6 Best Sights in Wannsee, Berlin

Built in the 1920s, when an earlier Berlin art scene was at its peak, this villa officially became an exhibition space in 1946, just as Germany was recovering from the war. Today, it stays true to its mission as both a museum for contemporary art and an expansive sculpture park—albeit one a good many Berlin visitors don’t know about. The Haus presents a wide range of work by contemporary artists of international acclaim who are from Berlin or live here in up to five exhibitions each year. The juxtaposition of the contemporary and avant-garde with the nearly 100-year-old villa is well worth the trek out from the center of town.

The lovely lakeside setting of this Berlin villa belies the unimaginable Holocaust atrocities planned here. This elegant edifice hosted the fateful conference held on January 20, 1942, at which Nazi leaders and German bureaucrats, under SS leader Reinhard Heydrich, planned the systematic deportation and mass extinction of Europe's Jewish population. Today this so-called "Endlösung der Judenfrage" (final solution of the Jewish question) is illustrated with a chilling exhibit that documents the conference and, more extensively, the escalation of persecution against Jews and the Holocaust itself. A reference library offers source materials in English.

After a trip out to Pfaueninsel or a long walk around the Wannsee lake, refuel at this café, which is also a garden and gourmet foods shop and an event space. In warm weather, grab a table in the courtyard.

Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm II whisked his mistresses away to this small island oasis on the Great Wannsee. Schloss Pfaueninsel, the small white palace, erected in 1794 according to the ruler's plans—and in accordance with the taste of the era—was built as a fake ruin. The simple building looks strangely cartoonlike; you can see the interior on half-hour tours. In the early 19th-century, garden architect Joseph Peter Lenné designed an English garden on the island, which ultimately became western Berlin's favorite summer getaway. The park, which is designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is now a nature reseve.

The huge Strandbad Wannsee attracts as many as 40,000 Berliners to its fine, sandy beach on summer weekends.