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Jazz-Café ( 707 3734; Mühlenstrasse 62; 4pm-late Sun-Fri, noon-late Sat) Live jazz plays at least once a month at this chilled spot.

THEATRE

Figurentheater ( 700 60; www.figurentheater-luebeck.de, in German; Am Kolk 20-22; tickets €5-7; Tue-Sun) This adorable puppet theatre puts on a children’s show at 3pm, and another for adults on some evenings at 7.30pm, as well as occasional performances in English.

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Getting There & Away

AIR

Low-cost carriers Ryanair (www.ryanair.com) and Wizzair (www.wizzair.com) serve Lübeck airport (www.luebeckairport.com), which they euphemistically call Hamburg-Lübeck. Destinations include London, Dublin, Frankfurt-Hahn Airport, and many other European cities.

Synchronised shuttle buses take passengers straight to Hamburg (one-way €9, 55 minutes), while scheduled bus 6 (€2.50) serves Lübeck’s Hauptbahnhof and central bus station. Frequent trains run from the airport train station (300m from the terminal) north to Lübeck’s Hauptbahnhof, and south as far as Büchen, from where there are connections to Hamburg.

BOAT

Ferries sail from Lübeck to Riga and St Petersburg – Click here for details.

Könemann Schiffahrt ( 280 1635; www.koenemannschiffahrt.de; Teerhofinsel 14a) has three ferries to, and two ferries from, Travemünde (one-way/return €10/15) daily from April to mid-October. Tickets are sold on-board.

BUS

Regional buses stop opposite the local buses on Hansestrasse, around the corner from the Hauptbahnhof. Kraftomnibusse services to/from Wismar terminate here, as do the Autokraft buses to/from Hamburg, Schwerin, Kiel, Rostock and Berlin.

CAR & MOTORCYCLE

Lübeck is reached via the A1 from Hamburg. The town also lies at the crossroads of the B75, the B104 to Schwerin, the B206 to Bad Segeberg and the B207 to Ratzeburg.

TRAIN

Lübeck has connections every hour to Hamburg (€18.50, 40 minutes), Kiel (€15.20, 1¼ hours) and Rostock (€22.90, two hours 20 minutes) with a change in Bad Kleinen.

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Getting Around

Lübeck’s centre is easily walkable, and since many streets are pedestrianised and off limits to all but hotel guests’ vehicles, many people just park their cars and go on foot.

Bus tickets cost €1.50 to €2.50, depending on the distance you travel, and day cards cost €4.50 to €8.20. Higher-priced tickets are valid for Travemünde.

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AROUND LÜBECK

Travemünde

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Writer Thomas Mann declared that he spent his happiest days in Travemünde, just outside Lübeck (which bought it in 1329 to control the shipping coming into its harbour), and its 4.5km of sandy beaches at the point where the Trave River flows into the Baltic Sea make it easy to see why. Water sports are the main draw, along with a colourful sailing regatta (www.travemuenderwoche.de) in the last week of July.

The town takes great pride in its historic four-masted sailing ship-turned-museum, Passat ( 122 5202; www.passat.luebeck.de; 10am-5pm mid-May–mid-Sep, 11am-4.30pm Sat & Sun Easter–mid-May & mid-Sep–Oct), which used to do the run around South America’s Cape Horn in the early to mid-20th century. The Passat Choir (www.passatchor.de, in German) performs concerts of sea shanties aboard the ship or on land.

The Lübeck & Travemünde tourist office ( 01805-882 233; www.travemuende-tourismus.de; Strandbahnhof; 9.30am-7pm Mon-Fri, 10am-3pm Sat, 10am-2pm Sun Jun-Sep, 9.30am-6pm Mon-Fri, 10am-3pm Sat Oct-May) can advise on choir practice times and locations, and also help with accommodation.

Camping at beachfront sites is particularly fun; try Strand Priwall ( 717 92; www.strandcamping-priwall.de, in German; adult/tent/car €5.50/8/3.50; May-Sep). The town’s most famous hotel is the luxurious Columbia Hotel Casino Travemünde ( 3080; www.columbia-hotels.de; Kaiserallee 2; s €135-275, d €210-320; ) in a historic, 19th-century building with three restaurants, including the Michelin-starred La Belle Epoque (dinner Wednesday to Sunday by reservation).