Lovely things to do in Lübeck, Germany: a city guide

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Considering it’s only a small city, there are loads of things to do in Lübeck. In fact, it’s one of Germany’s best-kept secrets in my opinion. Lübeck has a charming old town full of pretty architecture, punctuated by lots of church spires, with the Trave river running alongside it. Lübeck is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which isn’t a surprise when you see how lovely its historic old town is. There are beautiful cobbled courtyards lined with flowers to explore, not to mention some excellent places to eat and drink. I visited as a day trip from big, bustling Hamburg. Lübeck was just the breath of fresh air you need on a city break.

Lübeck was the capital of the Hanseatic League, which you may have heard of, especially if you’ve been to Germany before. It was a very powerful merchant guild, which started in the 1100s and controlled the maritime trade region from the Baltics to the North Sea for over 300 years. So Lübeck was a really big deal being in the midst of all that.

Lübeck was also known as the ‘City of the seven spires’, obviously due to its amount of churches. And now it’s mainly known for its marzipan, which is one of my most hated substances on earth. But it’s such a gorgeous place that even the slight stench of marzipan didn’t put me off.

With all that in mind, here are the things to do in Lübeck that I really enjoyed and would recommend…

1. Explore the Altstadt 

Lübeck’s Altstadt (old town) should be your first place to wander and get a feel of the city. You’ll find rows of merchants’ houses and former warehouses, harking back to the Middle Ages when Lübeck was an important trading hub. The good thing about these in the modern day is that they’re beautifully ornate and picture-perfect. 

The old town has the Trave River flowing on all sides, the perfect backdrop to its pretty half-timbered houses. Strolling around and taking it all in is definitely one of the best things to do in Lübeck; it’s like being in a living museum. You can easily cover it in an hour or so.

It really reminded me of Bruges, but without the annoying crowds and overpriced cafés.

2. Check out the magnificent Holstentor

The Holstentor is a massive OTT brick-built gate, which acts as the grand entrance to Lübeck’s old town. It’s an iconic landmark known all over Germany and very distinctive looking. You’ll naturally pass through it if you arrive in Lübeck by train. 

Lübeck once had four of these big medieval gates but only this and another (less exciting) one remain. It was built between 1464 and 1478 but has since been rebuilt twice. Despite all that building work, you’ll notice it’s sort of sagging in on itself. Even German engineering can’t fight subsidence. But it makes it all the more quirky and endearing IMO.

Inside the Holstentor is a small museum about Lübeck’s history, which would be a good rainy day stop-off. It’s 7€ to get in (at the time of writing). Check opening times at the Holstentor museum website; I don’t want to write them here in case they change.

3. Discover the magical hidden courtyards

Of all the things to do in Lübeck I’m recommending here, this is my favourite. I can’t resist a pretty cobbled courtyard lined with flowers and nice doorways, so I was chuffed when I read about them being a big thing in Lübeck. And I wasn’t disappointed. I only wish we’d got there earlier in the day as by the time we started exploring them we were losing the light with it being winter. That’s my excuse for disappointing photographs, anyway.

You can find many of the courtyards in  Kober, the northern area of the Altstadt. Look up Engelswisch, Engelsgrube, and Glockengießerstraße on your maps. There are also some further south around the cathedral. Look out for Glandorpshof and Füchtingshof: the latter was used in the 1920s silent horror film Nosferatu.

The courtyards were where tradesmen and artisans lived in medieval times. From the outside, they don’t look that exciting. You go down little arched alleyways between buildings on main roads, through iron gates. But they then open into these hidden beauties. You’re met with pretty timbered houses, colourful benches, cobbled paths and loads of tiny gardens and windowboxes overflowing with flowers.

Apparently, there are almost 90 courtyards and passages like this in Lübeck. I think we only went down about four of them but they were all stunning to the point where I filled my camera’s SD card at an alarming rate.

Obviously, you need to bear in mind that the houses are people’s homes. Respect their privacy when you’re having a full-on Instagram photoshoot.

4. Admire the gabled houses along the beautiful An der Obertrave

While you’re exploring the courtyards, you’ll naturally find yourself walking along An der Obertrave, a promenade next to the River Trave. It’s only a 10-minute stroll from one end to the other, but it’s well worth following to the end.

The way is lined with absolutely stunning listed houses with really ornate gables. Some of them are brightly coloured and it’s all very ‘chocolate box’. Stop off at one of the many cafés with outdoor seating if you have a nice day for it.

