At some point, Frank Bullerdiek wanted to know exactly what was going on. So he got himself a solar-powered bicycle counting machine and set it up not far from the Eiden hunting lodge on the Zwischenahner Meer. The device did its job reliably, even when the sun wasn't shining, and Bullerdiek now knows what he always wanted to know: How many cyclists are travelling on the circular route around the sea day in, day out. In the high season, which is when the rhododendrons are in bloom in the numerous parks and gardens in Ammerland, there can be up to 1,000 cyclists. Roughly speaking, if you factor in the rather slack months, that's a quarter of a million cyclists a year.
For Frank Bullerdiek, it wasn't just pure curiosity, but his job that prompted him to set up this cycle counting station. He is the head of Ammerland-Touristik, an enthusiastic cyclist himself and is largely responsible for ensuring that cyclists in this picture-book landscape in northern Germany have as much to do as possible. Just past Oldenburg in the direction of East Frisia and the Netherlands lies the Zwischenahner Meer, which is of course actually an inland lake, is often referred to as the "Pearl of the Ammerland" and is one of the most popular spots in northern Germany for extended day trips or shorter cycle tours.
Seerunde and Smoortaal
Following the example of the Dutch, they have introduced the junction system in the Ammerland along their numerous themed routes, which are a good 700 kilometres long in total. It's foolproof, you always wind your way from one junction to the next. "It's almost an art to get lost," says Frank Bullerdiek, "especially as you can of course download the data for all Ammerland cycle tours from the Ammerland-Touristik website." And if you want to find out interesting facts about the country and its people, flora and fauna or simply look for the nearest inn, you can do this with your mobile phone using the QR codes at the junctions.
Jörg Kramer from Berlin, who we meet at the Fährkroog in Dreibergen, has been coming here for years, once in spring, once in early summer and once in autumn. "It's not as if there's a lack of lakes around Berlin," he says, "but as far as the infrastructure for cyclists is concerned, they could learn a thing or two from the Ammerland region." He has long since developed his own rituals during his holidays in Bad Zwischenahn: Cycling around the sea before breakfast, sometimes round to the right, sometimes round to the left, always jumping in once, no matter how cold or warm, getting bread rolls and thinking over breakfast about which cycle tour he wants to do today. And every other evening he eats a "Smoortaal" in the historic Spieker inn. The record is said to be 16 eels in one evening, but that's really outrageous. Even Kramer's three to four eels a week are still a bit daring. Because the undoubtedly excellent smoked eels, which are called "Smoortaal" here, are a damn fat affair. You'd have to cycle around the lake several times in the morning to burn off the calories. Incidentally, in Ammerland they traditionally drink their digestive schnapps from pewter spoons, accompanied by a Low German drinking ritual, and their greasy hands are washed off with a clear schnapps.
The people around the Zwischenahner Meer are just as flat as those in neighbouring East Frisia and say "Moin" at any time of day or night. But - and they make a point of it - the Ammerlanders are not East Frisians. Otherwise, Ammerland grammar school pupils from Westerstede would hardly have invented East Frisian jokes in the 1960s and described their geographical neighbours as a "species of exemplary obtuseness and pithy stupidity".
A riot of colour and the cycle highway
In East Frisia, it is well known that you can see in the morning who is coming to visit in the evening. This doesn't work in the varied Ammerland park landscape, as there are too many trees in the way. You cycle along historic church paths through forests, then past eerily beautiful moors and lush green pastures, which are often bordered by the traditional hedgerows that are so typical here. Carefully and lovingly restored windmills, mostly galleried holländer, lie along the way, thatched red-brick farmhouses line the roads, which often run in a dead straight line.
They have turned one of them into a kind of cycle highway; cars have no place on more than ten kilometres from Bad Zwischenahn towards Oldenburg. And time and again, you cycle past one of the 300 or so tree nurseries in Ammerland, marvelling at the artfully trimmed trees and bushes and enjoying the magnificent rhododendrons in bloom from late spring to early summer. "It's a riot of colour," says Jörg Kramer, "but it's also really busy here when it's in bloom." He likes it just as much when the leaves around the sea change colour in autumn. Then he has more space on his morning round and the bike counting machine has a lot less to do.
Info & tips for a cycle tour in Ammerland
Arrival
Car: Bad Zwischenahn can be reached via Oldenburg via the A 28 motorway, exit 9 Neuenkruge or exit 8 Zwischenahner Meer. From the Ruhr area, for example, it takes around three hours, while the journey from Berlin takes a good five hours.
Railway: Bad Zwischenahn is well connected to the DB network. You can reach the spa town either by Intercity train in the direction of Norddeich Mole, by DB regional trains or by the Nordwestbahn railway.
Info: www.bahn.de / www.nordwestbahn.de
Worth seeing
From April to October every year, the 14-hectare Park of Gardens in the Rostrup district of Zwischenahn opens its doors. Of course, a visit is most worthwhile when the more than 2,000 species and varieties in the Rhododendron Park in the Park of Gardens are in bloom in every imaginable colour, www.park-der.gaerten.de.
