Hamburg to Lubeck Day Trip

[source]

Good Afternoon to All,

 

We will in Hamburg a few days in advance of our cruise to Arctic Circle. Has anyone taking a day trip to Lubeck via the train DIY? Or have they used a tour guide. It is my understanding it is about one hour from Hamburg. Any info would be appreciated.

 

Thanks........................Marian

[GradUT]

We did a self-guided tour of Luebeck from Kiel, which is a similar distance away as Hamburg. The train was easy to use and very comfortable. I found maps of Luebeck and information on what to see online. (The best thing to see is the Marienkirche--St. Mary's Church.). The Visitor's Center has an English audio guide you can rent, but I didn't find the info very good--much less interesting than what I found online.

 

Luebeck was one of my favorite places I saw on our Baltic cruise. I highly recommend you go!

[AntjeG]

I live in L?beck so here is local information:

yes, the train is less than 1 hr from Hamburg central station to L?beck central station. Going to L?beck in the morning and to Hamburg in the evening you won?t expierence crowds as most traffic is in the opposite direction. Trains run every 30 minutes during rush hour and once per hour during the day.

 

I would suggest you skip the HoHo Bus which runs here for about 7 Euros. Bus is too big to get into the narrow streets in the historic downtown so you miss out on the most interesting part.

If you are a good walker do it on walking.

 

When leaving central station turn left. You will first see Holstentor, one of 2 remaining historic city entrance gates and the symbol of the city. Next to Holstentor is the tourist information with helpfull people at the desk who speak English and who provide maps and so on.

 

After crossing the bridge across Trave river next to Holstentor you find sightseeing boat stops on both sides of the bridge. The boat tours take approx. 1 hr and are lovely. I highly recommend you take them. The historic downtown is an island and the boats do a round trip.

 

After the boat trip explore Obertrave (to the right of the bridge. The most charming part of the city with restaurants, historic buildings and the university of music. There are daily free concerts at the university.

 

Look at "G?nge" downtown. These are charming residential parts which are behind the main houses. Very popular to live there and most residents will welcome tourists to have a look.

 

The cathedral is not far way from Obertrave. The church has 2 towers. As others have said, Marienkirche (also 2 towers) is more worth a visit (if you only want one of them - better to see both of course).

 

For shopping the pedestrian area is famous but don?t miss the little streets to the side. They are the "true" L?beck shopping experience with unique stores and galeries.

 

We have great museums with stunning exhibitions. Hansemuseum (history of the Hanseatic League) has the whole exhibition in English, St. Annen Museum is a great art collection of contemporary art and Behnhaus of art of the 18/19th century - to only name a few.

 

If you have more time you could take a 1.5 hr boat tour along Trave river to Travem?nde, our charming seaside resort which also is cruise port for smaller ships. There are busses and trains which take you back to L?beck in about 30 minutes for less than 4 Euros.

 

Here is the official tourism website in English: http://www.luebeck-tourism.de/

 

If you need more infor please post here.

Special offer: Time permitting I could show you around. I am no tour guide and I do not work in the tourism industry. Just a private person trying to be helpfull.

[source]

Thank you both for the GREAT information regarding Lubeck. We are in the planning stages to determine if we have the time while in Hamburg. We have heard wonderful things about Lubeck. Thanks again for your generous offer to show us around. We'll post if we are able to make the trip.

 

Thanks again.....................Marian

[AntjeG]

I found some videos on YouTube which you might enjoy:

 

time lapse of the 1 hr boat tour:

 

a video with English commentary about the attractions

[source]

I found some videos on YouTube which you might enjoy:

 

time lapse of the 1 hr boat tour:

 

a video with English commentary about the attractions

 

 

Thanks for sending these. You should be a tour guide!

[AntjeG]

Thanks for sending these. You should be a tour guide!

 

 

Thanks. The videos are no work of mine - just to get things right.

 

Well, I am a tour guide sometimes - sort of. I guide lots of friends and members of German sports groups in my home city. But I do it privately (as a volunteer so to speak) and not by profession. I don´t charge money and I always try to visit local venues with my groups in order to give some business to the businesses.

Plus, I do lots of tour planning not only for my own cruises but also for family and friends.

[OhJinkies]

Thanks. The videos are no work of mine - just to get things right.

 

Well, I am a tour guide sometimes - sort of. I guide lots of friends and members of German sports groups in my home city. But I do it privately (as a volunteer so to speak) and not by profession. I don´t charge money and I always try to visit local venues with my groups in order to give some business to the businesses.

Plus, I do lots of tour planning not only for my own cruises but also for family and friends.

 

 

Thank you -- I'm researching a Baltics cruise for 2019 and would love to start from Germany (my great-great grandmother was from Bavaria). If I travel around northern Germany via train, do you have any suggestions on what I can do with my luggage while I'm visiting the towns?

