Anyone ever traveled along the Baltic coast of Germany? I am taking my three daughters (ages 24, 20, 16) along on a trip starting with a week in Copenhagen. We are renting a van and driving through Jutland, and possibly considering turning left and heading to Berlin. Any thoughts on whats worth seeing in the area between Hamburg and Berlin?
My daughters are not big nightlife/ party animals, and are surprisingly tolerant of culture.
I spent an enjoyable few days on the island of Rügen last summer. Except for the elegant beach resort of Binz (where I stayed), most of the island is rather rustic and somewhat underdeveloped. But quite beautiful. It's best explored by automobile, since you mentioned you will have a van. If you search through the old trip reports, mine is in there somewhere...
Stralsund looked like an interesting city to explore, but unfortunately, heavy rain prevented me from checking it out on the day I had allotted.
Must-sees are the old town of Lübeck. From 1250 to ca. 1500 Lübeck was one of the key cities of the Western world and you can still see some of its gold glory. Then the water-chateau-style castle of Schwerin is worthwhile. Stay over at Warnemünde and in the evening stroll through the cobble stone streets and find your preferred little restaurant. From Rostock you've got excellent train connections to Berlin.
Hi,
I agree with Stralsund. Numerous places can be recommended....Lüneburg, Neustrelitz formerly of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (if you're interested in Prussian history), Lübeck, and Schwerin, etc.
Four cities are World Heritage Sites: Lübeck, Stralsund, Wismar and Greifswald. Lübeck ist the biggest and most important one, but Stralsund and Wismar are better preserved. I like Stralsund the most. You should also visit the former capital of the duchy of Mecklenburg, Schwerin. The city offers a beautiful old town surrounded by lakes, but the highlight is the 19th century castle. A few miles to the south is Ludwigslust, which was the capital for 30 years. It's basically just a castle with a big park and some government buildings, but pretty nice. If you interested in architecture see the castle of Güstrow, the most important Renaissance castle of Northern Germany. I would skip Rostock, which was mostly destroyed in WW2. The best part of it is Warnemünde, a seaside resort. Close to Warnemünde is Heiligendamm, the first seaside resort on the continent. From there you can ride on a nostalgic steam train to Bad Doberan, where the minster is a must see. One of the most beautiful builings of the Brick Gothic.
The Baltic coast is the most popular summer destination of Germany, because of the sandy beaches and beautiful spa towns. The most popular areas are the Darss peninsula, Rügen and Usedom island. Usedom is basically a 30km long beach with beautiful 19th century resorts close to the Polish border, the so called Imperial Spas. On the northern end von Braun develoved the V2. Rügen is the most diverse and interesting island, with beautiful nature, many sights (the biggest Nazi building for instance) and good and beautiful resorts. On the western side of Rügen is Hidensee btw, a car-free island which was and is popular among the German elite. The Darss feels less touristic and more rural. Instead of posh 19th century spa architecture you find many fishermens houses with colorful doors there, and the Weststrand (western beach) is often billed as one of the 20 most beautiful beaches of the world.
Starting from Strulsund, Rugen's eastern coast is worth a day or two. The abandoned Prora holiday village is an interesting story. Take the ferry from Schaprode (NW Rugen) to Hiddensee for a car free experience. Rugen and Hiddensee are great places to explore on bikes.
Also explore east of Strulsund via Barth, checking out the coastal island villages of Zingst and Prerow.
We heard that the area is popular with the Poles during the summer.
Added note. We rented bikes from:
http://www.mecklenburger-radtour.de/en/index.html
Die Mecklenburger Radtour GmbH
Zunftstraße 4, 18437 Stralsund, Germany
+49 3831 306760
Has anyone visited the Amber Museum located in Ribnitz-Damgarten, between Stralsund and Wismar?
I liked Schleswig, a small, quiet and serene provincial capital, and Kiel, very typical northern German architecture and German navy town. Lubeck is the best historical/medieval town.
The cost is outrageous for dropping across the border in Germany. If you're considering that, I'd drop the van north of the border, train across the border and rent another in Germany.
