Lubeck was the capital of the Hanseatic League, the trading confederation that ran the Baltic for three centuries, and for a long time it was one of the most powerful cities in northern Europe. The old town sits on an island in the Trave, it is built almost entirely of brick because there is no stone in this landscape, and the whole island is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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What Is Here
THE HOLSTENTOR IS THE MOST RECOGNISABLE BUILDING IN NORTHERN GERMANY AND IT IS SINKING. The hero image is it head on. Built in 1464 as the landward gate, its two squat towers lean visibly towards each other and the whole structure has settled into soft ground, which is why the base looks half-buried: it is. It was on the fifty Deutsche Mark note for decades. There is a small museum inside about the Hanseatic League, and the thing to do first is simply walk through it the way the salt carts did.
THE SALZSPEICHER STAND BESIDE IT AND THE SECOND IMAGE IS THEM. Six brick gabled warehouses on the water that stored the Luneburg salt this city's wealth was built on: salt came overland from Luneburg, was shipped from here to Scandinavia, and paid for everything you can see. They are also where Murnau filmed Nosferatu's warehouse in 1922.
SEVEN SPIRES AND A STYLE THIS CITY INVENTED. BRICK GOTHIC, Backsteingotik, began here and spread round the Baltic: St Mary's, the Marienkirche, has the tallest brick vault in the world at about 38.5 metres and was the model for scores of churches from Denmark to Estonia. INSIDE IT, two church bells lie smashed into the floor of the south tower chapel where they fell in the 1942 raid, left exactly as they landed. That is the most affecting thing in the city.
AND THE RAID IS PART OF WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING AT. On the night of Palm Sunday, 28 and 29 March 1942, the RAF bombed Lubeck in what was the first area attack on a German city centre, chosen in part because the medieval timber-and-brick old town would burn. Roughly a fifth of the island was destroyed, including much of the cathedral and St Mary's roof. What stands now is a mixture of surviving medieval fabric and careful post-war rebuilding, and the city does not pretend otherwise.
TWO NOBEL LAUREATES IN LITERATURE CAME FROM ONE FAMILY HERE. The Buddenbrookhaus on the Mengstrasse is the house Thomas Mann used for the novel and is a museum to him and his brother Heinrich. IT HAS BEEN CLOSED FOR A LONG RENOVATION, with the collection shown elsewhere in the city, so CHECK WHETHER IT HAS REOPENED before planning around it. The Gunter Grass House nearby covers a third laureate who lived here.
MARZIPAN IS NOT A SOUVENIR CLICHE, IT IS AN INDUSTRY FROM 1806. Niederegger on the Breite Strasse opposite the town hall is the original and has a free small marzipan museum on its upper floor. The almonds arrived through this port, which is the reason.
THE GANGE AND HOFE ARE THE THING ALMOST NO VISITOR FINDS. The third image is a street, and behind the street fronts are more than ninety tiny alleys and courtyards, the Gange, built as workers' housing in the gaps between merchant houses. Many are open to walk through. The Fuchtingshof and the Glandorps Gang are the easiest to find and they are a completely different city from the Breite Strasse.
TRAVEMUNDE IS THE SEASIDE, twenty minutes away by train on the Baltic, with a long beach and the ferries to Scandinavia.
When to Go
May to September for long northern evenings and the Travemunde beach, with the Trave boat trips running.
Late November to December for the Christmas markets, which here include a craft market inside the Heiligen-Geist-Hospital, a medieval almshouse, and are among the best in Germany.
Spring and autumn are quiet, wet and good for the churches and museums.
Winter is cold, dark and very windy, and the island in a Baltic gale is bracing. The old town is compact enough that bad weather is never more than a few minutes from an indoor option.
Getting There
By train, about 45 minutes from Hamburg with frequent direct services, and about three hours from Berlin. The Hauptbahnhof is a ten minute walk from the Holstentor, so you arrive facing the gate.
By air, Hamburg is the airport, with a direct train.
By ferry, Travemunde is a major Baltic port with services to Sweden, Finland and Latvia.
You do not need a car. The island is twenty-five minutes across on foot, Travemunde is on the local train, and the old town has restricted traffic with narrow lanes.
Is Lubeck Safe for Women?
