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700 Schleswig-Holstein Sandy beaches, jaunty red-and-white striped lighthouses, deep fjords carved by glaciers, sandpipers and seals have made this sweeping peninsula between the North and Baltic Seas Germany’s most elite summer retreat. Much of the peninsula’s interior is comprised of seemingly never-ending expanses of flat, green farmland interrupted only by wind farms and grazing black-and-white-splotched cows. But its coastline – and especially the North Frisian Islands off Schleswig-Holstein’s western coast – remain the country’s answer to the Côte d’Azur. Of course, the fickle northern European climate makes for a funny sort of answer, as cold winds and dark clouds periodically drive the hardiest holidaymakers from their Strandkörbe (sheltered straw ‘beach basket’ seats). Yet there’s something unusually hypnotic about the state’s wide horizons, grass-covered dunes, meandering canals and glistening lakes. Over 200 lakes are scattered throughout the protected Naturpark Holsteinische Schweiz, which sprawls south of the busy port city and state capital, Kiel. Schleswig-Holstein belonged to neighbouring Denmark until 1864 and you’ll find Scandi- navian overtones throughout the region, particularly in Flensburg and Schleswig, home to a superbly recreated Viking settlement, as well as the state’s finest art museum. Local artists have embraced the moodier side of Schleswig-Holstein’s beauty for centu- ries. At home in Seebüll, Emil Nolde swirled his brushes into stormy oil-paint waves; author Theodor Storm captured the weather-beaten Husum coast in his poetry and prose; and contemporary literary giant Günter Grass has long been based in Thomas Mann’s birthplace, Lübeck, the magnificently preserved medieval headquarters of the Hanseatic League. HIGHLIGHTS Wave Riding Windsurf ( p720 ) off Sylt’s Sylt Schusterkate North Sea coast Planet Watching See the 17th-century night Halligen Schleswig sky spin at Schleswig’s Schloss Gottorf ( p712 ) Puppet Watching Catch a show at Lübeck’s endearing puppet theatre ( p706 ), and visit its puppet museum ( p704 ) Border Crossing Hike across the Schuster- Lübeck kate ( p715 ) bridge connecting Germany and Denmark just north of Flensburg Halligen Hopping Sail to Schleswig-Hol- stein’s tiny Halligen (islets) from Nordstrand, near historic Husum ( p718 ) POPULATION: 2.37 MILLION AREA : 15,729 SQ KM SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN lonelyplanet.com SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN •• Lübeck 701 0 50 km SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN 0 30 miles List To D E N M A R K D E N M A R K Kampen Rømø Westerland Keitum Sønderborg Klanxbüll Høruphav (Norway) North Sylt Frisian Seebüll B5 Schusterkate Langeland Islands Rantum Padborg Glücksburg Föhr Niebüll Nakskov Hörnum B199 Flensburg Bagenkop Wyk Dagebüll-Hafen Norddorf Schlüttsiel Langeness Kappeln Amrum Rødbyhaun Gröde B200 rg (Sweden) & Oslo Wittdün bu Hooge Jübeck B201 then Pellworm Schleswig Puttgarden B201 Eckernförde To Go Nordstrand Husum Baltic B503 To Klaipeda (Lithuania) Sea A7 B76 B5 Laboe B502 Büdelsdorf Kiel B207 A210 LübekSt Petersburg To Riga (Latvia); (Russia) Sankt Rendsburg Molfsee Heringsdorf Schleswig-Holstein Peter Preetz Ording Heide B203 A215 Wadden Sea Malente Helsinki (Finland) North National Park B205 Plön Trelleborg (Sweden); Sea B4 Travemünde To Malmö & B404 Eutin To Helgoland Büsum Neumünster Naturpark Holsteinische B76 Neustadt A23 B77 Poel B105 Schweiz Scharbeutz Island Hamburg B5 Timmendorfer Wadden Sea Itzehoe Strand National Brunsbüttel Travemünde A7 B206 B75 Wismar Park Cuxhaven ὈὈBad B206 Lower Saxony Segeberg Lübeck B105 Wadden Sea Kaltenkirchen Lübeck Airport B192 A23 A1 National Park Elbe Elmshorn B104 B73 Bargteheide B207 B106 Mellum River Quickborn Hamburg- Ratzeburg Uetersen Mölln Schwerin B207 Wilhelmshaven LOWER SAXONY Bremerhaven Hamburg Banzkow Schwarzenbek Büchen A24 Parchim A1 Bansin MECKLENBURG– WESTERN POMERANIA Lauenburg Getting There & Around moniker of the ‘Queen of the Hanse’. Behind its Lübeck has an airport serving low-cost air- landmark Holstentor (gate), you’ll find streets lines, as well as international ferries – see lined with medieval merchants’ homes and p706 . Nearby Travemünde also has inter- spired churches forming Lübeck’s ‘crown’. national ferry services ( p707 ), as does Kiel Recognised by Unesco as a World Heritage ( p711 ). Rail links with Denmark include a Site in 1987, today this thriving provincial city direct Lübeck– Copenhagen service. retains many enchanting corners to explore. Within northern Germany, up to five peo- ple travelling together can make enormous Orientation savings with a Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein- Lübeck’s Altstadt (old town) is on an island Ticket (€30), which is good for rail journeys encircled by the canalised Trave River. The from 9am until 3am the following day (from Holstentor forms the western gateway to the midnight on weekends) anywhere in the Altstadt; the Hauptbahnhof (central train states of Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein and station) and central bus station are several Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania on all re- hundred metres west. gional trains. There are no single rates, but it still often works out cheaper than a regular Information ticket, even for solo travellers. Ärztlicher Bereitschaftsdienst (%710 81; An der SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN Untertrave 98) Medical services. LÜBECK Buchhaus Weiland (%160 060; Königstrasse 67a) %0451 / pop 212,207 Good selection of foreign-language books. A 12th-century gem boasting more than 1000 Lübeck & Travemünde tourist office (%01805- historical buildings, Lübeck’s picture-book ap- 882 233; www.lubeck-tourism.de; Holstentorplatz 1; pearance is an enduring reminder of its role h9.30am-7pm Mon-Fri, 10am-3pm Sat, 10am-2pm Sun as one of the founding cities of the mighty Jun-Sep, 9.30am-6pm Mon-Fri, 10am-3pm Sat Oct-May) Hanseatic League (see boxed text, p36 ) and its Sells the Happy Day Card (per 1/3 days €7/14) offering .