Most Baltic itineraries offer stops along the north shore of Germany. The ports themselves are summer resort destinations for German vacationers full of beaches, shops and restaurants but offer little to the adventurous traveler. Luckily they are gateways to two of Germany’s major cities.
The port of Warnemunde is a 3 hour train ride from Berlin, the station within walking distance of the cruise port.
The itinerary usually has 11 to 12 hours or more in port to allow lots of time to explore this amazing city. Although you can arrange to do this yourself we took the On Your Own Ship Excursion which let us explore the capitol city independently but still guaranteed transportation and to arrive back on time. It also had the added bonus of a guide on the train and a boxed lunch.
Once in Berlin we visited the museums to learn more about Berlin’s medieval and current history, walked down the Unter den Linden from east to west stopping to enjoy a cold beer and people watch, followed the path of the Berlin wall when we could and ended up at the Brandenburg Gates.
On our second stop at this port a number of years later we travelled the hour and a half by bus to Schwerin, with a
lovely Old Town, medieval Gothic Cathedral and an amazing castle to explore.
Located on an island and surrounded by lush gardens Schwerin castle, now home to the state parliament, was home to dukes and duchesses. It was built between 1845 – 1857 in the romantic style. Most of it is open to visitors, it remains fully furnished and the guide who took us through was very knowledgeable about its history.
If you want to stick closer to the ship Warnemunde and its neighbouring Rostock are fun to explore either on foot or with a tour.
The second port is Keil, just an hour and half from Hamburg by bus. We again took the On Your Own ship excursion as transportation was a little more involved and we like the guarantee of making it back to our ship on time.
Hamburg is the gritty second city of Germany with its busy port and modern working class waterfront dotted with restaurants and boutique shops. We chose to take a harbour tour in order to see more of the city from its original perspective. Our guide was the grizzled Captain who only spoke German and apparently was hilarious judging from the reactions of our other passengers.
Following that we walked back into the centre of town to see the city hall and the surrounding parks and shops.
There was so much more to do in Hamburg than our time allowed so on our next visit we will book a walking tour to learn more about the architecture, culture and history.
Between our earlier stay in Munich and tour of Bavaria and our cruise stops in northern Germany we really felt immersed in this beautiful country with its tortured past and resilient future.