I've been living in Hamburg over a year now and although I love it here, I feel like I want to see more of Germany. I've made a few day trips in the past year - Kiel, Cuxhaven, Luebeck and Schwerin. I'd like some recommendations on nice places to go for the day, and some great things to do while there. I can make these recommendations about the places I've visited:

Luebeck - Only a 50 minute train ride from the Hauptbahnhof. A gorgeous city with many old buildings and churches. Old town is essentially on an island in the middle of the city, and you pass through a beautiful old tower that was once part of the city gate. It's wonderful to just wander the streets, looking at the old houses, gardens and tiny cobblestoned streets. You can easily explore Luebeck in a day unless you want to spend some serious time in the many churches and visit the Puppen Museum - a puppet museum with the largest privately owned collection in the world.

Schwerin - We visited with a friend whose mission in life seems to be to visit all the castles in Europe. There is a beautiful castle one can tour with exquisite castle grounds right on the water. There was also a street fair going on near the large church in town. A lovely day trip although I'm not sure what else there is to do there other than seeing the castle.

Cuxhaven - We went to the seashore and rode our bikes along the water. We came at low tide and it amazed me to see sand stretching all the way to the horizon, with a few ships obviously very far out at sea. There is an island one can cross to at low tide, either by foot or on horse drawn carriages, or by boat. We didn't go although we'd like to next time we visit. It was surreal to watch the horses trotting along over sand that would be covered by water in only a few hours.

We used to enjoy the North Sea at St-Peter Ording - wide-open spaces, fresh air, great walks along empty shores... only in winter though. It's a bit overcrowded in the height of summer. About 20km before you get there is a little town called Tönning. In September there is a very atmospheric horse market and before Christmas an old warehouse is converted into a Christmas market. On the edge of town is a very impressive maritime museum, with the reconstruction of a sperm whale which beached there several years ago dominating one section. Well worth a weekend.

If you liked Lübeck, you'll love Lüneburg! Easy to get to via train from the Hauptbahnhof, takes about a half-hour. Beautiful strolls through the old part of town, by the river etc. Interesting architecture. The town sits on top of an enormous underground pillar of salt, off which it became rich centuries ago. The Salt museum is not to be missed.

Other great weekend places are the North Sea islands of Pellworm, Föhr and Amrum. You have to take a ferry, but once there, you can start to really feel like you've gone back in time. Great for cycling or just hanging out. I would avoid Sylt, which is over-rated and thanks to the train connection bringing thousands of cars, not much of an island anymore.

Lüneburg also came to my mind first.
Lovely old buildings in the Altstadt.

We also go to Friedrichstadt once or twice a year. My mom was born in that area. Friedrichstadt is an old Dutch settlers' town, situated on the river Eider. It's near Husum (think 10-15 km).
Friedrichstadt is called the Venice of the North (like a few other places, including Hamburg ) as it has many "Grachten" (canals). It's a nice day out to stroll around the little streets and make a boat trip on the canals - my mission in life is to go on any available boat trip
Talking about Husum: it's famous for the crocus-blossom in the castle-garden in early spring. Husum is called the grey town at the ocean - the harbour merges into the city centre, you see lots of little fishing boats there, bringing in the shrimps (Fischkutter, Krabbenkutter).
Both Husum and Friedrichstadt are great places to eat fish.

My parents-in-law live in Hattstedt which is one village North of Husum. When kids were small we sometimes went up there on a Friday, dumped the kids & went into Husum for a meal. On rainy November nights the placec is certainly the "grey town at the seaside..."


We almost always eat fish at VOSS on the quayside - not the new glass building but on the seaward side of the road/railway bridge. Open in Summer half of year. Owner sold up at end 2007 but apparently new owner is keeping the staff incl. cook on... Don't expect them to speak English (well - I have never tried them out...)

Go South to Wildpark Lüneburger Heide (Garlstorf).

April - October there is a twice-daily display of falconry (as long as its not wet). You can take in both shows in a day as they are different...

Another good place to visit is Bremen. The old town round the Dom is really great to stroll in. And it's only an hour on the train...

Altes Land is always nice in spring when apple and cherry trees are in bloom and Buxtehude is a nice little town in Altes Land to stop and have something to eat. Later in the year when cherries and apples are ripe it's worth going back to again, too. Cycle along the river and through the fields and have some fresh cake in one of the many cafes.

South of Hamburg is Wildpark Schwarze Berge which is always good to visit no matter which time of the year. Dogs are allowed in as well, the only thing is you cannot take them into the deer enclosure. Only 1 km away from the wildpark is Kiekeberg Museum. It's an assembly of old farming houses from the region and all during the year they have a variety of handcraft displays, markets and fairs on. Also open all year round.

Billy and I are into hiking, so for day trips we like going to "Holsteinische Schweiz", a region between Kiel and Lübeck. Not as hilly as one would think but a lot of lakes and nature reserves. So when the wheather is great it's a good day out.
If you have a bit more than a day, the Harz is the nearest hilly region to Hamburg. About 3 hours drive from Hamburg, well worth to spend some time there! Try Goslar with the old emporer's seat, the Kaiserpfalz, Quedlingburg in the east for it's historical town centre or the Brocken, the highest hill there, for Walpurgisnacht ( April 30 - May 1).

I would recommend Sylt for a weekend or Schleswig if you like "Moorleichen" (bog bodies).

Schleswig, yeah, forgot about that - it's very nice.

Laurel, I have a book I can lend you with places to go if you're interested in barrows etc. - there's lots of places around Hamburg (Jesteburg, Albersdorf etc.).
We've been to a place near Bergedorf last year which is small but interesting - absolutely tourist-free - I have some pics on my facebook, you can check it out there.
I'll bring the book on Tuesday, please remind me.

