Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania travel guide

Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (German: Mecklenburg-Vorpommern) is a state in northeastern Germany with a population of approximately 1.6 million. It is bordered by the Baltic Sea to the north, Poland to the east, and the states of Brandenburg, Lower Saxony, and Schleswig-Holstein. While often abbreviated as Meck-Pomm in casual German, it remains one of the most popular domestic travel destinations due to its extensive coastline.

As Germany's least densely populated state, it is defined by its vast nature reserves and a largely flat landscape. The interior features the Mecklenburg Lake District, a network of over a thousand glacial lakes. Along the coast, the region is known for its historic seaside resorts (Seebäder) with their characteristic 19th-century "resort architecture" and wide, sandy beaches. The state's cultural heritage also includes numerous manor houses, Brick Gothic cathedrals, and well-preserved medieval town centres, two of which are UNESCO World Heritage sites.

Map of Mecklenburg and Western Pomerania (Photo: Ulamm 00:30, 11 February 2008 (UTC), CC BY-SA 3.0)

Cities

Schwerin (Photo: Harald Hoyer, CC BY-SA 3.0)

• Rostock — the largest city of the region, acting as a historic Hanseatic gateway to the Baltic Sea
• Schwerin — the state capital, famous for its grand residential castle located on an island in Lake Schwerin
• Stralsund — a former Hanseatic city with a well-preserved medieval town center protected as a UNESCO World Heritage site
• Greifswald — a university town that retains the traditional character of a former Hanseatic league member
• Wismar — a historic port city known for its Brick Gothic architecture and a UNESCO-listed medieval center
• Neubrandenburg — known as the "City of Four Gates," it serves as the cultural hub for the Mecklenburg Lake District
• Bad Doberan — home to a renowned Gothic Minster and the terminal for the historic "Molli" steam railway
• Peenemünde — site of the World War II rocket research facility where V1 and V2 weapons were developed; today, it houses a technical museum and museum harbor on the island of Usedom.
• Binz — the most prominent seaside resort on Rügen, celebrated for its expansive sandy beaches and historic spa architecture

Other destinations

• Baltic Sea Coast - features picturesque beaches and steep, dramatic chalk cliffs in some locations
• Rügen - Germany´s largest island in the Baltic just off the coast, location of many seaside resorts and scenic sea cliffs, great bathing beaches
• Usedom - nice island in the east of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
• Fischland-Darß-Zingst - peninsula with fine sand beaches and unspoiled nature
• Müritz - Germany´s largest lake on its territory, with a national park on its eastern shore
• "Vorpommersche Boddenlandschaft" - ("Western Pomeranian Lagoons") National Park on the coast between Rostock and Rügen
• Jasmund National Park - national park on Rügen

Understand

Mecklenburg (originally pronounced with a long "e") Vorpommern is the least densely populated German state, but has been a major (domestic) tourist destination as early as the 19th century. As some of Germany's (historically) most important Baltic ports are here, its cities were among the preeminent in the Hanseatic League (though it was de facto led by Lübeck just across the state border to the west), as well as a desired prize for all Baltic powers. As such pieces of it belonged to Sweden for a long time, starting with the thirty years war (1618-1648) and later Prussia acquired the eastern parts.

Trade and shipbuilding have always been important for coastal cities like Rostock and its port Warnemünde and the GDR heavily depended upon its Baltic seacoast both for tourism and other economic activities such as fishery and ship-building. After the fall of the GDR the crisis hit this area particularly hard, as the shipyards could not deal with the new competition (mostly from Korea) and East Germans eager to explore their new-found freedom of travel stopped vacationing in the seaside resorts. However, starting in the mid 1990s tourism has bounced back, as even Western Germans have discovered the allure of the Baltic Sea and many East Germans returned to the vacation spot of their youth. While the shipyards still haven't quite turned the corner they have now specialized in (more expensive) military and specialist vessels.

Another promising field is renewable energy, as the coast is very windy and the entire state is rather flat, making it the ideal site for windmills and their production. Tourism is still mostly geared towards Germans and (to a lesser degree) their neighbors to the east, particularly Poland. As this was the main beach destination in GDR times FKK (Freikörperkultur, that is naturism or nude bathing) is the norm rather than the exception.

