Southwest of Berlin, the winding forest pathway of the Kunstwanderweg stretches between Wiesenburg and Bad Belzig. The sun-dappled trail is home to art installations from German and Belgian artists that have been selected as part of a competition. Although you can start from either town, Bad Belzig is easier to reach and navigate.
After hopping off the train, make your way to the tourism office (search for “Tourist-Information” on Google Maps) to pick up a map, which also serves as a guide to the artwork. While there, you can get help downloading the audio guide and Augmented Reality app, which will allow you to see “digital art” along the path.
If you have a full day (and the stamina), you can do the entire loop, travelling in a figure eight, but if you want to do a short excursion, there are several smaller loops from Bad Belzig that can be completed in under two hours. Usually, day hikers will do either the southern or the northern trail from Bad Belzig to Wiesenburg, but for an ideal mix of nature, artwork and little towns for stopping and snacking, the northern route is your best bet.
Path and pit stops
Setting off from Bad Belzig, it’s easiest to follow the barefoot path (marked with a footprint) until it joins up with the Kunstwanderweg (marked with a yellow-white symbol). The route is mostly shaded – great for a hot summer day – with a tall, leafy canopy. Apart from the gentle backdrop of birdsong, it is incredibly quiet, too, despite its proximity to the surrounding towns and villages.
From the forest trails, you’ll pass to tree-lined country roads and then to open wheat fields whose stark gradients of greens make them appear almost pixelated. You may not even notice you’re entering a town until you pop out at your first stop: Hagelberg.
Apart from being the site of a battle in 1813, there isn’t much of note about Hagelberg. It’s better to make your real stop in Klein Glien, a further 10 minutes down the road and home to Coconat. The self-described “workation retreat” with beautiful, sprawling grounds serves cake and coffee out of onsite Café Apfel.
If you can’t find anything that piques your interests, hop back on the trail, passing along large fields and back into the forest, and make a detour to the next town, Schmerwitz, where you can sit on the patio at Gutshaus Gut Schmerwitz and enjoy local favourites like pear juice, lamb ragout and Aperol spritz cake. After filling up, grab some cider and fresh cheese from the farm shop next door and set off again for the path leading you down into an easy last leg of the forest and on to Wiesenburg, the end of the hike.
No matter which route you take, art sightings are guaranteed.
A word of caution: be sure to plan your hike for earlier in the day and pack plenty of bug spray and protective clothing; the shady trails attract mosquitoes in the late afternoons. You’ll also find that while the trail markers are generally helpful, you may sometimes need to rely on your map or your phone, notably at the start of the hike, coming out of Hagelberg and after point 8 on the map. Fairly speedy hikers can finish the route in around four hours (excluding breaks), but slower groups may want to allow as long as six hours to complete the trail.
Art galore
No matter which route you take, art sightings are guaranteed. Along the northern route, you’ll catch a grand total of 12 installations, including two in the town of Wiesenburg itself. While some are hard to miss, like the circle of towering red faucets at the edge of a wheat field: (#8, Ein Wassferall für den Fläming, by Wolfgang Buntrock and Frank Nordiek), others almost blend into the environment, like the series of black-banded trees near the start of the trail (#12, Intermezzo by Susanne Ruoff).
Some personal favourites were the coiled snake statue just outside Hagelberg (#9, Steinschlange, by Victor Bisquolm) and the round cow sculptures in Wiesenburg (#17, [K]uier[en] – Spazierengehen, by Silke De Bolle). However, if you have particular pieces on your list, there’s always an option to build your own route from the crisscrossing paths and save the rest for another day. There’s so much to see, you might just want to come back again.
- Visit the Hoher Fläming Naturpark website for more information.
Getting there
- Train: Take the RE7 towards Dessau, alighting at Bad Belzig, a journey of a little over an hour. To return from Wiesenburg, take the 572 or 588 bus to Bad Belzig, then hop the RE7 back to Berlin.
- Car: The drive is about an hour one-way, southwest of the city along the A115 and the A9. You can park in Bad Belzig or Wiesenburg and do a circular route.
