Potsdam's palaces charge admission, but its parks, Russian colony and Cold War bridge do not. Three days here run on €1 park tickets, a €6.50 student canteen lunch, market Brotzeit and free hilltop views over the Havel.
The 102-hectare Neuer Garten is free to enter year-round and the Heiliger See has an official free bathing meadow on its eastern shore. The 4 km lakeside path passes the Marmorpalais and Gotische Bibliothek at no cost.
Thirteen Russian log houses built in 1826 for Prussian court singers, still lived in and free to walk through at any hour. The Alexander-Newski-Kirche on the hill above opens Tue-Sun 10:00-17:00 with free entry, donations welcome.
A 7-hectare garden island where the Havel splits, replanted by Karl Foerster in the 1930s and free to enter since 1974. Perennial borders, rose terraces, sculpture and benches looking across the Alte Fahrt to the city.
The 1907 iron bridge where the CIA and KGB swapped agents four times between 1962 and 1986 costs nothing to cross on foot. A green line mid-span still marks the old GDR–West Berlin border, with free info panels at both ends.
Potsdam's main open-air market runs Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from 08:00 beside St. Peter und Paul. Brandenburg growers sell Beelitz asparagus, potatoes and cheese; a Fischbrötchen is about €3.50 and a picnic bag stays under €6.
The University of Potsdam canteen serves a hot main with sides for roughly €6.50 on the guest tariff, payable by card. Open Mon-Fri 11:00-14:30 in term time, with a terrace facing the rear facade of the Neues Palais.
A Potsdam bakery founded in 1919, with a counter on the pedestrian Brandenburger Straße selling Streuselschnecken from about €1.60 and filter coffee near €2.20. Window seats look down the street toward the Brandenburger Tor.
A brewpub in the former royal dairy on the Jungfernsee shore, pouring its own Helles and Dunkles at roughly €3.90 for half a litre. Sitting in the lakeside beer garden costs nothing and the sunset over the water is free.
The Italianate belvedere finished in 1863 charges €6.50, or €5 reduced, for the towers and opens daily 10:00-18:00 from April to October. From the roof you see Sanssouci, the Havel lakes and Berlin's TV tower in one sweep.
An artificial hilltop ruin raised in 1748 to disguise the reservoir that fed Sanssouci's fountains, a 15-minute climb from Am Neuen Garten. Unfenced, free and open at all hours, with the palace terraces lined up below.
Pückler and Lenné's 114-hectare Havel-side park is free from dawn to dusk. The 46 m Flatowturm costs €4 and opens weekends 10:00-18:00 from April; the shoreline path past the Kleines Schloss and Dampfmaschinenhaus stays free.
A free open loggia built in 1869 on the Böttcherberg, ten minutes uphill from Klein Glienicke. Its arches frame the drop over Glienicke park to the Havel and the Cold War bridge, and hardly anyone makes the climb.