Lubeck is a safe, comfortable northern German city. The FCDO publishes no advised-against areas anywhere in Germany, and its terrorism wording is the strongest it uses: terrorists are very likely to try to carry out attacks in Germany, with restaurants, MARKETS, shopping centres, places of worship, sporting events and crowded public spaces named as possible targets. That is worth knowing in a country where a Christmas market is often the reason for the trip, and the response is awareness rather than avoidance. On crime the FCDO puts German levels on a par with the UK and names theft and pickpocketing at airports, railway stations and in crowded places, with the specific advice not to leave bags unattended. It also gives one unusually concrete warning: exchange currency only at banks and legitimate bureaux, because counterfeit notes are passed to visitors at street kiosks.
THE WIND IS THE CONDITION TO PLAN FOR. This is the Baltic coast and the island is flat and open to it, so an ordinary day can carry a wind that makes fifteen degrees feel like eight, and a winter gale on the waterfront is serious. An umbrella is not the right tool.
The waterfront has long unfenched stretches along the Trave and the An der Untertrave quay, which matters in the dark and the wet.
Brick and cobbles throughout, and brick is slippery wet. The Gange alleys are narrow, uneven and often stepped, with low doorways.
Church tower climbs are steep and narrow where they are open, and St Peter's has a lift instead, which is the better option for the view.
Ordinary urban care around the station at night.
Cycling is heavy and lanes cross pedestrian areas.
The Baltic at Travemunde is cold, commonly in the high teens at best in summer, and lifeguarded only in season.
The Lubeck Packing List
Baltic wind, frequent rain, cold brick interiors and flat walking.
Our merino base layers are 100% Australian merino at 17.5 micron, and a long sleeve merino wool base layer for women is the right first layer in every month here for the same reason as in Kiel: the problem is wind chill rather than air temperature, and wool keeps working when the wind takes everything else. From October to April add a heavyweight merino base layer.
A Columbia Fast Trek II fleece and a Marmot PreCip Eco rain jacket, bought here for the wind as much as the rain, with a hood that tightens. An umbrella will not survive the waterfront.
A merino beanie in anything but midsummer.
Walking shoes with grip and Darn Tough merino socks: wet brick and cobble, and the uneven stepped Gange.
Not linked and worth packing: A WINDPROOF LAYER YOU CAN CLOSE AT THE WRISTS AND NECK; SOMETHING TO COVER YOUR SHOULDERS for the churches, which are working ones; A SWIMSUIT AND A TOWEL in summer for Travemunde; A WATER BOTTLE; AND A CHECK ON WHETHER THE BUDDENBROOKHAUS HAS REOPENED, because it has been closed for a long renovation and the collection has been shown elsewhere. Germany is card-friendly in the north and market stalls still like coins.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
Essential Resources for Women in Lubeck
Emergency numbers: 112 for police, ambulance and fire, free from any phone including a locked mobile, with operators who will find an English speaker. It is the single number across the whole European Union.
The whole old town island is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the thing to understand about it is that it is part medieval fabric and part post-war reconstruction: ON THE NIGHT OF PALM SUNDAY, 28 AND 29 MARCH 1942, the RAF bombed Lubeck in the first area attack on a German city centre, destroying roughly a fifth of the island including much of the cathedral and St Mary's roof. In the Marienkirche, TWO BELLS LIE SMASHED IN THE FLOOR of the south tower chapel where they fell that night and have been left there. ST MARY'S HAS THE TALLEST BRICK VAULT IN THE WORLD at about 38.5 metres, and brick Gothic as a style began in this city. THE HOLSTENTOR OF 1464 HAS SETTLED INTO SOFT GROUND, which is why its base looks half-buried and its towers lean. THE BUDDENBROOKHAUS HAS BEEN CLOSED FOR A LONG RENOVATION with the collection shown elsewhere, so check before planning around it. MORE THAN NINETY GANGE AND HOFE, tiny alleys and courtyards of former workers' housing, run behind the main street fronts and many are walkable: the Fuchtingshof and the Glandorps Gang are the easiest to find. THE WIND IS THE CONDITION TO PLAN FOR on a flat island open to the Baltic, where a hooded shell beats an umbrella. THE WATERFRONT HAS LONG UNFENCED STRETCHES along the Trave. WET BRICK IS SLIPPERY and the Gange are narrow, stepped and low-doored. The Baltic at Travemunde is cold and lifeguarded only in season.
