North Germany road trip - highlights from Bremen, Hamburg, Rügen, Rostock and the countless beaches on the Baltic sea!

Germany is famous for the black forest region, snow capped mountains, numerous castles and picturesque villages frozen in time. We (me and my husband) have checked off most of the typical touristic attractions in Germany. In these strange times we did not want to leave the country so I started looking for a summer vacation destination inside Germany. Even after living in Germany for many years we had still not visited any beach in the north nor seen Hamburg, the second biggest city in Germany. As I read more and started making a sightseeing list, I realized there is a lot more to see in north Germany beyond Hamburg. I was excited that this trip is going to be like no other as we would see amazing red brick architecture, white sand beaches, white chalk cliffs and hike through a national park😎. 

I love the planning process before a trip and thoroughly enjoy creating a document with a detailed 'to-do' list for each location. Being child free allows us to be spontaneous and shuffle the plan as we wish. From previous travel experiences we have found it useful and efficient to already locate (and save on Google maps) parking and restaurants at each 'stop' beforehand. It really makes the trip a lot smoother and allows us to check off everything planned in the list 😄. 
We visited the following places:

• Bremen
• Hamburg
• Lübeck
• Rügen Island
• Sassnitz
• Binz
• Sellin
• Kap Arkona
• Stralsund
• Rostock
• Warnemünde
• Kühlungsborn
• Rerik

• Bremen

The first stop on my list was Bremen. When I lived in Pune (India), my apartment was very close to a square called 'Bremen chowk' so I was very curious to see this sister city of Pune. The main attractions/things to do in the city center are:

• Walk along the Böttcherstrasse 
• Admire the architecture from the 1920s and the cute setting of various cafes and pubs on this narrow street.
• Rathaus (Town hall) from the 15th century
• Market square with 'Bremen Roland' statue
• St. Petri Dom (Church)
• Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten
• This is a famous statue of four animals from a German fairy tale (with many different versions and endings) called 'Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten' or the town musicians.

All of these attractions are within walking distance of each other and also close to numerous restaurants. After a hearty lunch we continued our journey to the next destination: Hamburg.

• Hamburg

Hamburg reminded me of many different cities. It has a little of Amsterdam with hundreds of bridges, many museums and the red-light district. It has a little of London with the theaters, old and new buildings and a lot of history. Being a major port city, some areas resemble other port cities. But in the end, it makes a distinct impression of its own that is inimitable.

The main attractions/things to do:

1. Walk in the Alter Elbtunnel 
• It is an experience in itself to cross the Elbe river with this 426 m long tunnel built in 1911. When we reached the location with the help of Google maps I was surprised by the unassuming nature of the entrance. There is no guidance on what you are supposed to do or where you are going 😂. Most of the people crossing the tunnel with us were locals on bicycles or on foot. Once you enter the gate, you can either take a lift or walk down a spiral staircase for ~ 3 floors to reach the starting point of the tunnel. Once you reach on the other side, you can walk to a viewpoint to look at the city from a different perspective.
2. Take a river cruise
• When you reach the train stop 'Landungsbrücken', walk towards the river promenade and you will find a couple of shops offering tickets for a 1-hour river cruise. During the cruise we saw massive ships carrying tons of cargo. The tour guide mentioned one of the ships was over 400 m long! The tour was totally worth the time and money for us🚢.
3. Walk along the Reeperbahn street
• Reeperbahn is full of bars and clubs of all kinds. We were there on a Friday evening and the whole street was bustling with energy. Be cautious though and read up more about the place before you decide to visit.
4. Admire the Rathaus (Town hall) building facade
5. Visit the Alsterarkaden (near Rathaus)
• It is a waterfront arcade for shopping & dining
6. Visit the Elbphilharmonie (Concert hall)
• Due to the pandemic there were no guided tours scheduled however we could visit the 'plaza' for great views of the harbor from the observation deck. It is strange that if you buy a ticket online you have to pay 2 euros but if you directly go to the visitor center near the building or wait in queue at the entrance of the building then you get a free entrance. Luckily, I spotted the visitor center and got a 'free' ticket and we avoided standing in the long queue at the entrance (and 4 euros 😄).
7. Walk around Speicherstadt
• This is the world's largest warehouse complex and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
8. Visit the Miniatur Wunderland
• This place has miniature models of many world-famous sites, different modes of public transport with moving vehicles and even an airport. The hard work and the precision level are commendable. The highlight is the take off and landing of miniature airplanes! It is also fascinating to watch the 'traffic' on highways following rules and changing lanes with an indicator as well as the trains passing through tunnels.
• Every 10-15 mins the lights are dimmed and we can view everything in a completely different way with the night time lighting. 
• Considering the almost perfect reviews and the cost of the ticket I expected more from this place. Sometimes it felt like a repetition and at the end I came out having mixed feelings about the experience.
  
9. Planten un Blomen park

• This is a very highly rated park on Google especially for the light and fountain show in the evenings. As we went in the afternoon and had other plans for the evening we missed it. The Japanese garden in Düsseldorf is much more interesting than the one we saw here. The only place I liked in the park was this pond where many people were sitting under the trees reading books or having a picnic. Overall if you are a tourist, there is nothing to special to see in the park.

From Hamburg we left for Rügen island in the north east of Germany and on the way stopped at Lübeck for lunch.

