Potsdam's beautiful parks and gardens form a charming link with the forests and many lakes that surround this town on the river Havel. Its classic parks include Sanssouci, Neuer Garten and Babelsberg, but its contemporary parks are also attractive places to spend time. These include the park on Friendship Island in the town centre or the Volkspark on the former site of the Federal Garden Show.Potsdam Volkspark ("people's park") and biosphere
The Potsdam Volkspark is a park for all the generations – for young and old, families with children, a park for relaxing in, exercising and enjoying sports, a park for horticulturalists, picnickers and culture lovers. It also has the town's largest open-air stage, and is home to the biosphere, a tropical world of adventure with more than 20,000 tropical plants and various research stations.Friendship Island (Freundschaftsinsel)
Friendship Island lies between the Alte Fahrt and Neue Fahrt waterways on the River Havel. The six-hectare island has a playground, open-air stage, exhibition pavilion and café - but it is the remarkable plants and flowers that draw most of the crowds. The renowned perennial shrub expert Karl Foerster (1874-1970) was responsible for the island's design. It was at his suggestion that the first German Exhibition and Viewing Garden for perennial blooming shrubs, ferns and grasses was laid out here between 1938 and 1940. It was further developed in the 1950s and 70s. Another attraction which is sure to delight visitors is the collection of original varieties cultivated by Foerster, above all the phloxes, larkspur and asters.Lennésche Feldflur (Lenné meadows)
The Lennésche Feldflur is an extensive area of fields and meadows, criss-crossed with footpaths and cycle paths, which is very popular with families and anyone in search of recreation or relaxation. The Lennésche Feldflur was created in the parishes of Bornstedt and Bornim by royal decree in 1842, when Friedrich Wilhelm IV asked landscape designer Peter Joseph Lenné to draw up a plan to make the area more attractive. The result was a beautified area of meadows with avenues and trees, hedges and copses.