Have you been to Lübeck?
Lida

My favourites Lübeck, Schwerin and Lüneberg have already been mentioned.

Uelzen although a small place is worth a visit for the Hundertwasser designed station.
Wismar for an old Baltic port
Ludwigslust for a big old house and estate in the middle of nowhere
Flensburg (where your driving licence ends up if you've naughty) has a nice centre with lots of inside courtyards
Ratzeburg and Mölln - nice summer walk between the two.
Kiel harbour
A bit further afield but doable on a Schöneswochende ticket - Hannover and Braunschweig
Helgoland on the fast catamaran or slower ship
Stade perhaps but I've not seen the centre yet

HVV publish a useful nice book about daytrips in the immediate Hamburg area either as walks or bike rides

Warnemünde just outside Rostock is great for a weekend trip. It's a really nice seaside town with a nice beach and bars/cafes on the waterfront. It's about 2-3 hours on the train from hamburg. The youth hostel there is on a boat, but i remember the woman there was an absolute cow! (think it was because we were foreigners - she kept translating everything after she'd said it in german even though i was speaking to her in german!) We had a laugh though!

If you're looking for something a little different, how about the Karl May Festival in Bad Segeberg. If you've heard about Winnetou and Old Shatterhand, then you know who he is. And if you haven't then ask just about any German (or here's a whole bunch of info), and they'll probably have read his books or seen movies based on them. The official festival web site is in German, but it will give you all the details.

The German comedy film Der Schuh des Manitu was a parody of Karl May Westerns.

European festivals keep Wild West alive and kickin'

What about nice day trips to see castles?

I repeat:


If you have small kids (or larger kids) they have an excellent play area plus try getting yr kids out of the "Streichelzoo" (where there are other kids...)

Castles. Hmm. Well we're not in Scotland (unfortunately)
Don't make the mistake of checking out the Bergedorfer Schloss, Mat went there once and he was sooo disappointed, he said it wasn't really a castle.

I worked in Ahrensburg for a couple of years, the Ahrensburger Schloss looks nice from the outside (have never been inside though). It's also pretty easy to get to, on the U1 to Ahrensburg. But from there it's quite a walk, there's also a bus, but that only goes every 30 minutes, on Sundays even only once an hour.

Click to view attachment

I've been inside the Ahrensburg castle, it's a nice little tour and interesting too. They make you wear slippers over your shoes. I think that's how they keep the floors clean.

I went to Timmendorfer strand on Wednesday and was shocked and amazed at how wonderfully long the promenade was. The town of Timmendorfer was nice too. I took the train to Lübek and then transferred to the train to Timmendorferstrand. I'd only recommend this when you have a bike, otherwise take the bus as it will drop you closer to the beach. The Timmendorfer Bahnhof isn't very close to the beach. My rout was was only 1.5 hours. I brought my bike alone but you can rent bikes there. They have an aquarium and miniature golf. A strandkorb is 13 Euro per day and there are restrants, cafes, kiosks, and clean restrooms all along the promenade. I'd recommend it highly.

Travemunde is another seaside place with a train connection from Lübeck - the walk to the seafront is much shorter than that a Timmendorfer Strand. The only downside is that it is a very popular place on sunny weekends and the trains will be very full.

Update on post#4 concerning fish-eating in Husum...:

Parents-in-law report that VOSS has gone down the tubes in quality...

I haven't tried it, but I've seen it advertised on the s-bahn, and that's a trip from Hamburg to Helgoland on a highspeed ferry.

Basically depart Hamburg or Wedel around 9am, get 4-5 hrs on the Island and get back to Hamburg around 8pm. Should be a nice little cruise of the Elbe as well.

All info can be found on the website Helgoland Ferry

Dömitz isn't far away.

Also Ludwigslust is fairly interesting.

I don't think you'd want to make a day trip out of it, but an overnight or a weekend in Münster is wonderful, especially if you bring your bicycles along. Münster is a lovely college town and the bike capital of Germany. It only costs 9 euro to take your bike on the train, or 7 euros per day to rent a bike from the Radstation by the Hauptbahhof in Münster. (You can also park your bike for the day for only 70 cents.) My husband and I took the train in on a Friday afternoon and spent the weekend exploring the town and the surrounding countryside (the Münsterland) by bike. The Münsterland is home of the "100 Schlosse Route" which is a circular bike trail around the city with 100 beautiful castles to visit. If you don't feel like biking every day, some of the castles are also asscessable by bus. We took a half an hour busride to the tiny town of Lüdinghausen where there is a gorgeous 13th century castle about 15 minutes walk from the Altstadt. Built in 1271, it's the oldest castle in Westfalia and has a moat and three drawbridges. Very cool! We had a wonderful trip and wished we had more time to visit many more castles. Münster is also home to the Pinkus brewery, which has a restaurant in the 'Kuviertel' (college area.)

A good simple excursion in HH is to take the S Bahn or Schnellbus to Blankenese and then cross the river
by ferry (no extra cost in the week with a Tageskarte) to Cranz.
(If you are unfit, in Blankenese there are small buses that go down the slope..)
There are a couple of river side restaurants for a relaxed lunch there (one with Koi carp to feed).
You can take the ferry back to Blankenese or a bus which takes you via the Airbus works to Finkenwerder
Landungbrücken (possible ferry to HH Landungsbrücken) and then (if you stay on the bus) via
the harbour (Containerport / Waltershof) back through the Elbe Tunnel to Altona (S-Bahn).
If you are energetic you can walk along the Ottenser Hauptstrasse and then down to the river and go back
from Oevelgönne (or the new ferry stop by the ship shaped building) with the ferry to the HH Landungbrücken
or Sandtorhoft.