5. Buy some famous Lübeck marzipan from Niederegger 

Despite my hatred of the stuff, no list of things to do in Lübeck would be complete without including marzipan.

Lübeck is the marzipan capital of the world. Its marzipan is special because the city has some unwritten rules about its quality, including a high almond % and low added sugar. It’s even controlled under EU law as a Protected Geographical Indication food, which means it can’t be made anywhere else. Impressive stuff.

There are plenty of places around the city to sample it. But Niederegger on Breite Strasse in the old town is probably the most famous. It’s been marzipanning away since 1806 and is renowned for its artistic creations. It even exports to John Lewis and Waitrose, so my UK readers will get the picture. If you have a weird friend who loves marzipan, they’re going to be thrilled if you bring them home something from Niederegger.

Niederegger’s shop facade and windows are a sight to behold. It’s like if Hansel and Grettel opened their own business. Inside, you can peruse every kind of marzipan in all sorts of shapes. There’s the traditional handpainted (very realistic) fruit and veg but also unique little animals and a strange amount of Christmas-themed things. Germany bloody loves a bit of year-round Christmas, doesn’t it? Even if you can’t stand eating the stuff, Niederegger’s shop is fascinating to look around. Just be prepared for the overpowering smell.

Upstairs is a cafe, where you can have a hot drink and some marzipan-based cakes/pastries. On the second floor, there’s even a marzipan museum (free entry). It offers an insight into Niederegger’s history and has some terrifying life-size marzipan figures on display.

6. Have a beer at Paulaner am Dom

Although Paulaner isn’t my all-time favourite German beer (that title goes to Augustiner, also of Munich), a pint of Paulaner is always worth a detour for. Even if you’re in Lübeck, miles away from Paulaner’s home in Bavaria. It’s probably sacrilege not to have a local beer from around Hamburg, but sometimes rules are made to be broken. I’m over it.

We spotted Paulaner am Dom when we were at the brink of freezing to death in the early evening and it was a perfect, cosy stop off for a drink before our evening meal. It does food too, the usual hearty German meaty fare but I noticed that even a Bavarian beerhouse now has a handful of vegan options (we’re getting there!).

It’d be great in summer as it’s got a beer garden and there’s nothing better in Germany than a beer garden on a sunny day. Bliss.

7. See the stained glass windows of death at St Mary’s Church

Now I’ve lured you in with that irresistible heading, let me expand.

St Mary’s is apparently Germany’s third-largest church (who measures these things?!). It was built between 1250 and 1350 and became the template for lots of other brick-built Gothic churches in the Baltic region. It’s massive inside and has the highest vaulted brick ceiling in the world, at 40 metres. Another very specific claim, but this is actually pretty impressive to see.

One of the most unique things in St. Mary’s is its stained-glass windows. These aren’t that old in the grand scheme of things, only installed in the 1950s. But they’re interesting because instead of the biblical scene or pretty pattern you’d usually find on a stained-glass window, they show some creepy depictions of dancing corpses and skeletons. This is a version of the ‘danse macabre’ motif, which dates back to the Middle Ages. It represents the idea that, in the end, death unites us all. Cheerful stuff, eh?

On an even less cheery note, another sight to see in St Mary’s is the broken bells. During an air raid in 1942, the church was hit and set alight. Most of its interior was lost in the fires, and the two bells in one of its towers fell over 100 metres down from the roof. Although everything else has been restored, the bells were left where they shattered. They’ve become a memorial to WW2 and a symbol of Lübeck.

St. Mary’s Church is 2€ to get in. Check opening times on its official website, as they do change throughout the year. You might want to time your visit for just before noon, when its astronomical clock does its thing. It isn’t quite as fancy as Prague’s astronomical clock, but it’s worth viewing.

8. Meet the little Lübeck devil just outside St Mary’s Church

Legend has it that, in the 13th century when they were building St Mary’s, the devil popped into the building site to see what was happening. He asked the builders what was going down. They were scared to say that it was going to be a church. Fair enough I suppose. So they lied and told him it was going to be a wine bar, which is quite amusing when you consider how many old buildings are now trendy wine bars in the 21st century. Anyway, the devil was really into the idea of a wine bar. He loved getting dressed up and heading #outout on a Friday. In fact, he was so excited that he decided to help with the construction.

