Garden City Tour

The Garden Cities Tour leads on its 41 km circuit from the first German garden city Marga in the Senftenberg district of Brieske via the garden city Lauta-Nord to the youngest German garden city Erika in Laubusch. The cycle tour takes you on a ramble through the three listed garden cities, which tell of the wealth of the once growing industrial region. With the rapid development of mining in the Lusatian mining area, the demand for labour increased. For the resettlement of workers, three attractive factory housing estates with generous green spaces and centres with shopping facilities, inns and theatres were built at the beginning of the 20th century, modelled on the garden city idea. The garden cities were built for miners and employees of the Marga and Erika mines and for the workers of the aluminium smelter in Lauta-Nord. The aim was to create a functional and at the same time people-friendly residential area that formed a contrast to the working-class neighbourhoods of the time. The bright, spacious housing complexes surrounded by gardens and green spaces exude a special charm, then as now. It's worth taking a look over garden fences and behind hedges. 

Length: 41 kilometres

Start/finish: Gartenstadt Marga in Senftenberg OT Brieske.
Circular route via: Niemtsch - Peickwitz - Hosena - Lauta-Dorf - Lauta-Nord - Laubusch - Geierswalde - Großkoschen - Senftenberg

Road conditions:
Well-developed, asphalted cycle paths and cycle roads, few sections on side roads, hardly any gradients.

Places of interest along the route:

• Marga garden city with exhibition and gallery
• Lauta town park
• Lauta-Nord garden city with church of culture
• Garden city of Erika with exhibition in the Kulturhaus
• Floating holiday homes on Lake Geierswalde
• Koschen Canal with lock
• Senftenberg town harbour
• Senftenberg Castle and Fortress

Gastronomic tips:

• Syrtaki Restaurant in Niemtsch
• Peickwitzer Hut in Peickwitz
• Restaurant Palladion in Lauta
• OSTufer - beach bar and water sports in Geierswalde
• Sonnenhof 1894 Café and Restaurant in Großkoschen
• Seenlandhof - farm café in Senftenberg

Parking: in the centre of the garden city of Marga directly on Briesker Straße

Cycle hire: numerous cycle hire firms in Senftenberg

Maps / literature: Lusatian Lakeland cycle map, 1:50,000, Sachsen Kartographie, ISBN 978-3-86843-021-9, 6.90 Euro