North Germany: Hamburg, Lübeck, the Baltic Coast and Rügen

1. Day 1: Arrive in Hamburg

   Hamburg Airport (HAM) to your hotel in central Hamburg, then the Rathaus and the Alster

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Dinner
   • Stay in Hamburg
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Hamburg Airport (HAM), about 10 km north of the city, where a driver meets you for the half-hour transfer to a hotel near the Rathaus. Plan to land by about 3 pm to join the first walk; later arrivals are met all the same and catch up with the group at dinner. At about 5 pm your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a short briefing and an easy first walk: the neo-Renaissance Rathaus and its courtyard fountain, the arcades of the Alsterarkaden along the canal, and the Jungfernstieg promenade on the Inner Alster lake, where the white Alster steamers tie up. Hamburg is a city-state and Germany's largest port, and it has lived on trade for eight centuries; this week follows that trade along the Baltic coast to Rügen. In the evening we sit down together to a welcome dinner of north German food, with fish from the Elbe and the North Sea on the menu.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Hamburg Airport (HAM)
   • Welcome briefing and an evening walk: the Rathaus, the Alsterarkaden and the Jungfernstieg
   • Welcome dinner

   Free time: Free until the late-afternoon briefing

   Activity: About 1 hour on foot on level pavements.

   

2. Day 2: The harbour, the Speicherstadt and the Elbphilharmonie

   Hamburg on foot, by U-Bahn and by boat: Landungsbrücken, the harbour, the Speicherstadt and Kontorhaus district, the Elbphilharmonie

   • By boat
   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Hamburg
   Day 2 details

   We take the U-Bahn to the Landungsbrücken piers and board a harbour boat at about 9:30. For about an hour we cruise past container ships, dry docks and the cranes of one of Europe's biggest ports, with the route through the Speicherstadt canals dependent on the tide, vessel and operator on the day. Back on land, a local guide walks us through the warehouse district itself, built from the 1880s on oak piles, and across to the Kontorhaus district and the ship-shaped Chilehaus; together they were listed by UNESCO in 2015. We finish at the Elbphilharmonie, opened in 2017 on top of an old brick warehouse, and ride the long curved escalator up to the Plaza, the public terrace 37 m above the water, on a pre-booked slot. Lunch and the afternoon are yours: HafenCity's cafés are a few minutes away, and the old St Pauli Elbe Tunnel of 1911 runs under the river from the Landungsbrücken.

   Included

   • Harbour boat tour from the Landungsbrücken, about 1 hour
   • Guided walk through the Speicherstadt and the Kontorhaus district with the Chilehaus, with a local guide
   • The Elbphilharmonie Plaza on a pre-booked slot
   • Hamburg public transport tickets for the day

   Optional experiences

   • An evening concert at the Elbphilharmonie (tickets sell out early; ask when you book)
   • Miniatur Wunderland in the Speicherstadt on a timed entry (at your own cost)

   Easier option: Stay on the boat-and-Plaza part of the morning and take a taxi back to the hotel after the Elbphilharmonie.

   More active option: Climb the 452 steps of the St Michael's tower in the afternoon (ticket at your own cost) for the view over the port, then walk back along the river.

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free in Hamburg

   Activity: About 3 to 4 hours on foot in the morning on level ground, with steps at the Plaza.

   

3. Day 3: Lübeck: the Holstentor and marzipan

   Hamburg to Lübeck

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Lübeck
   Day 3 details

   An unhurried start, then about an hour north-east by the A1 to Lübeck, once the capital of the Hanseatic League, whose old town on its island in the river Trave was listed by UNESCO in 1987. We walk in through the Holstentor, the leaning twin-towered city gate finished in the 1470s, past the gabled brick salt warehouses on the river. After a sit-down lunch in the old town a local guide shows us St Mary's Church, the model for brick Gothic churches all around the Baltic, where the bells that fell in the air raid of 1942 still lie shattered on the floor; the merchants' houses of Mengstrasse; and the narrow alleys and almshouse courtyards hidden behind the street fronts. Then comes the European Hansemuseum, which tells the League's story from Novgorod to Bruges. We end at Niederegger's café, beside the town hall, with a slice of the marzipan nut cake Lübeck is known for. The evening is free on the island.

   Included

   • Drive from Hamburg to Lübeck with your guide
   • The Holstentor and its museum
   • Guided old-town walk with a local guide: St Mary's Church, Mengstrasse and the hidden courtyards
   • The European Hansemuseum
   • Marzipan cake and coffee at Niederegger's café
   • Sit-down lunch in the old town

   Optional experiences

   • A late-afternoon boat around the old-town island on the Trave (at your own cost)

   Easier option: Skip the courtyards and rest at the hotel between the Hansemuseum and the café.