• Lübeck

Lübeck is most famous for Holstentor, a red-brick city gate situated in the middle of the city. There was nothing else on my agenda for the city. Just lunch and visit the Holstentor. While we were walking around, we saw a river cruise leaving in 5 mins and looking at the high number of tourists in the city I thought maybe there is a lot more to see. So, we went for the river cruise but soon realized we could have given it a miss. There was nothing interesting to see along the route! 

Maybe it was because we just came from a bigger port city but Lübeck was underwhelming 🤷.

• Sassnitz, Rügen

My plan for Rügen island was to cover the west coast from the north to south. Apart from the white sand beaches, the island is also famous for its white chalk cliffs.

Things to do in Sassnitz:

• Walk along the beach / swim in the Baltic Sea.
• While there is no beach near the city center, if you go a bit further away towards Binz you will find plenty of great spots. I was surprised that these beaches are not marked on Google maps. We came across such a beach as it was advertised by the hotel in which we were staying. Hint: If you see a parking lot on Google maps, then chances are there is a beach nearby😄😎.
• Take a boat tour to see the chalk cliffs
• Near the tourist information center, you can find two-three boat tour providers who arrange a 90 minutes tour to see the white chalk cliffs.
• Buy Sanddorn products
• Sanddorns are little orange colored berries which grow in the region. You can find jams, juices and many other products made from Sanddorn.  I tried the juice. It was sweet and sour and reminded me of mango and passion fruit.
• Visit the Jasmund National Park
• To see the chalk cliffs up close you have to hike through the Jasmund National park for 3 kms after parking the car in Hagen. It was a very pleasant hike through the serene beech forest. We gave the Königstuhl visitor center a miss and instead went to the Viktoriasicht to see the cliffs and the vast sea in the front. Unfortunately, we could not admire the view for long as there were other tourists waiting in the queue for their turn. 

• Binz

Things to do in Binz:

• Walk along the promenade
• Binz is a resort town with a long promenade along the beach. Of all the beaches and towns we visited in Rügen, we liked Binz the most. It was livelier than the other towns we visited.
• Swim in the Baltic Sea
• Baltic sea is very calm and the water is cold. From what I saw the depth of the water increases very gradually and the beaches appeared quite safe. But of course, be careful and read the boards put up by the authorities carefully. There are some areas for dogs, some for people with swimsuits and some without!
• If the water is too cold for you, you can always chill on the 'strandkorb', the special chairs on the beach that can protect you from the sun or the wind and let you enjoy a drink with a partner without spoiling your clothes in the sand😎.
• Climb on the Baumwipfelpfad tower 
• This multi-story observation deck (seen in the pictures above) is located a few kilometres away from the Binz city center. It offers some great panoramic views of the surroundings.

• Sellin

The highlight of Sellin is this restaurant called Seebrücke Sellin. The lighting of the restaurant in the evening transforms the place completely. 

Behind this restaurant you will see a cabin that goes underwater for a 40 minutes 'scuba tour'. After reading some reviews we decided against doing this activity. 

• Kap Arkona, Putgarten

Kap Arkona - This lighthouse is the northern most point of attraction on the island.

To reach the lighthouse we parked the car in the parking lot in Putgarten and as it started raining took the little toy train instead of walking to the lighthouse. There are many hiking trails in the area but we had walked enough already (~9-10 kms) in the Jasmund National Park so preferred to just visit the lighthouse. However, there was a long queue outside the lighthouse and we were in no mood to wait for what could be at least an hour so decided to skip it.

With that our stay on this beautiful island came to an end. While traveling back to mainland Germany we took a small break in Stralsund.

• Stralsund

Stralsund is situated near the bridge that connects mainland Germany to the Rügen island. The old town has many red brick Gothic style buildings. The Rathaus (town hall) has the most memorable facade (right most building in the above collage). In all the north German cities we visited the Rathaus is almost always the most striking building! It is also always many centuries old.

We roamed around the old town and the harbor and continued our journey to the next destination.

• Rostock

The old town of Rostock is full of many historical landmarks. The main attraction being the Marienkirche, a 13th century church. If you are in mood for some shopping, you can check out the Kröpoerliner street.

• Warnemünde

Before starting 'research' for this trip I had no idea Germany has its own 'German Riviera'! Warnemünde is part of it 😎 Being on the Baltic Sea you can expect pretty much a similar experience as on other beaches in the area. It has a soft white sand and a clean beach. However, Warnemünde is much more commercial and well connected by public transport. We traveled to it by a short train ride from Rostock. We enjoyed the touristy atmosphere, good food and a boat ride in the sea.

• Kühlungsborn

This is another resort town with a long sandy beach. We walked along the promenade but did not spend much time here as it started raining. Luckily, we had a car so we made a spontaneous decision to travel to the next town and explore it.

• Rerik

Rerik has a very unique location geographically (Check it out on Google maps 😁). A thin strip of land divides the place and provides a totally different experience on each side. On one side is the calm shallow sea with lots of wind and on the other side is a perfect sandy beach. So naturally it appeared to be quite popular with kite surfers, paddle boarders, wind surfers as well as beach goers who just want to relax. Locals have successfully kept it a secret from foreign tourists 😉. 

Rerik pleasantly surprised us and we could imagine coming back with a plan to stay for a few days next time.

We covered these places over nine days and returned to Düsseldorf with a fresh mind and lots of memories 😊.

I hope this post helps you choose some locations for your next trip! 😎