When the basilica was nearly finished, the devil cottoned on to the fact it wasn’t a wine bar. He was obviously fuming, not being a big fan of churches and seeing his new weekend haunt go down the drain. He was all geared up to lob a big slab at the church to flatten it, but one of the builders stopped him by promising to build a really trendy wine bar nearby. The devil calmed down, dropped the slab, and agreed that was fair enough.

The slab still remains at that spot. It has scratches on it that are meant to be the devil’s claw marks. In 1999, the artist Rolf Goerler provided a bronze statue of the devil to sit on the slab. He’s looking chuffed because the builders kept their word. To this day, you can go for a drink in the Ratskeller, the town hall’s wine cellar, just across the road from the church.

A happy ending all round. Cheers to that.

9. Visit the Rathaus (town hall)

It wouldn’t be a trip to a German city without a bit of Rathaus action, would it?

Lübeck’s town hall dates back to the 13th century and is a beauty. You can do a guided tour inside it, but they only do the tour in German. I didn’t bother, and I generally prefer looking at the facade of buildings rather than the interior.

The Rathaus is built with a collection of other pretty buildings surrounding a central courtyard. There are cafés and restaurants on the ground floors and street artists performing in a bustling atmosphere. Really nice. I bet it’d be a treat at Christmas. It’s just opposite the Niederegger marzipan shop, too.

10. Look round the European Hansemuseum

As I mentioned in the intro to this post, Lübeck was at the helm of the Hanseatic League. The European Hansemuseum is a fairly new museum (opened 2015) dedicated to all things Hanseatic. It features exhibits on various maritime things like piracy, plague, trade boycotting, power struggles, and the movers and shakers involved. I won’t lie to you, although it’s interactive, it involves a lot of reading to get the most out of it. If you’ve got decent weather, you probably won’t want to spend ages lingering over every feature in the museum and might have to speed up your visit. It’s a great rainy day activity though, where you could easily spend an hour or two. 

The European Hansemuseum costs 13€ to get in. Check the official website for opening times.

11. Eat delicious seafood at Fangfrisch 

I’d researched ahead of our trip to Lübeck where we could eat. As we don’t eat meat/cheese, researching ahead in Germany is vital to avoid an avalanche of pork knuckle.

I’d narrowed down the options to Fangfrisch, a little seafood restaurant on An der Obertrave. I reserved a table, which is always wise in Germany because they do love booking and being organised, and I was so glad I did. This was one of the best places I’ve eaten on my many (many!) visits to Germany overall. We still talk about it now, a few years later.

Fangfrisch is beautiful inside, with metro tiles, rustic wooden tables, exposed brick and pendant lighting. But despite how Instagrammable it is, it’s 100% not style over substance. The food was all brilliant. We had crispy scampi and chips and some of the nicest salmon I’ve ever had. 

I really enjoyed the food in Hamburg too (where we were based for the week). But this was one of the stand-out meals of this trip.

Side note: I apologise for the crappy photographs that don’t do this lovely restaurant or its food justice. My camera was unhappy with the cosy lighting! And I was too hangry to fiddle with its settings before eating.

12. Learn about Lübeck’s famous author, Günter Grass, at his house

I must admit I didn’t have any idea who Günter Grass was before going to Lübeck. Well, I’d heard of his novel The Tin Drum. But that was about all. However, as a former English Lit student and an avid reader (and the fact it was freezing cold), I felt like it would be a good use of an hour to go into Grass’s museum and learn a bit more about him (and warm up for a bit). Turns out it was actually really interesting. Grass was one of the most important political writers of his day, and won the Nobel Prize for literature in the 90s.

Like any author-based museum, there are plenty of manuscripts and the typewriter on which he wrote. But Grass was also an artist and sculptor. So the museum also houses his lesser-known artworks, including some paintings and sculptures. There were also exhibits from other authors and artists, which made it a bit more varied. You can browse a small gift shop on site and buy a copy of one of Grass’s works if you’re inspired. I left having added The Tin Drum to my ever-growing reading list. 

The Günter Grass Haus museum was 7€ to get in. Check opening times on the official website.

13. Try some craft beers at Brauberger 

Brauberger zu Lübeck was the only place I could find in my pre-visit research that did craft beer – the hoppy IPA-type stuff – so we hunted it out for an early evening drink.

It’s unusual to find somewhere brewing its own craft-style beer in Germany, rather than the more traditional beers. Germany has something called the Reinheitsgebot, a set of regulations limiting the ingredients allowed in brewing, which was enshrined in law until the 90s and is still followed by a lot of beer producers. This means they do extremely high-quality traditional beers but don’t do quite as many of the hoppy American ones as some countries.