   More active option: Climb the viewing platform of St Peter's Church in the evening for the view of the seven spires (ticket at your own cost; opening times to be checked).

   Free time: Evening free in Lübeck

   Activity: About 4 hours on foot on cobbles, with short climbs.

   

4. Day 4: Schwerin's lake castle and Wismar's harbour

   Lübeck to Schwerin, then Wismar

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Wismar
   Day 4 details

   We leave Lübeck at 8:30 and drive about an hour east into Mecklenburg to reach Schwerin Castle at opening, around 10 am, early in the day. The castle stands on its own island in Lake Schwerin, a fairy-tale rebuild of the 1840s and 1850s with gilded domes and turrets, and is still the seat of the state parliament; the Schwerin Residence Ensemble was listed by UNESCO in 2024. Inside, the state rooms and the throne room are open as a museum, and the baroque castle garden runs down to the water behind it. After a sit-down lunch in Schwerin it is about half an hour north to Wismar on the Baltic. Its old town, listed by UNESCO in 2002 with Stralsund's, is built around one of the largest market squares in northern Germany, with the Wasserkunst fountain house of 1602 in one corner. We walk down to the old harbour and the Wassertor, the last of the town's harbour gates, where F. W. Murnau filmed scenes of Nosferatu in 1921, and the evening is free.

   Included

   • Schwerin Castle at opening: the state rooms, the throne room and the castle garden
   • Sit-down lunch in Schwerin
   • Walk through Wismar's old town with your guide: the market square, the Wasserkunst, St George's Church, the old harbour and the Wassertor

   Easier option: Stay in the castle garden by the lake while the group tours the upper rooms; in Wismar the walk is short and level.

   More active option: Walk the lakeside path south of the castle into the Schlossgarten and back before lunch, about 3 km.

   Free time: Late afternoon and evening free in Wismar

   Activity: About 3 hours on foot, with stairs inside the castle.

   

5. Day 5: Stralsund: the Ozeaneum and a Gothic town hall

   Wismar to Stralsund along the A20

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Stralsund
   Day 5 details

   A slow morning in Wismar with time for the fish smokehouses on the harbour, then about two hours east along the A20 to Stralsund, a Hanseatic port on the Strelasund strait facing the island of Rügen. We are there for a sit-down fish lunch on the harbour. After lunch we visit the Ozeaneum on the harbour, a museum and aquarium of the Baltic and North Seas opened in 2008, with life-size whale models hanging from the roof; outside July and August it closes at 5 pm with last entry an hour earlier, so we go early in the afternoon. Then a local guide walks us through the old town, which sits between the sea and two ponds: the Alter Markt with the openwork brick gable of the town hall, St Nicholas' Church behind it, and the merchants' houses of Mönchstrasse. The evening is free; the harbour promenade and the three-masted Gorch Fock I, moored as a museum ship, are a short walk from the hotel.

   Included

   • Drive from Wismar to Stralsund with your guide
   • Sit-down fish lunch on the Stralsund harbour
   • Guided old-town walk with a local guide: the Alter Markt, the town hall and St Nicholas' Church
   • The Ozeaneum

   Optional experiences

   • The Gorch Fock I museum ship (at your own cost)

   Easier option: Go straight from lunch to the Ozeaneum and skip the old-town walk.

   More active option: Climb the tower of St Mary's Church for the view across the strait to Rügen, where it is open (ticket at your own cost).

   Free time: Evening free in Stralsund

   Activity: About 3 hours on foot, on cobbles and inside the museum.

   

6. Day 6: Across to Rügen and the steam train to Binz

   Stralsund over the Rügen Bridge to Bergen and Putbus, then the Rasender Roland to Binz

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Binz
   Day 6 details

   We cross the Strelasund on the Rügen Bridge, opened in 2007, onto Germany's largest island. The first stop is Bergen, the island's old market town, for coffee on the square and a look inside St Mary's Church, the oldest church on the island. Then it is a short drive to Putbus, the white neoclassical town a prince of Putbus laid out in the early 1800s around a round 'circus' of houses and a large English park. Here we leave the van, which takes our luggage ahead, and board the Rasender Roland, a narrow-gauge steam railway that runs a timetable across the island (in the 2026 high-season timetable, 9 May to 1 November, trains leave Putbus every two hours from 08:08, including 12:08, and take 27 minutes; the 2027 timetable is not yet published, so we plan around the timetable for your date). It puffs through fields and woods for about half an hour to Binz. Binz is the island's largest seaside resort, with white villas carved with balconies along a long beach promenade and a pier. The afternoon is yours: swim, walk the promenade or rent a beach chair.

