The Mecklenburger Seenplatte, in English referred to as the Mecklenburg Lake District, is a large lake region in the southern part of the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. It is located just above the state of Brandenburg and is around 150 km north of the capital Berlin. It is a famous summer destination for many Germans and is well known for its amazing lakes and beautiful canals. There are over 600 interconnected lakes in this area with a very unique flora and fauna as well as various nature parks, towns, cities and cultural hot spots around. Although the lakes might not offer such spectacular mountain scenery as the lakes down south in Bavaria, such as the Walchensee, they are beautiful in their very own way.
What makes this lake district so interesting is that it can offer its visitors a wide range of activities to do. You will primarily find local German tourists coming here, many of them quite spread across the area as it is a very large district. It is actually one of the biggest coherent lake areas in all of central Europe. Despite this, there are no overcrowded beaches or massive hotel chains lined up around the lake district. The best way to reach the area is by car. It really depends on where you want to go as there are numerous different places to visit. The most common areas to see are Müritz, Waren, Neustrelitz and Plau am See (to name a few). These places can also be reached by train as there are train stations located in larger towns around. From there you can then take buses to the lakes.
In terms of staying overnight there are a few options. You can either stay in one of the many hotels and guesthouses, stay on a house boat or pitch your tent up in one of the many camping sites. There are a lot of different camp sites to choose from, with all of them having their up- and downsides. When we visited the last time we decided to stay at the Biber Ferienhof and we had a very nice time there. The place offers not only a beautiful setting but also various types of apartments to rent. So in case camping in a tent is not your thing you can stay in a cozy room instead. The atmosphere is very relaxed here which is not always the case on German camping places. The closest train station is in Mirow or Rheinsberg.
A great activity on the lake is to rent a canoe or kayak. You can then take various routes and discover all the small canals and arms of the lake and cross from one to another. You can obviously also just go for a swim or do some fishing and go hiking and trekking around the lakes. We also visited the small towns and villages around, here you can find some very nice castles and restaurants to grab some delicious food!
Overall a very nice place to visit during the summer and definitely a great area to relax and enjoy some beautiful nature and relaxed atmosphere and surroundings.