Travemünde: Lübeck's Baltic Seaside Resort, Ferry Port and Home of the Passat

Travemünde is where Lübeck meets the sea. The Wikivoyage guide calls it the closest of Lübeck's boroughs to the Baltic, at the mouth of the river Trave, a seaside resort and harbour on Germany's Baltic coast for hundreds of years. Daily passenger and cargo ferries leave for Scandinavia and the Baltic states, but the white beach and history, the guide says, encourage people to stay.

The beach and sea promenade. Photo: Jürgen Howaldt, CC BY-SA 4.0.

A short history

The town was founded in 1187 on the delta of the Trave and has belonged to Lübeck since 1329, while keeping its cultural independence. It blossomed during the medieval Hanseatic League and lost importance as the Hanse declined from the 15th to the 18th century. Since 1802 it has been allowed to call itself a Seebad, a seaside resort, and tourism has been its main income. Its fame as a nightlife and high-society meeting place ended with the world wars. The guide says it was spared the major destruction that Lübeck suffered in World War II, but after Germany's partition it stood directly on the Cold War front: until 1989 the inter-German border ran behind the Priwall peninsula, and most of the beach on that side was off-limits military land. About 11,550 people live there (2022). The novel Buddenbrooks is set partly in the town, and a Buddenbrook house honors the local Mann family.

A ferry arriving in port. Photo: Jürgen Howaldt, CC BY-SA 3.0.

What to see

• The old town is almost unchanged over the centuries and is laid out like a ship, with streets named for starboard and port side. It is best seen on foot. Its main street, Vorderreihe, and the sea promenade are reserved for pedestrians and cyclists.

Old town houses. Photo: Pe-sa, CC BY 3.0.

• The beach, 1.7 km of white sand, is the main attraction and has drawn visitors since the 1800s.
• The old lighthouse, erected in 1539, is one of the oldest in Germany. It is 31 metres high with 142 steps, served until 1972 and now houses a maritime museum. The new lighthouse stands on the Mole beside the shipping channel.
• The bailiff's residence of 1551 is among the oldest buildings in town, now a restaurant.
• The Seebadmuseum shows the resort's development since 1802.
• Mövenstein is a rock sticking out of the water that, legend says, a seagull dropped.

The museum ship and hostel Passat. Photo: Aconcagua, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Things to do

The sailing ship Passat, built in Hamburg in 1911, sailed between South America and Europe until it was taken out of service in 1957 after the wreck of its sister ship Pamir. It is now a museum ship, a youth hostel and a wedding venue, reached by the Priwall ferry, which also leads to calmer beaches on the peninsula. A cliff walk along Brodtner Ufer to Niendorf covers 4 km and takes about an hour to an hour and a half. Boat excursions cruise the harbour, the Trave to Lübeck or the coast. Travemünder Woche, the year's main event, is a sailing regatta held in July for about ten days, with around 1,500 sailors.

Getting there

Trains run from Lübeck's main station to three stations in Travemünde, and buses 30, 31 and 40 run from Lübeck. By car, take the A1 past Bad Schwartau, then the A226 or B76; Lübeck is 20 minutes away and Hamburg an hour. Ferries leave from the Skandinavienkai terminal, to Helsinki and Malmö with Finnlines, to Liepaja in Latvia with Stena Line, and to Trelleborg in Sweden with TT-Line, which is heavily booked in summer. Traffic between town and port is restricted, so a bike or the train is best for seeing the ships.

Eating, shopping and staying

Niederegger, founded in 1806, is the marzipan shop and café the guide calls an institution in Lübeck and Travemünde. The fishing port has simple, good-value fish dishes, and fish sandwiches are a local favorite. Many restaurants and bars close off-season and nightlife is quiet; the casino, founded in 1816, closed in 2012. In summer the town is busy and reservations are essential. The guide says it is not cheap and lodging is limited, so budget travelers may do better in Lübeck, and the Passat offers dorm beds.

Sources

• Wikivoyage contributors, "Travemünde," https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Travem%C3%BCnde, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changed here: rewritten in hubnx's own words and condensed; links, phone numbers, hours, prices and listings left out.
• Photographs, each under the licence shown in its caption: Jürgen Howaldt (CC BY-SA 3.0 and 4.0); Pe-sa (CC BY 3.0); Aconcagua (CC BY-SA 3.0); rewritten in hubnx's own words.