Lubeck - Baltic Sea

Lübeck is the queen of the Hanseatic League cities and I would definitely recommend a tour with a guide.
What age are your children? What are you interested in?

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/baltic-germany-fachwerke-landesgartenschau

Hi Mignon,

My kids are 8 and 9.

We love exploring city centres / town squares. Also the beach/nature, and small towns. And of course food and beer.

I am very much interested in the Hanseatic league and looking forward to Lübeck.

Hi Tim ,

Thanks for the link.

I am very much interested in the Hanseatic league and looking forward to Lübeck.

The Hanseatic museum is really interesting but does take a few hours to see properly.

Lubeck is also the home of marzipan so if you don't mind having sugar fuelled children for a few hours there are marzipan tours.

Very good because I also wanted to mention Lübeck's marzipan tradition as well :-) The kids will have fun. https://www.niederegger.de/en/cafe-niederegger/marzipan-museum/

Otherwise it is probably best to check Lübeck's recommendations for families: https://www.visit-luebeck.com/service/luebeck-for-children

But I would definitely recommend cycling along the coast. There is the so-called 'Baltic Coast Cycle Path' which is very easy to drive.
In Travemünde there is a Sand Sculpture Exhibition from May to October: https://www.visit-travemuende.com/events/sand-sculpture-exhibition-travemuende.
Maybe the 'Viking Museum Haithabu' is also interesting for you: https://haithabu.de/en/homepage.

And to be honest, many vacationers go there because of the beaches on Schleswig-Holstein's coast :-)

When you drive from Scharbeutz to Billund you will pass fantastic cities like Kiel, Schleswig and Flensburg.

I'm sure there will be many more recommendations.

I was just going to suggest both Haithabu and the Sand Sculptures! The former is a pit stop (though Billund to Lübeck is an easy drive, so anything in between will also be easy as a side trip from either location). The latter is right outside of Lübeck.

Depending on your route you can also pass through Bad Segeberg and see the caves there. https://noctalis.de

Near Lübeck is the Dorfmuseum Ratekau. I haven't been, but it's one of those open-air, see what life was like back in the day places. Small, but free!
https://www.dorfmuseum-ratekau.de

Also an option as a stop is Arche Warder, a sort of museum / sanctuary / petting zoo for rare domesticated animals. You can feed rare goats, pigs, etc. like the Bulgarian Screw Horn Longhair Goat. We enjoyed it! www.arche-warder.de

We enjoyed the Open-Air museum in Molfsee, right on your route, I believe. House, farms, a school house, church, from the area moved onto a park-like setting for viewing. On the weekends, there were demos, farm animals, and cultivation to see. Food on site. Big area, perfectly appropriate for kids to run and stretch their legs. Easy parking. Probably longer than a "pit stop", but an hour would be interesting even if you can't see everything. English language explanations of the families who lived in the homes and how the buildings operated.

https://freilichtmuseum-sh.de/en/startseite-neu

If you detour through Kiel, by the Labor Naval Memorial, there is a submarine that can be visited. The memorial is moving and views from the tower incredible.

Great that you're focusing here on Lübeck and the environs. Another vote here for Schleswig and Kiel.

I would also recommend in addition to the suggestions above the town of Eutin/Holstein for the Schloss (chateau) and if you're interested in music as the museum/house of Carl Maria von Weber, (Beethoven's contemporary) is located in Eutin. Signs point the way from the train station. I've been back to Eutin a few times as day trips.

While Kiel's and Lubeck's Zentrum were plastered by British bombing, Flensburg escaped the war intact and undamaged, if you're interested in seeing such architecture