German Baltic Coast

I really enjoyed my visit to the island of Rügen, and particularly the beautiful resort town of Binz. This area of Germany has a completely different look and feel compared to the more familiar destinations farther south.

That being said, I visited in the early summer. I don't know how much value you would get in October. Some of the larger coastal towns, like Stralsund or Wismar could be be interesting, although I've only visited Stralsund.

We spent a week on Usedom at Ahlbeck and a Week on Rügen at Sellin a few years ago in late August to early September. It was a nice relaxing holiday. Weather was nice but a bit cool for swiming and we did not swim, but we did walk through the surf and got some sun on the beach in the famous beach chairs. From Ahlbeck we walked into Poland and taking the Bus into Poland for shoping was not a problem. We were not impressed with Peenemünde. There is a musem there, but most was bombed to dust. They have some old Navy ships you can tour through too. The towns of Greifswald and Stralsund were worth the visit during the drive between Unsedom and Rügen. We met a couple that had a holiday appartment on Unsedom and they visit year round. Not sure how October will be and if some resturants and shops close etc.

We bicycle toured the Mecklenburg region several years ago including a week riding a "figure eight" loop from Stralsund to Insel Rugen back to Stralsund from Hiddensee via ferry, then Barth, Zingst, Prerow then back to Stralsund. We enjoyed the region and would say yes, it's worth a visit exploring a region not overrun by English speaking tourist. That said, the last week of September appeared to be past the tourist tourist season for Germans and Poles and we were the last group out. (We were told by the bicycle rental company in Stralsund told us that most of their renters come from Poland).

We "enjoyed" a mix of fall like weather from comfortable (not hot) blue sky days to cloudy and rainy days. Several days were "damp" but we experienced moderately heavy rain only one day of our week-long trip. We did find out on the day of rain that bus service in late September run less frequently than the summer months.

Aslo note that being a coastal region, wind can and were substantial at times. The day we rode to Putgarten and Kap Arkona, riding into the wind at a 10 kph pace was a maximum effort. (The ride back to Breege was a breeze). http://www.kap-arkona.de/

Late September was very fall like with the only people in the water being wind and kite surfers in wetsuits. The beach concessions were pretty much shutdown except for the pier facilities like the Seebrücke Sellin. The Hiddensee is accessible by boat and is substantially car free: http://www.frs.de/en/portfolio-iberia/mecklenburg-vorpommern.html

You should be getting off-season prices during late September (and October).

http://www.ruegen.de/
http://www.hiddensee.de/
http://www.zingst.de/

PS The Germans call the Baltic the Ostsee.

Is it worth considering an October visit?

Sure, why not? The Baltic Coast offers much more than just beaches. Four town, Lübeck, Stralsund, Wismar and Greifswald, are World Heritage Sites, and Schwerin with the Neuschwanstein of the north and Güstrow with the most important Renaissance castle of Northern Germany deserve a visit too. The spa towns with their distinctive 19th century resort architecture (on Rügen and Usedom) are a sight in itself, and so are some of the fishermens villages (Darss peninsula). There are two historic steam trains, and one of them connects one of the beautiful Gothic churches of the Baltics with the first German seaside resort. The museums of Stralsund are quite good, and there even is a Nazi monstrosity, Prora. If the weather is good you can hike or bike (mainly Rügen or the Darss peninsula), and if the weather is bad you can relax in a so called "wellness hotel", which you can find everywhere on the Baltic Coast.

Martin mentions Prora, the holiday resort under construction just before the start of WW2 and links a photo of the complex. Up close the structures look like bombed out relics. They weren't bombed in the conventional sense, but stripped of fixtures by the post WW2 occupying Russians. Riding by the Prora complex was an extreme contrast to the neat and attractive resorts before and after Prora. Its a reminder of the before reunification era.

The coast to my opinion becomes attractive as soon there is some sunny weather and with that some visitors too, feeling otherwise abandoned. In October there will be autumn holidays and I expect the coastal places will be lively enough, well that´s my experience here on the coast where I live. To my opinion the “Baltic Coast” is worth a visit. A nice museum is the Otto-Lilienthal-Museum in Anklam. He developed airplanes aerodynamics by scientific approach, fascinating story.

Thanks, everyone. I'm a native of the California coast so I enjoy visiting other coastal areas. My main concern was whether or not things would be "open" in the off season, but it sounds like there should be enough to keep me busy for a couple of days and some interesting things to see.

If you have more ideas, please keep them coming :)