We will stop at Warnemünde May, 6 2017 on a cruise ship, arriving 7:00 am and sailing at 9:00 pm. All cruise lines refer to the Warnemünde port as “Berlin”. We know this is a stretch as Warnemünde is about 240 km north of Berlin, and to us this seems like a long haul even on an ICE train. As we have visited Berlin previously, if we have to take a train to a destination, we’d prefer to travel to Lübek. Is the total train travel time from Warnemünde to Berlin similar to that for Warnemünde to Lubek? As the crow flies, Lübek is closer to Warnemünde than Berlin, but are the train logistics more complex (more changes, less direct route, or slower trains) for Warnemünde to Lübek than Warnemünde to Berlin? At first glance, it appears the train may go through Wismar and Bad Kleinen en route to Lübek. If we’d miss a train connection on the way back, we’d be out of luck. We’d prefer not to rent a car for a day for only a 130 km drive, but if the train logistics are too time-consuming we may have no choice. Speaking of renting a car, I assume SIXT or other car rental place is within walking distance of the Rostock train station. Let me know if this is not correct.
Posted by
San Antonio TX, United States
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Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19275 posts
The Bahn shows 2 regional connections every two hours between Warnemünde and Lübeck in 2h33min with 2 changes and 3 hrs with one change. Since they are regional connections, you can use a Länder (regional) ticket, the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern-Ticket, 23€ for the first traveler plus 4€ each for up to four additional travelers.
According to the Bahn schedule, the fastest connection is a 5 minute, one platform change in Bad Kleinen coming back, plenty of time if you are ready to get off the train when it stops in Bad Kleinen. The others look very easy to make. The three hour connection has only one change coming back of 31 minutes in Güstrow.
Posted by
Bavaria
2480 posts
Considering travel times you might prefer going to Stralsund (1:25) rather than to Lübeck. It is a historical Hanse city, too, and even if it hasn't a Thomas Mann, it is rich in history and personally, I found it amazingly interesting.
Posted by
Germany
868 posts
Speaking of renting a car, I assume SIXT or other car rental place is
within walking distance of the Rostock train station. Let me know if
this is not correct.
A Hertz rental station is on the pier, you don't have to get to Rostock.
And consider Stralsund or Wismar instead of Lübeck. Lübeck was the head and the biggest city of the Hanseatic League, but Stralsund and Wismar are closer to Warnemünde and a bit better preserved. And they are Word Heritage Sites, just like Lübeck.
Most people recommend a day trip that includes both Wismar and Schwerin, which is nice because you see a Hanseatic town and a 19th century capital of a duchy with a fairytale castle. Easily doable by public transport, but also highly recommend is a company called "Friends of Dave" (google them), which gets rave reviews.
Renting a car has only one advantage: you don't lose valuable time and see places you can't by public transport on a day trip, like Stralsund + Rügen or Stralsund + the Darß peninsula for instance.