Wismar and Stralsund

UNESCO World Heritage Site: Historic Centres Of Stralsund And Wismar (2002); Two Hanseatic Brick Gothic Ports Inscribed As One Property, With Vast Churches, Swedish Era Houses And The Ozeaneum At Stralsund · Wismar, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania

These are two towns, not one place. Wismar and Stralsund were inscribed together in 2002 as the best-preserved Hanseatic brick-Gothic ports on the German Baltic, but they lie about 150 km apart along the coast, roughly two hours by car and longer by train with a change, so treat them as two trips rather than one visit. Wismar is the smaller and quieter: an enormous market square with a Dutch Renaissance waterworks pavilion, the Wasserkunst, standing in one corner; the shell of St Mary's reduced to its tower by the war; carved Swedish heads at the old harbour from the century and a half when the town belonged to Sweden; and the streets Murnau filmed as Nosferatu in 1922. Stralsund is busier and holds the one attraction most people actually travel for, the Ozeaneum aquarium, along with an ornate brick town hall, the vast Nikolaikirche, the museum sailing ship Gorch Fock and the bridge across to Ruegen. Both suit a slow day on foot.

The old towns of Wismar and Stralsund on the Baltic, about 150 km apart along the coast, Wismar, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany

Both old towns are open streets at any hour, and their market squares are at their best early. The churches open daily outside services, usually from mornings to late afternoon with shorter winter hours, and the tower climbs close in high wind - confirm. Stralsund's Ozeaneum opens daily including most public holidays and is the one place here that really queues; the sea museum and the town museums close one weekday each, as most German municipal museums do. The Gorch Fock and the harbour boat trips are seasonal and stop altogether in winter.

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