Travelling along Germany's tree-lined avenues is a wonderful feeling, rather like being in a series of green tunnels. Centuries-old trees line both sides of the roads like threads of green, their arching branches touching and intertwining overhead. From Cape Arkona on the island of Rügen in the north of Germany to Reichenau island on Lake Constance in the south, this route passes beneath this leafy canopy, which the sunlight only penetrates here and there. It is Germany's longest (2,500km) - and greenest - scenic route, and it offers a visual feast of seemingly infinite variety. What a tranquil way to travel! You wend your way down splendid, tree-lined avenues, shaded by tightly knit canopies of leaves. The landscape is marked by areas of unspoilt forest and crystal-clear lakes of varying size, strung out like pearls and glinting in the sunlight. From a bird's-eye perspective, a mirror that has shattered into a thousand tiny fragments.
If you appreciate beautiful scenery, you've made the right choice. Wherever you look, there are magnificent ancient trees, picture-postcard views, tracts of unspoilt countryside and unique flora and fauna waiting to be discovered. The route is especially well suited to cycling tours. Alternatively, to appreciate Germany's tree-lined avenues even more intensely, why not travel the route on foot? It's an immensely vivid experience - as you walk, you can enjoy the glorious scenery, hear the wind rustling the leaves overhead, watch birds building their nests and breathe the scent of flower meadows. Just don't forget to bring your camera! On its way from Rügen to Lake Constance, the German Avenues Route passes through eight of Germany's federal states. The tree-lined avenues are the main attraction, of course, but all along the route there are wonderful places to visit and fabulous countryside. The route begins in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. After Rheinsberg it splits: one section leads through Brandenburg and Saxony-Anhalt on its way to Goslar, the other continues into Thuringia via Dresden and the Erzgebirge mountains.
