Rostock Train Station

15-ish km - depends on the route

here is the map

Rostock Hauptbahnhof
Konrad-Adenauer-Platz 1
18055 Rostock

Christi -

Thanks for the details! As I'll be bicycling, is there any reason I wouldn't be allowed to travel any of those roads (E55, A19, etc.)? I've biked all over the world in cities big and small, so traffic is not a concern.

With a bicycle you should take the small - and more direct - roads. This map www.openstreetmap.org/#map=13/54.1081/12.1254 shows them. There is a river ferry to shorten your route (www.rsag-online.de/fahrplan/fahrplan/kurzer_weg_nach_gehlsdorf)

David - if you click on the map link I gave and change the method to the walking guy it will route you on the smaller rds - and it is shorter - 10 km

David. Any road with a number starting 'A' is an Autobahn. Strictly motor vehicles only, no pedestrians, bicycles or horses.
All other roads should be OK unless they have the "motor vehicles only* sign.
'E' numbers are a separate numbering scheme for international routes, you can ignore them.
Autobahn have blue signs, other roads have yellow signs. Other roads may be "Bundesstrasse" (B123 etc.), but the signposts just show the number "123" on a yellow background. Most roads do not have numbers.
There are often separate cycle routes. You need to get a local map or follow special cycle signposts.

Tonfromleiden -

Thanks for the alternate route. Based on the Open Streets map, are you suggesting that I take these roads to the other ferry terminal for the river crossing?:

Am Seehafen, Zum Sudtor, Oldendorfer Strasse, Up'n Wamowsand, Zur Yachtwent, Pressentendstrasse and Landstreitstrasse to Gehlsdorf Fähre, then the ferry to Kabutzenhof Fähre

I noticed no otherwise marked route on that map, so guess that those roads provide the more direct way.

Christi -

Thanks. I did better than that and changed it to the bicycling guy! That route appears to be basically the same as for the walker. Pretty neat maps, which I'm using for the first time.

Chris F.,

Thanks for the clarification on the German road distinctions!

It's been many years since I last biked in Germany, so this helps. On that - my first trip to Europe - I happened off some rural road onto a short stretch of the Autobahn (heck, even my detailed Michelin map had run out of options at that point!) and was waved off it and back onto another, smaller road by some friendly road workers! After that, Gute Reise it was!