Daydream escape: Germany's most beautiful parks and gardens

Finally, some color again! The flowerbeds and themed gardens of the popular urban park Planten un Blomen are ready for visitors. It covers the former ramparts in Hamburg's city center and remains open for walks and jogging. Only the show greenhouses are closed. By the way, the city oasis celebrates its 200th birthday this year.

Yet another city that knows how to use its former fortifications. In the 1920s, under Mayor Konrad Adenauer, the Outer Green Belt was created along the former ring of fortifications that ran around Cologne. No matter if people walk, jog or cycle here — everyone appreciates the vastness and beauty of the park.

The romantic landscape park near Dessau on the Elbe river is one of the most beautiful in Europe: an artistic combination of landscaped park, gardens and palaces. The buildings are currently closed, events are cancelled, but the parks of Wörlitz, Oranienbaum, Mosigkau and the Luisium are open to visitors. The Garden Kingdom has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site for 20 years.

The garden around the New Palace is also ready for spring. You can't currently go inside the castle — but who wants to when it's so beautiful outside? The creator of the park, the illustrious prince Hermann Fürst von Pückler-Muskau, created a green kingdom with well thought-out visual axes, wide meadows and meandering streams. A unique pleasure and since 2004 a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Idyllic, inviting and soothing for the soul in times like these. The landscape garden on the outskirts of Weimar's old town is the green legacy of Duke Carl August and none other than Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The sovereign prince and poet landscaped the valley along the river Ilm in the style of an English garden. The most beautiful park location was reserved for Goethe and his garden house.

This is Berlin's green lung. Berliners love it just as much as New Yorkers love their Central Park. What was once the hunting ground of the Electors of Brandenburg, has been transformed over time into a spacious inner-city park. Covering 210 hectares — between the Brandenburg Gate and Tiergarten subway station — it offers plenty of space to welcome spring. With social distancing, of course.

Where normally tourists flock in droves, joggers and walkers now can pretty much enjoy the majestic scenery on their own. Frederick the Great's summer residence, Sanssouci Palace, and all other palaces in the park are closed. The gardens belonging to them, however, are open and offer rare people-free vistas.

For Munich residents, the quickest way into the countryside is the English Garden. It is one of the world's largest inner city parks and offers the kind of open space and relaxation that people will savor when getting out for exercise. One can enjoy the wide expanses, or a walk to the waterfalls and Chinese Tower. But the people of Munich will have to forego a stop at the beer garden this Easter.

The island of Mainau with its splendid flowers is one of the most popular destinations on Lake Constance. The orchid show in the Palm House traditionally opens the start of the floral year. Normally. So that flower lovers don't miss this year's spring awakening, they can follow the budding and blooming on the Island's official webpage and social media channels.

The Hercules statue towers above the city of Kassel, while the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site, Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe, lies at its feet. From May onward, water cascades from on high down into the valley. But even without the waterworks, regarded as a a masterpiece of engineering, Europe's largest hilltop park offers a wonderful backdrop for an Easter stroll.