Tourist information

• Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania tourism website

Talk

Standard German is universally spoken and understood, with very little dialectal variation unlike in southern states.

In the larger cities (especially Rostock) you can often get around well with English, especially in tourist areas. Elsewhere, only younger people regularly understand English, so learning a few basic German phrases can be helpful. You may have some luck with Russian among people who grew up during GDR times, as it was compulsory in GDR schools. That said, many people have forgotten all but basic Russian, due to lack of practice.

Mecklenburg and Pomerania are home to many dialects of Low German still spoken in rural areas. Low German is a language spoken in northern Germany and is closely related to Dutch (and some words are even similar to English). Nevertheless, Low German speakers speak Standard German too and the language is becoming endangered as few members of the younger generations nowadays speak it natively.

Get in

By plane

Rostock airport (Laage, RLGIATA) has few international flights, so the best choices are usually Berlin Brandenburg Airport or Hamburg Airport.

By train

Trains from Hamburg and Berlin to the major cities (Rostock, Schwerin, Stralsund) leave every 1-2 hours. There are also regular train connections from Poland (Szczecin).

By boat

From Denmark (Gedser) there are frequent ferry connections to Rostock. Trelleborg in Sweden has several departures a day to Rostock and Sassnitz on Rügen. There are also ferry lines from several Eastern Baltic ports, primarily to Rostock.

By car

The fast motorway network (Autobahn) has been considerably extended during the last years and all larger cities now have excellent connections. In the summer months, especially on weekends, the motorways and all roads to the coast can be congested.

By bus

While they are a comparatively new phenomenon, Intercity buses in Germany serve most major and some minor towns throughout the country with prices often surprisingly low to compete with the better comfort and journey time of trains.

Get around

By bus and train

The rail network is well developed and even smaller towns have regular connections. However, you should allow a little more time: it sometimes takes an hour or more to cover a distance of 50 km, which is quite slow by German standards. Bus connections are only available if there is no parallel train connection, with buses running at irregular intervals on many lines. They are operated by local transit association.

Many of the small rail lines pass through scenic areas, so the journey, while it may take a bit longer, offers some initial glimpses of the vastness of the landscape.

By car

In rural areas, traveling by car is the best option. The quality of the roads is usually good. Locals often drive aggressively, violate speed limits and overtake recklessly.

If you travel by car to the Baltic Sea for swimming, you should have enough change on hand for parking machines. There are only very few parking places near the beach that are free of charge. Parking fees vary greatly from place to place.

By bike

A very interesting option is traveling by bike. Along the Baltic coast there are various tourist cycling routes, but also a route from Berlin to Rostock. Regardless of the existing cycling routes, most of the roads are also attractive cycling routes. The main roads are often provided with separate bike paths at the edge. If this is not the case, you should not put yourself in danger and choose less traveled routes.

See

The Prora complex (Photo: photo taken by Steffen Löwe, Public domain)

• The Hanseatic cities on the Baltic coast, namely Wismar, Stralsund, Rostock and Greifswald are well worth a visit. The old towns of Wismar and Stralsund are even listed as World Heritage sites.
• Jasmund National Park with the 118 m chalk cliff "Königstuhl" ("Kings chair") on the island of Rügen
• the 5 km long KdF-building complex and ruins in Prora on the east coast of Rügen (KdF = "Kraft durch Freude" => "Strength through Joy" – the Nazi era popular recreation concept): Not pretty, but impressive
• the Kap Arkona (Cape Arkona) on the north coast of Rügen
• the beautiful sea bridges (seebrücke - or "piers" in UK English) of some coastal towns (e.g. Sellin / Rügen and Ahlbeck / Usedom)
• Dobbertin Abbey was founded in 1220. South of Güstrow

Do

This is mostly a beach destination, so swimming is the main activity of most visitors. It is also a good area for hiking. Mecklenburg Lake District is a prime destination for canoeing or a houseboat vacation, but also for cycling.

Eat

• fish in all variations ("Rollmops", "Bismarckhering"...)

Drink

• beer from the local breweries in Rostock, Stralsund and Lübz
• Glashäger mineral-water
• Sand-thorn juice

Go next

• Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is bordered by the German states of Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony and Brandenburg, and the Polish region of Zachodniopomorskie.
• Cruising the Baltic Sea

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