Also worth a visit are the Rhododendron Park Hobbie (www.hobbie-rhodo.de) near Westerstede and the Rhododendron park of the Bruns family in Gristede (www.bruns.de/rhododendronpark-gristede/) between Bad Zwischenahn and Wiefelstede.
The North Sea coast is just a few turns of the pedals away. The quickest way is in the Dangast artists' colony on the Jade Bay. The old spa centre there serves what is probably the best rhubarb pie in the whole of northern Germany, https://kurhausdangast.de
If you fancy a stroll through the city and shopping in Germany's oldest pedestrianised zone, take a detour to the nearby Oldenburg.
Accommodation
Hansen's hotel by the sea: On the Hohe Ufer 25, www.hausammeer.de
Bad Zwischenahn is an expensive place. Double rooms from approx. 220 euros. Bicycles can be safely parked in the underground car park and e-bikes can be charged.
A cheaper alternative (double rooms from approx. 100 euros) is the Parkhotel Bad Zwischenahn, www.parkhotel-bad-zwischenahn.com
Food and drink
The speciality par excellence is the Ammerland "Smoortaal"the finest smoked eel. It is best enjoyed with plenty of brown bread in the traditional Spieker inn in an old Ammerland farmhouse, www.spieker-gaststaette.de
Another delicacy is beechwood-smoked and matured for at least six months. Ammerland ham. If you want to take a smoked eel home with you, the Bruns eel smokehouse (Peterstraße 9) is the place to go. The delicious ham is available at the Ammerländer Schinkendiele (In der Horst 1 a)
Our tips
If you want to combine your cycling holiday in the Ammerland with a culinary experience - and are prepared to spend a lot of money on it - then the Restaurant Apicius in the Hotel Jagdhaus Eiden am See just right. Since 2017, the gourmet temple on the Zwischenahner Meer has been awarded one of the coveted Michelin stars year after year. www.jagdhaus-eiden.de
Bicycle service
There are several bike hire companies in Bad Zwischenahn. Everything you need to know can be found on the Ammerland and Bad Zwischenahn tourist information websites. When hiring an e-bike, you can expect to pay between 25 and 30 euros per day, with a hire period of one week costing between 100 and 140 euros, depending on the provider. Dutch bikes are available for as little as 10 euros per day or for just over 50 euros per week. There are several free and chargeable e-bike charging stations on site. BIKES by ReinsLange Str. 29, www.reins-bikes.de
Maps
Maps can be found in the Tourist Information Bad Zwischenahn or order it online from Ammerland Touristik. The Ammerland cycle touring set (scale 1:35,000) with tour descriptions costs 7.90 euros, the Ammerland cycle touring map (scale 1:60,000) costs 3.90 euros.
Two tour tips in the Ammerland
Tour 1: Sea path and cycle motorway
37.5 km, 70 m elevation gain, max. gradient 1 %
Surface: A good 20 km of tarmac on cycle paths and quiet side roads, approx. 11 km on mostly easy to cycle on firm gravel
From Bad Zwischenahn, take the idyllic Meerweg path round to the left towards Dreibergen. The path, which is usually shared by cyclists and walkers, often leads along specially constructed boardwalks (be careful, extremely slippery when wet). You leave the lake at Aschhausen and cycle along the railway line from Kayhausen before reaching the new eleven-kilometre-long, €10 million cycle route connecting Bad Zwischenahn and Oldenburg after Woldsee near Petersfehn. Opened in April 2024, motorised through traffic is prohibited and cyclists are king here.
You can download the GPS data for Tour 1 from the DK tour portal:
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Tour 2: Sea and moor
44.3 km, 80 m elevation gain, max. gradient 1 %
Surface: About half tarmac, otherwise good natural paths in normal weather, only a little muddy when it has rained a lot
This tour starts on the right around the sea, i.e. along the eastern shore. After Dreibergen, the route leads past some of the traditional Ammerland tree nurseries with their bizarrely shaped ornamental plants and continues along the idyllic Gießelhorster Kirchweg into Westerstede. After coffee and cake in the garden of the Hotel Altes Stadthaus, the route continues along the historic Torsholter Kirchweg, a kind of unpaved avenue, before rolling past Howiek through the not-so-scary Fintlandsmoor and Dänikhorster Moor and finally back to Bad Zwischenahn away from the main roads.
You can download the GPS data for tour 2 from the DK tour portal:
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GENERAL INFO
Ammerland Touristik, Ammerlandallee 12, 26655 Westerstede, Tel. 04488 563000, www.ammerland-touristik.de
Bad Zwischenahn: Touristik-Service am Meer, Auf dem Hohen Ufer 24, 26160 Bad Zwischenahn, Tel. 04403 619159, www.bad-zwischenahn-touristik.de