 

Thanks!

[JMHamburg]

At www.bahnhof.de you can get an overview of the services at stations, in German language only, but symbols and Google Translate may help. The linked example for Warnemunde (cruise port) shows baggage storage at even smaller train stations in Germany. Usually, you insert a €2 coin per day for a small locker with enough space for 2 back packs or so, and there may even be bigger lockers.

[Travelanni]

At www.bahnhof.de you can get an overview of the services at stations, in German language only, but symbols and Google Translate may help. The linked example for Warnemunde (cruise port) shows baggage storage at even smaller train stations in Germany. Usually, you insert a €2 coin per day for a small locker with enough space for 2 back packs or so, and there may even be bigger lockers.

 

 

You can also get information on the station facilities in English by using http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en

 

Fill in your journey details, expand the details of any train and you will find the 'station information' button at the bottom. This gives info for all the services available at your stations including any transfer stations. eg. if you put in Warnemünde to Schwerin it also gives the info for Rostock.

 

I just checked the lockers at Schwerin yesterday and the larger lockers (of which there are always at least one or two, lots in the bigger stations) will take a big suitcase and a carry on bag, cost 5euro per 24 hrs.

 

Happy cruising :)

Anni

www.travelanni.webs.com

[AntjeG]

You can also ask at the reception of your hotel. Most hotels will be able to store your luggage for the day of your check out. If you check out in the morning you leave your luggage at the hotel, do your sightseeing and go back to the hotel to pick up your luggage before going to the train station.

[happy_travellers]

I live in L?beck so here is local information:

yes, the train is less than 1 hr from Hamburg central station to L?beck central station. Going to L?beck in the morning and to Hamburg in the evening you won?t expierence crowds as most traffic is in the opposite direction. Trains run every 30 minutes during rush hour and once per hour during the day.

 

I would suggest you skip the HoHo Bus which runs here for about 7 Euros. Bus is too big to get into the narrow streets in the historic downtown so you miss out on the most interesting part.

If you are a good walker do it on walking.

 

When leaving central station turn left. You will first see Holstentor, one of 2 remaining historic city entrance gates and the symbol of the city. Next to Holstentor is the tourist information with helpfull people at the desk who speak English and who provide maps and so on.

 

After crossing the bridge across Trave river next to Holstentor you find sightseeing boat stops on both sides of the bridge. The boat tours take approx. 1 hr and are lovely. I highly recommend you take them. The historic downtown is an island and the boats do a round trip.

 

After the boat trip explore Obertrave (to the right of the bridge. The most charming part of the city with restaurants, historic buildings and the university of music. There are daily free concerts at the university.

 

Look at "G?nge" downtown. These are charming residential parts which are behind the main houses. Very popular to live there and most residents will welcome tourists to have a look.

 

The cathedral is not far way from Obertrave. The church has 2 towers. As others have said, Marienkirche (also 2 towers) is more worth a visit (if you only want one of them - better to see both of course).

 

For shopping the pedestrian area is famous but don?t miss the little streets to the side. They are the "true" L?beck shopping experience with unique stores and galeries.

 

We have great museums with stunning exhibitions. Hansemuseum (history of the Hanseatic League) has the whole exhibition in English, St. Annen Museum is a great art collection of contemporary art and Behnhaus of art of the 18/19th century - to only name a few.

 

If you have more time you could take a 1.5 hr boat tour along Trave river to Travem?nde, our charming seaside resort which also is cruise port for smaller ships. There are busses and trains which take you back to L?beck in about 30 minutes for less than 4 Euros.

 

Here is the official tourism website in English: http://www.luebeck-tourism.de/

 

If you need more infor please post here.

Special offer: Time permitting I could show you around. I am no tour guide and I do not work in the tourism industry. Just a private person trying to be helpfull.

 

Thank you so much for the info. We are staying in Hamburg 4 nights pre-cruise in June. Reading your post has helped us confirm that Lubeck will be the perfect day away from Hamburg for us.

I have downloaded and printed the map from the link you provided. What is G?nge that you were referring to and where is the location, I am assuming "Gunge".

 

Any waterside lunch places you can recommend. Also which canal tour? I think I have also talked my DH into the boat trip to Travemunde.

 

Any other highlights? Thanks again, Karen

[AntjeG]

waterside lunch:

After crossing the bridge behind Holstentor there is a riverside promenade to the right with many restaurants. If you like to try local dishes and love seafood I recommend "Lübecker Pannfisch" served at the restaurants "Potters" or "Hotel Jensen". This dish is a variety of fresh catched Baltic Sea fish (fried) with fried potatoes. My favorite local desert is called "Rote Grütze". This is a fruit pudding which is served with either vanilla sauce or vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

If you turn left instead of right after crossing the bridge you will find "Block House" (a steak house) and some other restaurants.

