Germany (Lonely Planet, 6th Edition) - Andrea Schulte-Peevers [619]
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Taxi
Taxis can be found at the Hauptbahnhof, Dammtor and Altona train stations, and many larger S-Bahn and U-Bahn stations. You can book one through Taxiruf ( 441 011; www.autoruf.de, in German), or Taxi Hamburg ( 666 666; www.taxihamburg.de, in German).
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AROUND HAMBURG
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Although dominated by its namesake city, Hamburg State does encompass part of the Altes Land, a fertile area reclaimed from marshy ground by Dutch experts in the Middle Ages.
And, at the mouth of the Elbe, you can hunt for amber at the Hamburg Wadden Sea National Park, the smallest of Germany’s three mud-flat national parks. In the same vein as the Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea National Park and the Lower Saxony Wadden Sea National Park, you can also climb dunes, hike along dykes, seal spot, take a horse-and-carriage ride across the seabed or, at low tide, Wattwandern (Click here).
Ask the Hamburg tourist office for more information if you’re interested in either of these options (Altes Land and Hamburg Wadden Sea National Park).
With Germany’s excellent train system and great-value day passes (see opposite), destinations in surrounding states make easy day trips, such as Lüneburg, Bremen and Lübeck.
Among Germans, one very popular day trip from Hamburg is by boat to Helgoland, operated by FRS Helgoline ( 0462-864 602; www.helgoline.de, in German). From April to October, you can catch the fast ‘Halunder Jet’ (return €74.80) from Landungsbrücken 3 or 4.
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Schleswig-Holstein
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Getting There & Around
LÜBECK
Orientation
Information
Sights & Activities
Tours
Sleeping
Eating
Drinking
Entertainment
Getting There & Away
Getting Around
AROUND LÜBECK
Travemünde
Ratzeburg
NATURPARK HOLSTEINISCHE SCHWEIZ
KIEL
Orientation
Information
Sights & Activities
Festivals & Events
Sleeping
Eating
Drinking
Getting There & Away
Getting Around
AROUND KIEL
Laboe
Schleswig-Holsteinisches Freilichtmuseum
SCHLESWIG
Information
Sights & Activities
Tours
Sleeping
Eating & Drinking
Getting There & Away
Getting Around
FLENSBURG
Orientation
Information
Sights
Activities
Tours
Sleeping
Eating & Drinking
Getting There & Away
Getting Around
GLÜCKSBURG
HUSUM & THE HALLIGEN
Orientation
Information
Sights
Sleeping & Eating
Getting There & Around
NORTH FRISIAN ISLANDS
SYLT
Orientation
Information
Sights & Activities
Tours
Sleeping
Eating
Getting There & Away
Getting Around
FÖHR
Getting There & Around
AMRUM
Getting There & Around
HELGOLAND
Getting There & Away
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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 Scandinavian 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 centuries. At home in Seeb