MAY 2025

Have you ever heard of Lübeck? When foreigners visit the North of Germany, they usually look no further than Hamburg. Just an hour driving outside of Hamburg you can find hidden gem Lübeck, which features little alleyways, cobblestone streets, colorful houses and gothic monuments. Lübeck has that perfect combination of quiet nature and relaxed cultural sights. I stumbled upon Lübeck by reading a biography on famous writer Thomas Mann and am happy that it sparked my interest. Unfortunately his home is still under construction and cannot be visited currently. Find out on all my Lübeck recommendations in this blogpost!

Things to do in Lübeck

The historical city center of Lübeck is surrounded by water and there are plenty of parking spots at the outskirts of the city. Lübeck also has a train station and is well connected to big cities in Germany. It is a so called “Hanseatic city” and you will find the quintessential architectural style of the Hanseatic cities here, such as the decorated facades of the houses.

Holstentor

One of the most famous sights in Lübeck is the Holstentor (access gate). The Holstentor was built in the 15th Century in gothical style. It is quite a crooked building, as it is slowly sinking away and needs to be restored regularly.

Just around the corner of the Holstentor you will find the Salzspeicher Lübeck, which is a row of brick warehouses in Renaissance style. I found this a particularly lovely spot to take pictures as referred to below!

Alleyways

Lübeck is home to some hidden alleyways, which sometimes have to be accessed via a door and sometimes by finding a hole in a facade. In the North of the city we loved the Petersilienstrasse and Hellgrüner Gang. At the other side of the city we visited the Höveln Gang, which was hard to find, but such a cute little city escape.

Burgtor in Lübeck

This is a gorgeous tower, which has an underpass to access the city.

Canal street art walk

We did a little walk along the canal as I wanted to see the Schulgarten. We did pass the graffiti wall, but didn’t love the artworks on there. However the views of the old town are lovely from the canal park!

Hidden gem in Lübeck: Schulgarten

The Schulgarten is a little botanic garden, which you can visit for free. As we were visiting during spring, the garden was particularly lovely, with cherry blossoms and tulips. This is definitely a hotspot for locals and there is gorgeous terrace underneath the magnolia tree!

Restaurant recommendations Lübeck

Lübeck has plenty of restaurants to chose from. There are two that I would particularly recommend. In Germany brunch culture is quite big and we had a vegetarian brunch at Café Marae, which was super original and tasty.

In the evening we went somewhere a bit fancy. Definitely not a cheap meal, but we loved the interiors and sushi of Arsién.

Timmendorfer Strand

If you want to go to the beach, Timmendorfer Strand is only 25 minutes away from Lübeck. I really wanted to enjoy the iconic beach chairs, which are typical for the Baltic Sea. We visited on a sunny day and rented a beach chair for € 5 for 1,5 hours. You can even book beach chairs online!