Falkensee

Falkensee is a town in the Havelland district of Brandenburg, right on Berlin's western edge, formed in 1923 from the merger of the villages of Falkenhagen and Seegefeld. It grew as a commuter suburb after the Berlin–Hamburg railway reached the area in the 1840s, and its history has a darker chapter too: a subcamp of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp operated here from 1943. During the Cold War, Falkensee sat directly against the Berlin Wall, cutting off most of its workforce from their West Berlin jobs overnight in 1961; since reunification and the restoration of S-Bahn service to Spandau, the town's population has more than doubled as Berlin commuters have moved in. Today it's a low-key lakeside town centred on the Falkenhagener See, better known for its greenery and commuter convenience than for major sights — though it does host, somewhat improbably, an honorary consular presence.

By train: Falkensee railway station has regular regional and S-Bahn-adjacent connections toward Berlin-Spandau.

The town centre is compact and walkable; local buses connect the main districts and nearby attractions.

• Landhaus Waltraud (locally nicknamed "Hexenhaus" — witch's house) — see the Eat section below.
• Embassy of Madagascar in Falkensee — for reasons that remain locally debated, Madagascar maintains its embassy here rather than in Berlin proper.
• Dorfkirche Falkenhagen — the village church, consecrated in 1680.

Falkenhagener See — the lake the town is named for, popular for walking and swimming in summer.

• Edmond's Literaturcafe Hexenhaus, Poetenweg 88, ☏ +49 3322 123697.
• Ristorante Emporio, Kantstraße 76, ☏ +49 3322 4236888.

• Lakeside Bed and Breakfast Berlin – Pension Am See, Seepromenade 26, 14612 Falkensee, ☏ +49 3322 209966. Quiet, cosy B&B with private shower/WC, self-catering facilities; single rooms from €20, double rooms from €17 per person/night.
• Hotel-Restaurant "Kronprinz", Friedrich-Engels-Allee 127, ☏ +49 3322 3055.
• Hotel-Restaurant "Falkensee", Spandauer Straße 6, ☏ +49 3322 25010.

• Berlin — Germany's capital city, reachable by regional train
• Nearby towns in Brandenburg — explore the surrounding region