3 Free Things to do in Germany

No matter who or where you are, you can't deny that free activities are great. Free outdoor actives are even better because you get fresh air and maybe a tan too. 

1. Walking in the Mud  

I know for a fact people pay for mud masks because I am one of them. In the North of Germany you can get tonnes of it for free when the tide is out:

At first I was convinced that I was going to fall flat on my face or fall into a mud quicksand spot or something, but then I got used to it and started 'skating' in it. It was fun. 

You can bathe in it too, but we choose to draw hearts at each other (awwwwww aren't we sickly sweet):

There are lots of different words for 'mud' in German: Schlamm, Matsch, Lehm and (my favourite) Mudde. But this specific type of mud is called Watt (pronounced Vat). If you throw it at someone it really does make a Vat noise so I recommend that you do throw mud at someone you know, to make it  easier to remember the word. 

2. Swimming in Lakes

Where I'm from in England (South West) the lakes and rivers are nowhere near as clean as the Seen und Flüsse in Germany. Our South West rivers are dirty and filled with duck poop and the occasional dead fish. I've not been to the Lake District so I'm not sure if that's true for all of England but, whatever, the lakes and rivers are crystal clear in Germany:

Understandably people like to swim in them all the time. Some people have seen this as a capitalist opportunity and charge you to go in (they like to call it charging for parking). Most of them are still free though, and the ones that aren't are only 2 Euros max.

3. Sand Jumping 

A few miles from Tanbay's home town is a construction site where they've dug out a lake and left a massive pile of bricks (Bausteine) and sand (Sand): 

The water is turquoise and gorge, but it's one of those nasty ones where it has underground suction things that can pull you under and kill you. So all you can safely do in this water is paddle. But that's not why we go there. We go there for this:  

We also tried (unsuccessfully) to sandboard here. We brought cushions from beach chairs, children's car seats and the bottom of a swing. The cushions worked the best, but it had to be at a really steep bit: 

So there you have it! Three fun outdoor activities for you to try in Germany - or in any country where you can walk in the mud, swim in the lakes or jump in sand dunes for free. 

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ABOUTME

Travelling through the kyriarchy and weaselling our way out of the rat race - a female travel blogger writing about socially and politically conscious travelling.