Through the country of marsches and ponds

Length of the route: 205 kilometres

Ride time: approximately 4 hours

Perhaps you have learned by riding other routes that the German Lusatia is a territory with no shortage of watercourses and water surfaces. And because the water determines the nature of the landscape, we will make today’s trip through the area where water dominates.

Leave Zittau to the northeast by the exit around the ZOO along the No. 99 road towards Görlitz today. After passing through Hirschfelde you will reach Marienthal, where you should not miss the chance to visit the beautiful area of the Cistercian Monastery on the left of the road near the Lusatian Neisse. We also recommend making a break and stop a few kilometers away at the 1452 bucket – wheel excavator, a monstrous machine that is out of order now and has been turned into a museum. Beyond the excavator museum, there is the Berzdorfer See, the first lake of today waiting for you. By riding further along the No. 99 road you will arrive to Görlitz (point 1), the historic town divided by the river into two parts; the eastern part belongs to Poland and is called Zgorzelec. You can explore the entire town and its surroundings from the hilltop of the Landeskrone hill, where you can enjoy, besides the look - out tower, also a nice restaurant. Leave Görlitz by taking No. 115 road towards Niesky (point 2). A landscape full of ponds and water canals opens in front of you, and the roads are pleasantly curly. Then you will ride along the fence of military base to Weißkeißel (point 3). At the roundabout take the third exit (S126) and after about approximately 1.5 km turn left onto

the No. 156 road (and follow the roadsigns towards Bautzen). Stick to that road until reaching town of Boxberg (point 4), then turn left at the large power plant to get to the Bärwalder See lake. Here you can enjoy excellent bathing, several beautiful beaches and, of course, spending some time at the table with some refreshments; you can make a pleasant break there. When you have enough of the

bathing and relax, mount your bike again and follow the No. 131 road to Reichwalde (point 5); when

approaching ponds turn right onto the No. 153 road, which will take you to Kreba - Neudorf (point 6) after a few kilometres. There at the junction turn right onto the main road and ride to Klitten along the ponds and fish farm. This is neither the end of a beautiful landscape full of marshes nor of the curly roads. Continue your ride on the shores to the opposite side of the Bärwalder See lake, turn left to take the No. 156 road there. And there is endless water surface again, woods and meadows appear from time to time, the road itself is full of turns and curves, it is a really nice ride. The

road will take you to Bautzen (point 7), just before entering the town you will find the Talsperre Bautzen, another water surface, on your right.

If you do not want to have a break and to stop in the town to explore its historic centre, have a meal or buy one of the local mustards of various interesting flavours, you can continue your ride on the bypass until you reach the exit to the No. 96 road south of the town and follow the roadsigns towards Zittau. After a few kilometres you will approach Großpostwitz (point 8), where you should leave the No. 96 road for a while and turn slightly left at the church. Nice curly road leads you through Rodewitz, Kirschau and Schirgiswalde to the Sohland an der Spree (point 9), where you can

explore the exceptional half - timbered houses. Continue your ride along the No. 98 road to Oppach (point 10). If you turn right at the park, you will reach the Gondelteich pond, which will offer you a pleasant seating and chance to have a snack just on the shore. And last part of today‘s trip is

ahead of you, some 30 kilometres of riding along the No. 96 road, which will take you through

Neusalza-Spremberg and Oderwitz (point 11); adrenaline greedy can enjoy a proper downhill ride on the toboggan sledge track there. The whole surrounding countryside is rather hilly, there are several ski centres around the nearby border with the Czech Republic. As you can see, Lusatia is very beautiful and really picturesque and you can find lots of interesting places there; one trip definitely can not cover everything what you can find in this part of Germany.

• Soubor GPX pro GPS navigace [Trasa 7 GPX.gpx | 347.9 KB | application/gpx+xml]
• Beschreibung Ausflug - DE [_001_052_Pruvodce_168x240_DE_042.pdf | 6.92 MB | application/pdf]
• Karte Ausflug - DE [_001_052_Pruvodce_168x240_DE_043.pdf | 16.74 MB | application/pdf]
• description of the tour - EN [_001_052_Pruvodce_168x240_AJ_042.pdf | 6.91 MB | application/pdf]
• map of the tour - EN [_001_052_Pruvodce_168x240_AJ_043.pdf | 16.73 MB | application/pdf]