US State Department travel advisory: the Germany advisory. Read the current level there directly rather than relying on a figure printed in any guide.
UK FCDO travel advice: gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/germany, and read the safety and security page rather than only the landing page, because that is where the substance sits.
Main hospital: the Universitatsklinikum Schleswig-Holstein, Lubeck campus, on the Ratzeburger Allee is the city's teaching hospital with a 24 hour emergency department. Dial 112 for police, ambulance or fire, and note that AN INCIDENT ON THE WATER goes to the DGzRS, the German maritime search and rescue service, on 124 124 or VHF channel 16, which is the right call from the Trave quays or at Travemunde rather than a land ambulance. The overnight pharmacy rota is posted on every Apotheke door. Germany is in the EU, so a UK Global Health Insurance Card or an EU European Health Insurance Card gives you state-provided medically necessary care on the same terms as a resident. That is not the same as free: German healthcare involves patient contributions and the card does not cover repatriation or private treatment, so travel insurance sits on top of it. German hospitals are excellent and English is widely spoken in them, particularly in university cities. An Apotheke, marked with a red A, handles minor problems without an appointment and the duty rota for out-of-hours is posted in the window. Tap water is drinkable everywhere. Dial 112 for an ambulance and 116117 for the non-emergency medical service.
Official health authority: the Robert Koch Institute, Germany's public health body, covers the Schleswig-Holstein regional health reporting
US Embassy: the United States Embassy in Berlin.
Official tourism authority: the German National Tourist Board, covers the Lubeck church opening hours, the Buddenbrookhaus renovation status and the Travemunde beach information
Takeaways
Walk through the Holstentor, then look at how far it has sunk.
Find the Gange behind the main streets. Almost no visitor does.
The smashed bells in St Mary's floor are from the 1942 raid. They were left there.
Hooded shell, not an umbrella. This is the Baltic.
Solo women safety assessment: Lubeck is an easy and pleasant city to visit alone. The old town is an island you can cross in twenty-five minutes, busy and well lit into the evening, with cafes and restaurants where eating by yourself is entirely normal and a steady flow of visitors from Hamburg and the Baltic ferries. There is no district a visitor needs to avoid, and ordinary urban care around the Hauptbahnhof at night covers the whole of it. 112 REACHES POLICE, AMBULANCE AND FIRE free from any phone, and the Universitatsklinikum Schleswig-Holstein on the Ratzeburger Allee has a 24 hour emergency department. LEARN THE MARITIME NUMBER IN A PORT CITY: the DGzRS sea rescue service is reached on 124 124 or VHF channel 16, and that is the call for trouble in the water on the Trave quays or at Travemunde rather than an ambulance. THE PHYSICAL RISKS HERE ARE WIND, WATER AND BRICK. The island is flat and completely open to the Baltic, so the wind regularly makes the air feel seven or eight degrees colder than the forecast and a winter gale on the waterfront is genuinely rough; a shell with a hood that tightens is the right answer and an umbrella is not. The quays along the Trave have long unfenced stretches, which matters most in the dark and the rain. Wet brick paving is more slippery than wet stone, and the Gange, the narrow courtyards behind the main streets that are the best thing to explore here, are uneven, often stepped and have low doorways, so they want attention and flat shoes rather than speed. If you go out to Travemunde in summer, the Baltic there is cold even in August and lifeguarded only in season.
Reading On
Lubeck is the Hanseatic capital and belongs with the northern ports. The Hamburg packing list is 45 minutes away and is the great German port city, which makes the two an easy pair; the Kiel packing list covers the Baltic sailing city an hour north with the same wind and a very different centre, and the Bremen packing list the other surviving Hanseatic old town on the North Sea side. South east, the Berlin packing list is three hours away and the Potsdam packing list covers the Prussian palaces beside it. For Germany's south, the Munich packing list and the Nuremberg packing list cover Bavaria. Because the ferries from Travemunde run to Scandinavia, the Stockholm packing list is a natural onward leg. For the country, the Germany travel guide for women and the Germany packing list carry the rail network and the regions. For why wool is the layer that works when the problem is wind rather than cold, read the guide to merino wool base layers for women. Every destination we cover is indexed at the travel packing guide for women, and the base layers are at the Roman Trail collection.
If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.
