From the Wadden Sea to Stralsund via Bremen, Lübeck and Wismar
Length: approx. 507 km We recommend four overnight stays.
This fabulous route takes in the Wadden Sea World Natural Heritage site on Germany’s North Sea coast, the cultural legacy of the Hanseatic League and the neo-classical Baltic Sea resorts. The Wadden Sea is a unique habitat for more than 10,000 species of plants and animals.
Horse-drawn carriage rides, walks across the coastal mudflats and boat trips are some of the ways to appreciate its natural beauty. From the Lower Saxony Wadden Sea it’s not far to the Hanseatic city of Bremen, whose town hall and Roland statue are just a stone’s throw from the famous Bremen Town Musicians monument.
The next stop is Hanseatic Lübeck. Attractions here include the Holsten Gate, the town hall, the seven spires and, in the old quarter, more than 80 medieval passageways and a number of courtyards.
Lübeck’s renowned marzipan tastes so delicious that the locals think it should be part of the World Heritage too!
The journey continues to another former member of the Hanseatic League – Wismar, with its typical northern German red-brick architecture. The towering, late-Gothic churches of St. Nicholas, St. Mary and St. George dominate the skyline of this Hanseatic city. The landscape along the Baltic Sea coast is characterised by pretty little towns and villages, manor houses, shady tree-lined avenues and fabulous beaches boasting crystal-clear water.
It’s then on through the West-Pomeranian Boddenlandschaft National Park to the end of the route in Stralsund. Another Hanseatic power in times long past, the town has three magnificent red-brick churches that can be seen from far and wide. On Stralsund’s harbour island, which faces out towards the Strela Sound, the Ozeaneum aquarium offers a glimpse of what lies beneath the waves of the Baltic, North Sea and Atlantic Ocean and even the waters of the Polar seas.