Lübeck: Top Things To Do In a Day
Dear lilioftheworld.com reader, here is Lili, your co-editor. Today I take you to Lübeck (you can also find it as Lubeck) – a small city located in the northern part of Germany in the region Schleswig-Holstein. The city is referred to as the “City of Seven Spires”. Later on I will tell you where this name comes from 🙂
Surprisingly, the tiny city of Lübeck is a home to one of the major ports in Germany. Beautifully situated on the Trave river, it is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. The style of the buildings belongs to the so-called Brick Gothic architecture. Below you will find a list of the most remarkable (for me) venues in this lovely cobble-stone city.
Lili’s 5 good-to-know tips when visiting Lübeck:
- Lübeck is located just around 60 km away from Hamburg. This makes it easily reachable either by train, or car. The train takes around 45 mins and you can buy a return ticket for around €30.
- The train to Lübeck runs almost every hour and you can check their schedule on the website of Deutsche Bahn. Although I buy many things online, I could not do so with the train tickets. There are vending machines at Hamburg Hauptbahnhof (Hamburg Main Train Station), so you can easily buy them there.
- Lübeck is famous for its marzipan. Do not make the same mistake as me (I realized this fact only when we left) and plan marzipan tasting.
- It is a relatively small city and one day is enough to walk through the Old Town. This is as well the main point of interest. In case you have more time, you can go further North- East where actually is located the Port.
- The Old town is at a walking distance from Lübeck train station. As it was very nicely said somewhere, Lübeck’s Old City Center is not an open air museum. It is actually a place where people live. That is why you will find cars parked on the streets and everything else which people normally do in their real life.
Top 9 things to do in Lübeck in a day:
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Holsteintor (Holsten Gate)
When coming from the train station in Lübeck, the first thing you will see is one of the city’s main symbols. Holsteintor is one of the four gates which surrounded the Old Town centuries ago. Only the western one (Hosteintor) and the northern one- Burgtor are preserved till today.
Together with the old city centre (Altstadt) of Lübeck, the Holsteintor is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. When you pass the gate and the bridge behind it, you enter the Old Town of Lübeck. I would suggest that you start your walk on the right and you make a round through the whole Altstadt.
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Salzspeicher
These are the old salt storehouses which you can find on the right of Holsteintor. The Salzspeicher is a chain of 6 identical buildings which in the past used to be the place where the salt mined near Luneburg was stored. It was afterwards delivered to other Baltic countries. It might be hard to believe, but the salt was one of the most important commodities in the world for centuries. Its high demand was due to its usage for food preservation. The salt is actually one of the main factors for the prosperity of Lübeck over the years.
With time salt became less important and then the buildings were used for storage of other goods like wood, grain and clothes. One of the buildings even used to be Hitler’s Youth center. Nowadays they are turned into apparel shops.
I read in this blog that there was a movie filmed in this location- Nosferatu (in case you are interested).
For me the most spectacular about these brick buildings was the way they majestically stood over the Stecknitz Canal. Pretty good background for nice photos. I can highly recommend that you start your visit of Lübeck early in the morning and you stop at one of the cafes by the canal opposite the Salzspeicher. You will enjoy an amazing view and peaceful atmosphere. Feels like travelling back in time.
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Altes Stecknitzfahrer (or Stecknitzkanal as is its new name)
A few hundred metres down the road, you will get to Altes Stecknitzfahrer Amtshaus. This was the main office of the company responsible for the canal built between Lübeck and Lauenburg. In the middle ages the trade between the North and Baltic seas was done via passing Öresund (a very dangerous strait close to the border of Sweden and Denmark). The creation of this canal was a huge improvement and the reason for the thriving of trade between the two seas.
The street where Stecknitzfahrer Amtshaus is located and the one parallel to it in further direction are extremely interesting. Very cute buildings creating a picturesque set-up.
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Lübeck Cathedral
There are seven cathedrals in the small old city center of Lübeck. This is where the nickname of the city is coming from- “The City of Seven Spires”. Everywhere you go, you can see one of the sharp and tall roofs of at least one of the cathedrals.
The Lübeck Cathedral is built of bricks and is a Lutheran cathedral. It was destroyed during the WWII (together with around 20% of the whole city).
The part which suffered most was its organ- it was burned. Nowadays, you can enjoy the sound of one of the biggest organs (I have seen so far).
