The seaside resort of Travemünde sits at the meeting point of the Trave river and the Baltic. A holiday destination since the early 19th century, it offers the timeless pleasures of sun, sand and simple fare like fischbrötchen along broad beaches dotted with giant wicker chairs called strandkörbe. Watersports, including a July regatta, are also major draw. The riverfront Vorderreihe, lined with restaurants, cafes and boutiques, is lovely to stroll, as is the charming Old Town.
Connected to the North Sea by the Elbe River, Hamburg sits just a few miles up river from the busiest manmade waterway in the world – the Kiel Canal. Needless to say, Hamburg has a rich maritime history, and this is a city of superlatives on a worldwide scale. It has the most bridges at 2,300, six times as many as Venice. The Speicherstadt district, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is the largest complex of architecturally significant warehouses, and Miniatur Wunderland is the world’s largest model railroad and cityscape.
The yacht docks in Warnemünde, a charming resort town with a popular beach, a pretty promenade and gabled fishermen’s houses. Nearby Rostock enchants with its university established in 1419, St. Mary’s Church with its famous astronomical clock, the 13th-century Town Hall and the quaint Old Town. You might also travel inland to the quintessential fairy-tale castle of Schwerin Palace.
