Germany (Lonely Planet, 6th Edition) - Andrea Schulte-Peevers [670]
Drivers must leave vehicles in the (paid) parking lot in Hagen, then either catch the shuttle bus or walk 2.5km past the Herthasee lake through the forest.
Panorama-Hotel Lohme ( 038302-9221; www.lohme.com; Dorfstrasse 35, Lohme; s €52-62, d €68-136; ), west of the national park in Lohme, is aptly named. The hotel has stunning views from rooms at the higher end of the price scale, and from what may be the island’s most romantic restaurant (mains €9.40 to €20.60, open 7.30am to 9.30pm), particularly when the sun sets over Kap Arkona on summer nights.
While most people only pass through Sassnitz (population 10,747), at the southern end of the national park, the town has been redeveloping its Altstadt and its harbour is home to a British submarine-turned-museum, the HMS Otus ( 038392-315 16; www.hms-otus.com; Hafenstrasse 12; admission €5.50; 10am-7pm Apr-Oct, 10am-4pm Nov-Mar). Find out more from the tourist office (www.insassnitz.de) Bahnhofstrasse 19a ( 038392-6490; 9am-6pm Mon-Fri, 10am-6pm Sat, 2-6pm Sun); Strandpromenade 12 ( 038392-669 45; 10am-5pm), which can also help with room bookings. Click here for transport details, including international ferries.
KAP ARKONA
Rügen ends at the rugged cliffs of Kap Arkona, with its famous pair of lighthouses: the square, squat Schinkel-Leuchtturm, completed in 1827, and the cylindrical Neuer Leuchtturm, in business since 1902.
A few metres east of the lighthouses is the Burgwall, a complex that harbours the remains of the Tempelburg, a Slavic temple and fortress. The castle was taken over by the Danes in 1168, paving the way for the Christianisation of Rügen.
Most people sail around the cape (without landing) on boat tours. Reederei Ostsee-Tour ( 038392-3150; www.reederei-ostsee-tour.de, in German; tour €21; Tue-Fri May-Sep) operates four-hour tours from Binz at 1.15pm and Sassnitz at 2pm.
Driving all the way to the cape is not allowed for environmental reasons. You must leave your vehicle in the gateway village of Putgarten, then take the gas-powered Arkona Bahn ( 038391-132 13; www.arkonabahn.de, in German; adult/child €2/0.50) or make the 1.5km journey by foot or bicycle. Putgarten is served by bus 11 from Altenkirchen in central Wittow. (To get to Altenkirchen, you will need to travel from Sassnitz or Bergen.)
Unusual adventure tours run by Rügen Safari ( 038309-708 62; www.ruegen-safari.de, in German) include jeep safaris, mountain biking or Indian canoe tours with real tepees!
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HIDDENSEE ISLAND
038300 / pop 1076
‘Dat söte Länneken’ (the sweet little land) is much mythologised in the German national imagination. This tiny patch off Rügen’s western coast measures 18km long and just 1.8km at its widest point. What makes it so sweet is its breathtaking, remote landscape. The heath and meadows of the ‘Dornbush’ area, with the island’s landmark lighthouse and wind-buckled trees, extend north of the village of Kloster, while dunes wend their way south from the main village of Vitte to Neuendorf. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Hiddensee bewitched artists and writers including Thomas Mann and Bertolt Brecht, as well as Gerhart Hauptmann, who is buried here.
Cars are banned on Hiddensee but bike hire places are everywhere. Alternatively, you can see the island at a gentle pace aboard the island’s clip-clopping horse-drawn carriages; you’ll find them around the harbours and in Kloster.
The tourist office ( 642 26; www.seebad-hiddensee.de; Norderende 162, Vitte; 9am-5pm Mon-Fri, 10am-noon Sat May-Sep, 9am-4pm Mon-Fri Apr & Oct, 9am-3pm Nov-Mar) has a seasonal branch ( 10am-12.30pm & 1.30-5pm Mon-Fri, 10am-12.30pm Sat & Sun May-Sep, 10am-noon & 1-4pm Mon-Fri, 10am-12.30pm Sat Easter-end Apr, 10am-noon & 1-5pm Mon-Fri Oct) at Kloster harbour. A spa tax of €1.50 from April to October (€1 from November to March) is levied by hotels for overnight