   Included

   • Drive over the Rügen Bridge with your guide
   • Bergen's market square and St Mary's Church
   • A walk through Putbus and its circus
   • The Rasender Roland steam train from Putbus to Binz
   • Luggage carried to your hotel in Binz

   Optional experiences

   • The Prora documentation centre north of Binz, on the unfinished seaside complex built under the Nazi regime (at your own cost)

   Easier option: Ride in the van to Binz instead of the train; room availability on arrival is confirmed with the hotel.

   More active option: Walk the beach path north from Binz towards Prora and back in the late afternoon, about 8 km.

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free in Binz

   Activity: Short walks only; about 2 hours on foot in all.

   

7. Day 7: The chalk cliffs of Jasmund on foot

   Binz to Sassnitz, the cliff path to Königsstuhl, then the shuttle to the Hagen car park and back to Binz

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Binz
   Day 7 details

   We drive about half an hour to Sassnitz, at the edge of the Jasmund National Park, whose old beech forest is part of the UNESCO Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests listing of 2011, and start walking at about 9 am, ahead of the late-morning crowds. The cliff path, the Hochuferweg, runs about 8 km from Sassnitz to Königsstuhl under the beeches along the top of the white chalk cliffs, with views down through the trees to the turquoise water and the Victoria viewpoint. A sit-down lunch waits near Königsstuhl, where the 118 m chalk headland can no longer be walked on and is seen from a skywalk about 185 m long, and the National Park Centre (open 9 am to 6 pm in May and September, 9 am to 7 pm from June to August) explains how the cliffs keep falling and renewing. Private vehicles cannot reach the centre, so after lunch and the centre we take the public shuttle (bus line 19, about 5 minutes) from Königsstuhl to the Hagen car park, where the vehicle meets the group for the drive back to Binz. Free time follows, and in the evening we sit down together to a farewell dinner.

   Included

   • Guided walk on the cliff path from Sassnitz to Königsstuhl, about 8 km
   • Sit-down lunch near Königsstuhl
   • The Königsstuhl National Park Centre and its skywalk
   • Public shuttle bus from Königsstuhl to the Hagen car park, where the vehicle meets the group (fare proposed as included)
   • Farewell dinner in Binz

   Easier option: Drive to the Hagen car park and ride the public shuttle bus (line 19, about 5 minutes) to Königsstuhl and back, as private vehicles cannot reach the centre, and walk about 2 km of the cliff path to the Victoria viewpoint and back.

   Free time: Late afternoon free in Binz

   Activity: The longest walking day: about 8 km (about 3 hours) on forest paths with roots and several flights of wooden steps. Cliff sections can close after falls, so the guide adjusts the route on the day; the shuttle and vehicle meeting point at Hagen are confirmed in your quote.

   

8. Day 8: By train to Berlin and home

   Binz to Berlin Hauptbahnhof by train, then Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER) or a central hotel, with a short city walk only if timing allows

   • Drive about 45 min
   • Breakfast
   Day 8 details

   After breakfast we walk with our luggage to Binz station and take a Deutsche Bahn intercity train to Berlin on a morning departure fixed once the timetable for your date is published, about 3 hours 40 minutes on direct trains in current listings (on some dates we may need to change at Stralsund), with seats reserved once your date is set, subject to rail availability, and the flat farmland of Vorpommern going by. We arrive at Berlin Hauptbahnhof around midday or early afternoon, depending on the train, a glass station opened in 2006 on the bend of the Spree. Rail and flight times are date-specific and no connection is guaranteed. Only if the train arrives on time and early enough, your guide may take the group on a short walk from the station to the Reichstag and the Brandenburg Gate for a first look at the capital, with lunch of your choice near the Gate; if the train is late, changes at Stralsund or arrives after about 1 pm, the walk is dropped and we go straight on. A separate Berlin transfer vehicle, timed to the train's arrival, takes you to Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER), about 45 minutes, or drops you at a hotel in the centre if you are staying on. Your guide says goodbye at the airport or hotel.

   Included

   • Seats reserved on the train from Binz to Berlin Hauptbahnhof once your date is set, subject to rail availability
   • If the train is on time and timing allows, a short walk with your guide to the Reichstag and the Brandenburg Gate
   • Transfer in a separate Berlin transfer vehicle to Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER), or to a central Berlin hotel

   Easier option: Go straight from the station to the airport or your hotel.

   Activity: Rail and flight times are date-specific and no connection is guaranteed; we give flight-timing guidance in the written itinerary for your date. The Berlin walk is dropped if the train runs late or timing is tight, or you can stay on in Berlin.

   

Wildlife and weather: May and June bring the longest days and the beech forest at its freshest green; July and August are warmest, with the Baltic warm enough for a swim and the Rügen resorts at their busiest. September is quieter and still mild.

• Hamburg2 nights
• Lübeck1 night
• Wismar1 night
• Stralsund1 night
• Binz2 nights