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St Mary’s Church and the Rathaus
Now that you went to the most southern part of the old city, it’s time to head back to the city center. On the way you will find other cathedrals, as well as many buildings with a typical roof (you can see the typical roofs at some of the photos). As mentioned, the Altstadt of Lübeck is a place where people live and as such you will find shops, pharmacies, cafes, buses and much more.
At the very middle of this mini island (I call it this way because it is surrounded by water), you will see the Rathaus building and St Mary’s church next to it. They are both located at the highest point of the island. I like the description of Wikipedia about St Mary’s church: “St. Mary’s epitomizes north German Brick Gothic and set the standard for about 70 other churches in the Baltic region, making it a building of enormous architectural significance. St Mary’s Church embodied the towering style of Gothic architecture style using north German brick. It has the tallest brick vault in the world, the height of the central nave being 38.5 metres“.
In front of the church, you will find a bronze statue of a small devil. If you wonder why this devil i sthere, go to the end of the article and read the legend about the Devil’s Stone.
The building of the Rathaus is without any doubt one of the most beautiful I’ve seen so far in the German- speaking world.
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Willy Brandt House
In case you are into politics or history, this is your chance to visit the house of Willy Brandt. He was a very famous German counselor (of West Germany) in the 60s, 70s and 80s. He won a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to strengthen cooperation in western Europe through the EEC and to achieve reconciliation between West Germany and the countries of Eastern Europe. As history is not my passion, we decided to skip entering in the museum.
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Heiligen-Geist Hospital
Maybe it was the design of the building or the interior, but it looked more like a cathedral than like a hospital. The access was free of charge and there weren’t many people, so we decided to enter inside. One of the guides we met explained to his group that in the past there were around 400 people who stayed in this hospital.
Through tiny windows we could look into the small hospital rooms where the sick ones used to stay. As the space in the room was very small, people needed oxygen to breathe. That is why the rooms were with open roofs towards the inner part of the hospital (the ceiling of the building was pretty high).
In winter times the hospital serves as a Christmarket (known in Germany and Austria as Weichnachtsmarkts) and many people are queuing to get inside. The hospital rooms are turned into shops for local craftsmen.
The square in front of the hospital is also turned into a Christmarket. I assume that together with the neighbouring St Jakobi Kirche they create unique atmosphere and holy spirit.
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Burgtor
A bit more further towards north and you will get to the other preserved gate. Burgtor or Citadel Gate was built in the 14th century, again in Gothic style. You might notice that the roof looks somehow different. It was added around 200 years later, it has Baroque architecture and a the shape of a helmet.
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Europäisches Hansamuseum
Our last stop in Lübeck is the European Hansemuseum. Like the museum claims on its official website, this is the largest museum which explains the history of the Hanse (or also referred to as Hansa).
The Hanseatic League was commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Northwestern and Central Europe. For around three centuries they were dominating the marine trade in the Baltic sea region. The word “Hanse” was applied to bands of merchants traveling between the Hanseatic cities – whether by land or by sea. In order to protect their trade, the merchants established the League. There are many legends and stories connected to Hanse and the museum claims that these and many other facts are presented in an interactive and engaging way.
Our train back to Hamburg was leaving soon, so we did not have time to visit it. But maybe next time.
The Legend about St Mary’s church and the devil:
An old legend says that when the construction of St Mary’s Church started in the 13th century, Satan passed by to see what is happening. The workers were scared to death to tell him the truth and they explained that they are building a magnificent wine bar. The Devil got so excited that he started helping the workers to finish the “bar” fast.
When the construction came almost to an end, he realized that he was fooled. In his rage, he picked a huge stone and wanted to throw it towards the Church in order to destroy it. One of the workers came up with a brilliant idea- he promised that they will build a wine bar in the same neighbourhood. The stone the devil threw fell close to the church, but did not destroy it. The stone still stays there and it still has what is supposed to be the claws of the devil. Here comes its name- “Devil’s Stone’”.
At the end of the 20th century, a bronze statue of a devil was placed in front of the church. This one though is quite smiley and welcoming the visitors of the church.
The workers stuck to their promise and built a wine bar in the neighbourhood. Even nowadays you can still visit Ratskeller tavern located across the road from the church.
We hope you enjoyed our small weekend escape. For more things to do around Hamburg and in Germany, we have created a special section for you. If you are looking for inspiration about short trips in Europe, visit our Weekend Escapes section.
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