Rügen, or Rugia is Germany’s largest island and located in the Baltic Sea off the coast of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.

It is one of Germany’s most visited holiday destination and is connected by the Rügendamm bridge with the mainland.

Rügen does not only offer former imperial spa resorts, where you can still find the noblesse of the Belle Epoque, but also little fishing villages, long sandy beaches, 100-year-old lighthouses and ancient megalithic graves.

Binz © flickr/froutes

Caspar David Friedrich, the great Romantic painter born in Greifswald, brought fame to the majestic white chalk cliffs of Rügen.

A great way to explore Rügen is with the ‘Racing Roland’ steam train. You get around many sights and seaside resorts such as Lauterbach, Göhren, Putbus and Binz.

And on Rügen you can even find Jasmund National Park which is the smallest National Park in Germany and famous for its chalk cliffs. The highest with about 118 metres is called Königsstuhl (king’s chair). There is a beautiful hiking trail leading from Sassnitz to the Königsstuhl and the walk will take about 3.5 hours. If you don’t want to walk such a long distance you can go by car to the large car park at Hagen and take the shuttle bus from there.

Sassnitz is a seaside resort with a beautiful historical town centre with houses typical for the region. Also of interest of to the visitors are the Submarine Museum, the Harbour Museum and the Butterfly Park. From Sassnitz you can also get to many other countries such as Sweden or Lithuania by ferry.

Kap Arkona © flickr/elbfoto

Another seaside resort and not far from Sassnitz is Binz. It might be the most visited place of the isle of Rügen and offers many shops, cafés, restaurants and a large sandy beach. The Jagdschloss Granitz not far from Binz is a palace open to the public. There you have a great view over the area from the tower.

Another place worth seeing is Kap Arkona, a cape and the northernmost point of Rügen with two old lighthouses. One of them, the old Schinkelturm, is housing a museum, the other one is still in use but is also open to the public Another tower used to be a navy bearing tower and also is open to the public. You can also take a guided tour of the old bunker at the cape.