Northern Germany

Germany’s North Sea and Baltic coasts, where the Hanseatic cities of Hamburg and Lübeck, the island of Rügen and the Wadden Sea of the North Sea are the main attractions.

This region is what Chinese-language travel usage calls “North Germany”, divided by whole federal states, and includes Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Bremen, Lower Saxony and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. By tourism convention, the Baltic coast of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is counted as part of the north rather than eastern Germany; to the south it is bounded by Saxony-Anhalt and Brandenburg (in the east) and North Rhine-Westphalia and Hesse (in the west).

Highlights: the major port city of Hamburg, with its Speicherstadt warehouse district (a World Heritage site), the Elbphilharmonie concert hall, Lake Alster and the fish market; Lübeck, the “Queen of the Hanseatic League”, with its Holstentor and red-brick Gothic Old Town; Bremen’s Town Hall and Roland statue, and the Bremen Town Musicians sculpture; in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the chalk cliffs of Rügen (Königsstuhl) and seaside resort architecture, the Hanseatic towns of Stralsund and Wismar, Schwerin Castle and the Mecklenburg Lake District; in Lower Saxony, Hanover, Goslar and the Harz Mountains, and the Lüneburg Heath; and on the North Sea, the Wadden Sea National Park, the island of Sylt and the East Frisian Islands.

Classic itinerary: 2 days in Hamburg, 1 day in Lübeck, and 2–3 days along the Baltic via Wismar and Stralsund to Rügen, for about a week in total; you can also head south from Hamburg to Bremen and Hanover.

Getting there: Hamburg is a railway hub, about 2 hours from Berlin; the Deutschlandticket covers regional trains. The islands require a ferry or a train over a causeway.

Note: It is windy by the sea, so bring a jacket even in summer; book seaside accommodation early in peak season.

Destinations

Itineraries