Inselschwimmen Potsdam

In the urban heart of Potsdam, the Havel splits into two distinct river channels to cradle the Freundschaftsinsel. This setting hosts the Inselschwimmen Potsdam, an open water swimming event in the freshwater currents of Brandenburg where competitors take to the river right through the historic city center. Swimmers navigate the dual channels of the Alte Fahrt and the Neue Fahrt, moving through river waters that enclose the island. Staged in June, the event gathers open water enthusiasts across three distinct distances. Younger participants take on a dedicated 400-meter course designed for children, while the 800-meter race accommodates multiple age categories. The main event of the day is the complete 1,700-meter circumnavigation of the island, a route strictly limited to 130 entrants.

Lining up along the riverbank in a tight field gives the start an immediate sense of focus and camaraderie. River conditions dictate equipment requirements on race morning. Wetsuits become mandatory if water temperatures measure below eighteen degrees, shielding swimmers from the river's initial bite. In water measuring between eighteen and twenty degrees, neoprene suits remain optional, while temperatures of twenty degrees and above require competitors to swim solely in standard swimsuits. River safety throughout the course is organized by DLRG Ortsgruppe Potsdam e.V. Swimmers who have not yet reached the Alte Fahrt by the designated time limit are gathered onto safety boats to ensure orderly navigation on the waterway.

Freundschaftsinsel: water gardens and river bathing heritage

The western flank of the Freundschaftsinsel meets the Lange Brücke, the oldest recorded river crossing over the Havel within the city. Long before organized endurance events were staged here, the island was already an established hub for public life on the river. During the early decades of the twentieth century, its shores were lined with small boatyards and an active river bathing facility. Stepping into the freshwater today links competitors directly to that early tradition of urban river swimming. During the 1950s, the island grounds underwent an extensive botanical transformation. Landscape designers introduced a central water axis featuring flowing fountains, formal planting basins, and dedicated swamp and shoreline zones. The island is celebrated for its expansive open-air water garden, which showcases more than 250 distinct varieties of irises.

At the southwestern tip of the island, the waterway opens outward. This point was dredged during the late 1960s to establish a turning basin for the passenger excursion ships of the Weisse Flotte. Beyond the island, maritime transport remains part of Potsdam's daily waterscape, including the Kiewitt Ferry which carries passengers across the Havel at the northern end of Templiner See. The open bend directs swimmers out of the wider channel and turns them back toward the sheltered banks of the Alte Fahrt.

The Havel and Nuthe confluence at Potsdam

The Havel flows smoothly through Potsdam at an elevation of 29.4 meters above sea level by Babelsberg beach. Across the entire urban area, the river itself forms the lowest point, averaging 29 meters above sea level. This low gradient creates calm conditions without sudden rapids or turbulent drops, letting swimmers settle into an even stroke tempo. More than twenty distinct bodies of water shape the wider municipality, including Aradosee, Templiner See, Tiefer See, Griebnitzsee, Sacrower See, Lehnitzsee, Groß Glienicker See, Fahrlander See, and Weißer See. Among these connected basins lies Heiliger See, a body of water formed along a chain of glacial tunnel valleys. Measuring 1.5 kilometers in length and averaging 300 meters in width, the lake links directly to the Havel river system via the Hasengraben canal.

Its water levels are artificially controlled to keep the timber foundation piles of the historic Marmorpalais from drying out and decaying. Further down the Havel between Kladow and Wannsee rests Pfaueninsel. In the late seventeenth century, Elector Frederick William I established a breeding station there that earned it the moniker Rabbit Island, followed by a glass foundry that ran from 1685 until fire consumed it in 1689. Later, Frederick William III built an extensive royal menagerie on the island holding over 900 animals across more than 100 species, though its exotic Palmenhaus was eventually destroyed by an overnight fire in May 1880. Right in the center of Potsdam, the Havel meets its major left tributary, the Nuthe.

Stretching for 65 kilometers, the Nuthe rises in the Fläming region near Niedergörsdorf and flows through Jüterbog, Luckenwalde, Trebbin, and Saarmund before discharging into the Havel. In the seventh century, the Slavic Heveller tribe constructed a fortified castle complex directly on the Havel opposite this river mouth. Centuries later, in a donation deed signed on July 3, 993, King Otto III officially documented the riverside settlement under the name Poztupimi.

The Alte Fahrt waterways and the Sturmvogel barge

Beginning in 1673, the Stadtkanal was excavated as a drainage ditch running from the Havel to the Fauler See. King Frederick the Great subsequently transformed the 1,840-meter canal into an ornamental artery lined with dressed sandstone embankments, iron railings, and nine stone bridges. The Sturmvogel, a 52-meter inland barge measuring six meters in beam, was built in 1924 as a river towboat. Beginning in 1995, the vessel was moored in the Alte Fahrt, before being permanently moored at the Tiefen See near Schiffbauergasse and designated an official technical monument on the Brandenburg heritage register in 2016. Finishing the final stretch of the Inselschwimmen brings competitors back along these riverbanks.