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.

Being the largest coherent lakes and canals area in Germany, the Mecklenburg Lakes (Mecklenburgische Seenplatte) are located in southern Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.

The region, which is sometimes called ‘land of the thousand lakes’ and was formed during the ice age, is home to the Müritz National Park with Germany’s second largest lake after Lake Constance, Lake Müritz.
The region is great for visitors who seek quietness and relaxation but also want to be active as it offers a variety of possibilities like hiking, cycling, horse riding and water sports.

Mecklenburger Seenplatte © flickr/mueritz

The landscape is magnificent and besides Müritz National Park travellers can also visit four more national parks called: Feldberger Seenlanschaft, Mecklenburgische Schweiz, Nossentiner/Schwinzer Heide and Sternberger Seenlandschaft. There are forests, crystal clear lakes, moor landscapes to attract the visitors and they can watch birds like sea eagles, fishing eagles, white storkes or migrating cranes in autumn, when even guided tours to the resting and nesting places are offered.

But there are also beautiful towns and villages in the wide open of the Mecklenburg landscape. In ancient times places like Röbel/Müritz, Wesenberg or Penzlin were called ‘Ackerbürgerstadt’ which means that they were towns being set up for citizens who worked in the fields. The towns and villages offer half timbered houses, cobbled streets and beautiful churches and town halls. In Ludorf visitors can see a very rare octagon shaped church and if you want to experience some of the ancient power and strength, you should visit historic monasteries like Malchow, Himmelpfort or Dobbertin.
Also situated in the region of the Mecklenburgische Seenplatte are quite a number of castles and mansions. Most of the buildings even have mysterious legends of their own and avenues lined up with trees lead to the buildings surrounded by magnificent gardens and parks. The castles and mansions are built in different styles like Gothic, Renaissance or English farmhouse style but also Classicism or neo-Gothic-Romantic. Some of the buildings are home of museums, host music festivals or are now hotels.

In the restaurants in the region travellers get typical Mecklenburg specialties like freshly smoked fish, bread from old fashioned ovens, and many others.

Rostock is an old Hanseatic town in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and about 800 years old.

Rostock is a university and port town with typical north German brick architecture in the historical centre.

City Hall © flickr/radzfoto

During the Middle Ages the town hall also was a merchant’s hall were traders would sell their goods. It has been the seat of the town council for almost 800 years and the baroque banqueting hall on the upper floor is also used for concerts.

St. Mary’s Church (Marienkirche) was built in the 13th century and is an imposing Gothic brick church. Inside there is an astronomical clock built by Hans Düringer in 1472.

St. Nicolas Church is the oldest church in Rostock and was built in the mid 13th century. It too is a Gothic brick church and was heavily destroyed during WW2. It was restored and is now used as an exhibition centre and concert hall. The acoustics are outstanding.

Rostock also is home to one of the oldest universities in the world. The University of Rostock was founded in 1419.

If you are interested in cultural history, you shouldn’t miss out the Cultural History Museum. Besides medieval arts and arts from the 16th to 19th century it also shows crafts from the Ahrenshoop and Schwaan artistic colonies.
In the nearby seaside resort of Warnemünde you can visit the Local History Museum which is located in an old fishermen’s cottage built in 1767.

Town Centre © flickr/az1172

Warnemünde welcomes visitors with a 100-metre wide sandy beach, a light house, old fishermen’s cottages and a fish market. You can enjoy a meal in one of the traditional fish restaurants before you visit the harbour with the fishing and sailing boats.

Visitors of Rostock who like to go walking or cycling can very well do so in the beautiful Rostock Heath. There you find a network of walking and cycling trails.

And if you want to see more of the region you should go on a trip to Bad Doberan and Heiligendamm. The Gothic minster certainly is worth a visit. From there you can go on a trip on the “Molli” narrow-gauge railway to Germany’s oldest seaside resort Heiligendamm founded in 1793. Heiligendamm is also known as “White Town by the Sea” due to the classicist white buildings lining the beach promenade.