boat lift, the one from 1934, which you explore on your own.
The boat through the lift. From spring to early November, the passenger boat enters the trough and rises or descends the 36 metres with you inside. It leaves at 11:00, 13:00 and 15:00.
By car, along the A11 towards Szczecin: it is about 60 km to Chorin, around an hour from the centre, and from there another eight kilometres to Niederfinow. It is the most convenient way to combine the two visits.
By train, the RE3 regional leaves Berlin Hauptbahnhof, Potsdamer Platz and Gesundbrunnen and stops at Chorin, about a 25-minute walk from the monastery. Niederfinow has its own station, a good two kilometres from the lift. Without a car, do one of the two visits or check the timetables carefully.
From BER airport, with a hire car it is around 100 km via the Berlin ring road.
One day: morning at Chorin, lunch at Niederfinow and afternoon at the lifts, with the 13:00 or 15:00 boat. If you want the monastery empty first thing or a summer concert, sleep at the Hotel Haus Chorin, beside the lake.
At the monastery, the Klosterkommode serves cakes and seasonal dishes; in winter it opens Friday to Sunday. Next to the lift, the Holzmich'l opens from the morning with inn cooking: cauldron goulash, pork knuckle, herring. To sleep, the Hotel Haus Chorin, on the shore of the Amtssee, or the simple Hotel Am Schiffshebewerk, 400 metres from the lift, with a restaurant in the evenings.
From April to October: the boat goes through the lift, the monastery's guided tours leave without booking and in summer there are Choriner Musiksommer concerts in the roofless church. In November and December both open on short hours, from 10:00 to 16:00, and the boat no longer sails. In January and February the lifts are closed to visitors.
Questions
On the RE3 regional from Berlin Hauptbahnhof and a 25-minute walk, or by car along the A11 in about an hour.
About 8 km: ten minutes by car.
Yes, from spring to early November, at 11:00, 13:00 and 15:00.
Monastery €7, lifts with a guided tour €13 and boat from €18, plus transport and food.
The monastery, every day from 10:00 to 16:00. The lifts, until 3 January; in January and February they close.
On a lead, on the normal lift tours.
Geocaliahttps://www.geocalia.com/en/germany/brandenburg/chorin-and-niederfinow
