Kiel, Hamburg, Lubeck or somewhere else

It sort of depends what you are looking for. Hamburg is a large city with 2.5 million inhabitants in the urban area, Lübeck is a much smaller town with an interesting old town.

I've been to none of the three 🙂. But if you search "Kiel" in the Search Bar above, you will find a handful of Kiel vs other city posts. Kiel does not fare well.

I didn't find Kiel particularly exceptional. Hamburg is better. But if you just want to have a relaxing day, take some walks and enjoy some good scenery, maybe have a bike ride or a lake cruise, take the direct train from Kiel to Plön, just 30 minutes away. I spent an afternoon there about 10 years ago. It's a water wonderland.

https://www.welt-atlas.de/datenbank/karten/karte-1-899.gif

https://www.grosseploenersee-rundfahrt.de/bildergalerie.html

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g1074294-Activities-Plon_Schleswig_Holstein.html

https://img.fotocommunity.com/ploen-schloss-ploen-in-der-holsteinischen-schweiz-1bf78aa0-3ff9-4226-9957-6fbf374fb961.jpg?height=1080

We spent a day each in Hamburg and Lübeck on a Baltic cruise. I also think Lübeck would be the better choice for the reasons Badger has already mentioned. It is also renowned for its marzipan if that’s any further inducement (marzipan beats miniatures in my world). We walked around all day in both cities. We actually had two days in Hamburg and on the second day took a short train ride to the beautiful town of Lüneburg. Safe travels.

Sorry I should have listed our interest. Old town walks, art and history museums, castles and palaces. We like big cities like Berlin with lots of history and museums and we liked Rothenburg.

If they really are both 1:30 by train (i.e. Hamburg isn't the faster to get to), I like Lubeck a little better. It could be said that Lubeck is more touristy than Hamburg, and that Hamburg is more of a big-picture of Germany. But there is plenty to do in Lubeck for one day, and it's very attractive. The other issues could be: interest in a contemporary working port, red-light district, or a more urban visit in general. We weren't sorry we slept in Lubeck.

You didn't give the rest of the itinerary, but just in case:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/germany/12-hours-in-warnemunde

You might consider Schleswig which is easy to get to from Kiel. It is a pleasant small town on a lake setting, with an historic centre also now incorporating the original fishing village and has a castle which today houses various museums including a Viking boat, bog bodies and art galleries. There is a second museum which also has a Viking boat. We stopped overnight, but I think you could feel you've "done it" with just your day-trip.

We went to the three places you name a few years ago. Kiel is not attractive and has little to see (it reminded me of Croydon), but nearby is the excellent Laboe and its naval centre. You can get there by public ferry and there is a nice seaside town, U-boat to visit and memorial crypt and observation deck. It would be enough to fill a day.

To be fair, there are excellent fish and chips in Kiel.

Hamburg is brilliant, we were massively impressed and there is a lot to see. It is a five day city so you would need to be picky for your day visit. You cannot go wrong - although for obvious reasons it was well battered in the War so the oldy worldy looking bits are dwarfed by the more modern, nevertheless there are some medieaval parts. There is a big art gallery and the wonderful miniature "wonderland".

Lubeck is attractive (some rebuilt post-War) and has plenty of sights to fill a day or two.

Laboe is quite nice especially if you wanna leave more about submarine and naval heritage.

In addition, Flensburg also has direct train from Kiel. It has both German and Danish characters.

We really enjoyed Lubeck last August.
It was an Hanseatic city and thus quite wealthy. The Hansemuseum is very interesting although a bit long if you stop and read all the well done exhibits (English as well as German). And, as mentioned above the city, it is renowned for marzipan. There is even a small marzipan museum above the Niederegger Cafe.

Sitting outside in the sunshine, enjoying a beer next to the river with the spectacularly non-level city gate in the background is very memorable.

We stayed at the Park Hotel which is near the bahnof and a short walk to the old town.
If you go, be sure to get a Doner at City Doner. It is very near the hotel and directly on the walk to the old town. It is the best Doner I have eaten including those in Berlin.

Bonus- Travemunde is a short train or boat ride away from Lubeck. You can experience the traditional German beach vacation with hundreds of the wicker beach huts on the very large sandy shore.

Enjoy your trip

Jay

I lived in that region. Any special interest you are looking for?

We like art museums, history museums, war museums, old town centers, palaces, castles, big cities, small cities and good beer. We have been to Berlin twice and Rothenburg once and loved both. Thanks for all of the replies

Forgot to add beautiful churches

Kiel isn't all that exciting.

I don't know why Rick doesn't like Hamburg; it's the best city in the world. But I have always found him to be anti, and it's disappointing. Don't rule it out based solely on Rick's books.

My thought is that 8-10 hours means that with travel time you are really only in Hamburg or Lübeck for about 4 hours.

You listed:
art museums: Advantage Hamburg, but you likely wouldn't have time to visit a museum properly. But if you are choosing based on that, Hamburg
history museums: Advantage Hamburg, but see above
war museums: Advantage Hamburg, but see above
old town centers: Advantage Lübeck
palaces: Neither
castles: Neither
big cities: Hamburg
small cities: Lübeck
and good beer: Probably more variety in Hamburg, but you have to know where to look and seek it out. Your definition of good matters here, too. But you'll get more or less the same options in both locations, maybe slight edge Hamburg.

Based on your interests I would say that saving Hamburg for time to do it properly and enjoying either Lübeck or another location is your better choice--and I say that as someone who lives in Hamburg and loves this city passionately. There is tons to see, much of it easily missed, in this part of the world. But for the time you have, I would say either Lübeck or, if there are excursions offered, consider places like Schleswig or Plön. But if you do end up opting for Hamburg, be sure to check out some of my earlier posts.

I lived in Hamburg for 8 years and would recommend either Hamburg or Luebeck. You could easily spend a day in Hamburg; I personally would plan in about half a day for Luebeck. Luebeck is absolutely lovely, but if the weather is bad on that day I am not sure that you could find a full day's worth of indoor activities, whereas in Hamburg you could easily spend a day in museums alone (never mind shopping, restaurants, and canal boat tours): https://www.hamburger-kunsthalle.de/
https://www.mkg-hamburg.de/en/
https://www.buceriuskunstforum.de/
https://www.deichtorhallen.de/
https://www.miniatur-wunderland.de/
https://www.rickmer-rickmers.de/
https://www.capsandiego.de/
https://www.imm-hamburg.de/
https://chocoversum.de/de/
https://prototyp-hamburg.de/

(Those are just the ones in the main "touristy" parts of town that I remember off the top of my head...)

Churches! You mentioned churches as well:

Hamburg: https://www.st-michaelis.de/ (don't miss the nearby https://shmh.de/de/kramer-witwen-wohnung)

Luebeck: https://www.st-petri-luebeck.de/

Beer in Hamburg: https://www.groeninger-hamburg.de/

https://www.brauhaus-joh-albrecht.de/hamburg/

Hi scot.dailey

With just 8-10 hours, go with the wisdom of your wife and visit Lubeck.
After visiting both Hamburg and Lubeck last September, Lubeck, one of the largest cities in the Hanseatic League, is
perfect for an entire day. It’s also one of the most historic cities in Germany with most of its centuries-old architecture
intact. Hamburg is amazing. But it is spread out and requires at least a couple days to begin to enjoy.
Have a great trip!

Thanks for the replies. We canceled our cruise and rescheduled it for next year. Don’t think that it stops in Kiel.