Rheinsberg is a small town in northern Brandenburg, set on the shore of the Grienericksee and surrounded by forests and lakes. It is best known for Schloss Rheinsberg, a graceful palace where the young Frederick the Great spent his happiest years before ascending the Prussian throne. The writer Kurt Tucholsky later immortalised the town in his novella Rheinsberg: A Picture Book for Lovers, and Tucholsky fans still make the pilgrimage to see the Tucholsky Literaturmuseum inside the palace.
The palace grounds are open for walks along the lake, and the Schloss itself houses a music academy and a literary museum. Boat tours on the Grienericksee and the connected waterways are a good way to see the surrounding Ruppiner Seenland. At Pentecost the town hosts a jazz festival with live music around the clock. A short drive north, the decommissioned Rheinsberg Nuclear Power Plant offers one of the stranger heritage experiences in the region — a Cold War reactor tour beside one of Brandenburg's cleanest lakes.