Getting wet in Berlin

With boats as far as the eye can see, Greater Wannsee (there's also a Little Wannsee) is one of Berlin's most beloved sailing locations. Just 45 minutes from the city center, around a dozen sailing clubs are based here. When the weather is good, hundreds of boats and yachts can be found cavorting on the lake, which is actually just an inlet of the Havel River.

As many as 30,000 sun worshippers spread themselves out next to Wannsee, one of the largest natural swimming pools in Europe. To create the kilometer-long beach by the lake, fine-grained sand was "borrowed" from Travemünde, a vacation destination on the Baltic Sea, and transported to Berlin.

Tegel is one of 70 lakes in Berlin. Here are a number of islands that can only be reached via the water route. During the summer months, ferries zip between the islands and the mainland. Traffic comes to a stop in the evenings, when the island dwellers have their peace and quiet.

The Landwehr Canal runs parallel to the Spree River, right through the heart of Berlin, which used to be an important transport route. In the 1920s, a green promenade was built along the waterfront to provide local residents a place to relax. These days, sport and leisure boats can be spotted on the canal and Berliners hanging out on its banks.

If you take a closer look, you're bound to find tons of bars, pubs, clubs and restaurants on Berlin's waterfronts. At the eastern end of the Landwehr Canal, for example, the restaurant Freischwimmer is located vis-à-vis the legendary Club der Visionäre. Here visitors can chill to electronic beats until the sun comes up.

The Spree River practically forms a straight line right through Berlin, then it curves and passes by the Reichstag, the central train station and the German Chancellery. Berliners love to meet their friends after work at the parks and beach clubs on the waterfront.

Berlin's bodies of water aren't just used for sailing, but also for rowing. More than 50 rowing clubs maintain their boathouses on the Spree and Havel Rivers. The sport has a long tradition in the city: Back in 1880, the first regatta was held on the Grünau, which makes it the oldest sporting location in Berlin that is still in use.

Last summer, over 100 people met in Berlin's Lustgarten park with one goal in mind: to get as wet as possible. Public water fights have practically become a Berlin tradition. Every year, residents of the rival districts of Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg battle it out on the Oberbaum Bridge with rotten fruit and water balloons.

Its official name is Kreuzberg Summer Pool. But the Berliners call it Prince's Pool, since it's located on Prince Street. Since 1965, the outdoor swimming pool has welcomed up to 10,000 guests every day in summer. Visitors from all different backgrounds meet up here, making the place a real cultural melting pot.

The first bathing ship was built in the 18th century for the Seine in Paris, where aristocrats could bath in the river water in separate cabins. Berlin's present-day bathing ship follows in the same tradition, but serves a different purpose. Here, guests don't bathe in the Spree, but on it.

This view of the Spree River, photographed from the Treptow district, includes the "Molecule Man" sculpture. After German reunification in 1990, the so-called Spree Media Project drew numerous investors from the media sector. Clubs, bars and galleries disappeared from the banks of the Spree, but popped up again in other parts of town. Berlin is constantly redefining itself.