So it’s interesting when you find somewhere making them and doing it so well, like Brauberger. Definitely worth going to sample its excellent craft beer if you’re in Lübeck and want something different from generic mass-produced stuff. 

14. See the unusual half-tower house

I love an unusual building and this is one of the strangest, but prettiest, I’ve spotted on my travels. It’s a leaning half-timbered house (dating back to 1672) which is built into a bit of semi-derelict Medieval wall that features half a tower. There’s a lot going on here! The original architect built it like this, rather than it being a modern thing, which makes it even more appealing in my view. Despite it being a mad bit of design, it works.

You can find it on the street An der Mauer, which translates as ‘On the wall’, naturally. Here’s a Google maps link for you to get to it. The Medieval wall once stretched along this whole street, so you can imagine how impressive it once was.

15. Find out all about puppets 

I always enjoy an unusual museum and Lübeck’s Theaterfigurenmuseum (puppet museum) is something I’ve never seen anything like before. Set in a beautiful Medieval brick building, it’s home to a collection of puppets and props from all around Europe and the world. For a small museum, it packs a punch.

Fritz Fey, a puppeteer, put the collection together originally. He’s managed to find all sorts. There are also stages and posters that relate to the puppet theme. There’s a lot of genuinely interesting information on traditions of puppetry from around the globe, such as Indian legends and Chinese tales.

Please note that at the time of writing, the puppet museum is closed for renovation. Visit the official website to check whether it’s reopened yet. And let me know in the comments if you spot that it has so that I can delete this line!

16. Take in the city views from St Petri Church’s tower

St Petri is no longer a working church, instead serving the city as an exhibition space. If you’re in Lübeck at Christmas, it hosts a little arts and crafts market, which sounds good. The church’s interior is simply an empty space with white walls, which gives it a very contemporary feel and means that the regular art exhibitions it now hosts are showed off beautifully.

Like much of Lübeck, it was badly damaged in WW2, which is why it’s nothing like how it used to be. However, the tower has been rebuilt so that visitors can go up it (there’s a lift so no climbing!) and enjoy panoramic views of the city from a 50-metre-high viewing platform. It costs 4€ each. Well worth it. The view is spectacular, particularly in good weather when apparently you can see as far as the Baltic Sea. It wasn’t quite clear enough when I was there, but beautiful nonetheless. The birds-eye view gives you a really good feel for how the old town of Lübeck is laid out. I’d recommend visiting as the sun is starting to go down, for some perfect photographs with a golden glow.

Things to do in Lübeck, Germany – useful information for your trip

Where to stay in Lübeck

I only did one day in the town as a day trip from Hamburg (which is also deffo worth a visit) but you could stay overnight to do a bit more around Lübeck and to see it first thing in the morning. You might even get a beautiful courtyard to yourself for a bit. I’ve done a bit of research into where I’d recommend staying. Prices are all accurate at the time of writing but do double-check before you book. Here are three options that I like the look of:

• Treat yo’self: If you’re splashing out, I’d go for Fisher’s Loft Hotel. At around 165€ a night, this is a real splurge by my book. But it’s stunning. I love the industrial-style decor. You’re right in the middle of the old town so the location couldn’t be better.
• Mid-range: If you’re like me and somewhere in the middle when it comes to spending/saving on accommodation, you’ll like Atlantic Hotel. It’s around 138€ a night, so a little more than I’d normally spend, but look how nice it is. Really good-sized rooms and a great location. 
• Budget: If you’re not keen to spend loads of money on accommodation, I would go for B&B Hotel Lübeck. It’s a bargainous 65€ a night for a functional and modern room, and it’s handy for the station. 

How to get around Lübeck

It’s entirely walkable. Sometimes with walkable cities, it’s still worth looking into buses to save a bit of time, but with Lübeck you’re fine on foot.

When to go to Lübeck

I went in late October/early November. It was unseasonably cold, even for that time of year, but I’d still recommend it for an autumn or winter city break. There’s plenty of indoor stuff to do and cosy places to eat/drink.

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• Munich in October: the best autumn city break
• A guide to Landsberg am Lech: a fairytale German town
• How to spend 2 days in Hamburg
• Where to stay in Hamburg
• How to do a Copenhagen to Hamburg train-ferry adventure.

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