My favourite location for a nice drink and watch the world go by is "Bar Celona". This is located at the promenade to the left in an old harbour storage building which has been restored. It is quite of a walk from the Holstentor bridge but worth it.

 

Gänge:

Sorry for the weird spelling. I wrote my post on the day cruise critic did site maintenance work and all the "non English" letters turned out on the screen as "?". So it is "Gänge" not "Gunge". A Gang could at best be translated as a backyard. Gänge are the backyards of the medieval merchant´s houses. In the old days the poor inhabitants of the city and the servants lived there in poor conditions. The Gänge are now very nicely restored and the tiny houses have all the modern facilities inside but the backyards make for unique communities and it is very popular to live in a Ganghaus (a house in a backyard). On the downtown island you will find many medieval houses which have a sign on the entrance saying "...gang" (put the ... for the name of the backyard).

Here is a YouTube Video on Gänge: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pA7uhaEqEZA

 

canal/city boat tours:

they are all great, there is no line which I think would be better than the others.

 

boat trip to Travemünde:

doesn´t start at the same dock as the city boat tours. You will have to turn left after crossing the bridge at Holstentor and walk down the street along the river. There are 2 companies offering Travemünde boat tours:

Könemann who dock near Drehbrücke (approx. 1 km/15 minutes walk straight ahead) and MS Hanse who dock further down near Hansemuseum (about 30 minutes walk or take 3 stops on the city bus No. 3 from Holstentor).

Könemann´s timetable for the 2017 season is not yet online but once published you will find it here:

http://www.koenemannschiffahrt.de/04_fahrplan_preisliste.html

MS Hanse´s timetable is here: http://hanse-travemuende.de/fahrplan

 

If it is a day trip from Hamburg for you may I suggest you go from Hamburg to Travemünde by train (you will have to change trains at Lübeck main station), explore Travemünde and the beach and then catch MS Hanse at 11 AM from Travemünde Vorderreihe. They serve delicious lunch on board. You will dock in Lübeck at 12:30 and have the afternoon to explore medieval downtown and do the 1 hr city boat tour. As MS Hanse docks opposite Hansemuseum and not far from Bar Celona you could start your walk there and end at Holstentor not far from the railway station. Trains back to Hamburg run frequently until very late at night.

 

If there are any other questions I am happy to help. Time permitting we could arrange to meet at the MS Hanse dock and I could show you around medieval downtown if you want.

Edited March 8, 2017 by AntjeG

[happy_travellers]

Thanks. The videos are no work of mine - just to get things right.

 

Well, I am a tour guide sometimes - sort of. I guide lots of friends and members of German sports groups in my home city. But I do it privately (as a volunteer so to speak) and not by profession. I don´t charge money and I always try to visit local venues with my groups in order to give some business to the businesses.

Plus, I do lots of tour planning not only for my own cruises but also for family and friends.

 

Your posts have been so much help. We leave for our trip in just over a week and getting so excited.

We plan on one full day in Lubbock but we are now thinking we can do a part day in another town outside of

Hamburg. I am thinking of Luneburg, any suggestions on what to do there or do you have another town that you would suggest. Looking at going for 1/2 to 3/4 day being back in Hamburg by 5pm so we can do some night photos in Hamburg.

Thank you so much, Karen

[AntjeG]

Lüneburg is a very good idea! Here is their tourist information website in English: http://www.lueneburg.info/en/english-homepage/

It is a charming town to just walk around and take in the scenery. Train ride takes less than one hour from Hamburg and trains run frequently.

 

For taking photos of Hamburg may I suggest you go the Elbphilharmonie (the new concert hall in the harbour). They have a viewing platform called Elbphilharmonie Plaza which you can enter without a concert ticket. Great views from there.

[AntjeG]

Another idea for your 3/4 day trip: Schwerin!

Trains run frequently and the journey takes between 55 minutes and 1:28 hrs (depending if you take a fast train or a regional train).

Schwerin is the capital of the province of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Until 1918 a Duke reigned in the castle. Today the castle hosts the provincial parliament but part of it is a museum. There is a lot of great architecture to be seen. The downtown are is quite small and easy to walk. Boat tours on the lakes which suround the city are offered. The Galerie Alter und neuer Meister (opposite the castle) is a great museum with art from the 17th century to contemporary art. I really love Schwerin.

Here is their English tourist website: http://www.schwerin.com/en/

 

By the way, in my opinion you have a full day for that trip (or Lüneburg). The sun goes down at a quarter to 10 PM in June so your night photos of Hamburg can´t be taken at 5 PM!