The Lusatian Lake District: Germany's largest man-made lake landscape

What the Lake District is

Lusatia was Germany’s second-largest lignite mining area for over a century. Since the 1970s, exhausted open-cast pits have been flooded with river and ground water to form lakes; the chain between Senftenberg and Hoyerswerda – Senftenberger See, Geierswalder See, Partwitzer See, Sedlitzer See and Großräschener See – is the largest artificial lake landscape in Europe. Three canals, opened in 2013, make four of the five lakes navigable as one system; one of them, the Koschener Kanal, passes under a federal road and a river through a tunnel with a lock.

The landscape is new and still finishing. Shores are stabilised section by section, young pine forests grow on former spoil heaps, and harbours, beaches and viewing towers stand where mine buildings stood. The Sedlitzer See, last of the chain, reached its target level in 2025.

The five lakes

Figures are rounded; the German lake pages carry the exact values with their sources.

What to do

Cycle. The Seenland-Route circles the lakes on 186 km of mostly flat, asphalted paths on former mine railway lines; each lake also has its own shore loop of 12–25 km. Bicycle hire is available at the harbours in Senftenberg, Großkoschen, Geierswalde and Großräschen.

Boat. Passenger boats run from Senftenberg harbour through the Koschener Kanal to Geierswalde from May to October. Sailing, canoeing, stand-up paddling and diving are offered at the harbours; the floating holiday houses in Geierswalde harbour are the district’s best-known image.

Look. The Rostiger Nagel (“rusty nail”), a 30 m tower of weathering steel by the Sornoer Kanal, overlooks three lakes at once. The IBA-Terrassen in Großräschen, built on the former edge of the Meuro pit, explain how a mine becomes a lake. Guided vehicle tours into the still-active Welzow-Süd mine, 30 km north, show the other end of the process.

Around the lakes

The Lake District sits on the boundary between Upper and Lower Lusatia and is a good base for both. To the east lies the Upper Lusatian Heath and Pond Landscape, a UNESCO biosphere reserve with over 350 fish ponds, wolves and sea eagles. To the south is Bautzen, a thousand-year-old town and the centre of the Sorbs, a Slavic minority whose Easter riding processions draw over 1,500 riders each year. Görlitz, Germany’s most complete historic town, is 90 minutes away; the Spreewald, an inland delta explored by punt, an hour to the north.

Getting there and staying

Trains from Berlin reach Senftenberg in about 1.5 hours, from Dresden Hoyerswerda in about 1.5 hours; bicycles travel free or for a small fee on regional services. By car, the A 13 (Berlin–Dresden) passes within 15 km. Accommodation ranges from harbour hotels and floating houses to campsites on the shore; June to August needs booking in advance, May and September are quieter and still warm enough to swim.

About this site

Lausitz Tourismus is a German-language guide to Lusatia with a focus on the Lake District, its cycle routes and the towns of Upper Lusatia. The map on the home page is drawn from OpenStreetMap geometry and NASA SRTM elevation data; lake figures carry their sources. This English page summarises the site; the German pages hold the detail.

Practical notes for visitors

Distances are the first thing to plan for. The lake chain stretches roughly 25 kilometres from Großräschen in the west to Hoyerswerda in the east, and public transport connects the towns rather than the shorelines. Regional trains reach Senftenberg, Großräschen and Hoyerswerda from Cottbus and Dresden and carry bicycles; between the individual lakes, the cycle path is usually faster than any bus. A rental bike, available at the harbours and in Senftenberg, turns the whole chain into a day trip.

Two things surprise most first-time visitors. Sections of shoreline are fenced off, sometimes for years, because the former mine dumps have to be certified as stable before anyone may walk on them — the signs are legal orders, not suggestions. And shade is scarce: the woodland around the young lakes was planted only decades ago, so hats and water matter more here than the mild climate suggests.

When to come

The season runs from May to September, with the passenger boats operating between the Senftenberg town harbour and the Geierswalder See through the Koschen canal. July and August bring the warmest water and the busiest beaches; late May, June and September are quieter, and the light over the open water in early autumn is the reason photographers come.

Winter has its own case. The harbours close, but the viewing points stay open, the exhibition at the Großräschen terraces explains the transformation from mine to lake indoors, and the towns of the Upper Lusatian region — Bautzen and Görlitz above all — are at their most atmospheric around the Christmas markets in December. Accommodation is cheapest between January and March, when the region belongs to the people who live in it.