Mobile Homes on the Baltic Coast
On the Baltic coast, mobile homes almost always stand inside camping parks, and the shoreline decides where those parks end up. They sit behind the dyke, in the pine woods sheltered by the dune ridge, on top of a low cliff or at the edge of a seaside resort, which keeps the walk to the water short enough to do barefoot and more than once a day. None of it has to be planned, because the tidal range on this coast measures only a few centimeters and it is the wind that sets how high the water stands. On the islands and peninsulas a shallow lagoon often opens up behind the park, so on a blowy day you swap sides instead of writing off the beach.
The year in this region
September: Stags Bellow in the Darßwald
From mid September the red deer rut in the Darßer Wald, and the calls carry far across the dunes. Some walk right down to the beach. The paths around the Buchhorster Maase are closed from September 1 to the end of October. At Darßer Ort there are platforms to watch from.
In the middle of the month the sun rises at 6:39 AM and sets at 7:26 PM. That leaves 12 hours and 47 minutes of daylight.
Water and air: Open-Meteo, measured averages. How busy: share of school holidays 2027 across all sixteen federal states. Nature dates: German Weather Service, phenological observations 2014 to 2026 at 318 stations in the region, typical day.
Tours in this region
Marked tours that fit into a day from a site, and one multi day tour per kind.
- Hiking
Ostseeküstenweg
The trail follows the coast from the bay of Lübeck at Travemünde to Usedom and changes ground the whole way: clay cliffs, flat sand, dyke paths along the lagoons. Flint lies along the crumbling edges, and sometimes amber. The water is in sight almost all the time.
384.9 kmMulti day tour
- Hiking
Hochuferweg Sassnitz–Lohme
Eleven kilometres along the top of Rügen's chalk coast, through the national park's beech forest, which is world heritage. Between the trunks the view opens again and again onto the water, from a good hundred metres up at the Stubbenkammer. The path is narrow and rooty, and it is best early in the morning.
11.2 km
- Cycling
Ostseeküsten-Radweg
The longest coastal route in Germany, from the Danish border to Poland, mostly flat, with short steep climbs at the cliff coasts. It runs sometimes on the dyke, sometimes through old tree-lined avenues, sometimes right along the promenade. Ferries break the stages, so the timetable is part of the planning.
1,075 kmMulti day tour
- Cycling
Rügen-Rundweg
A loop around Germany's largest island that shows all of its faces: chalk cliffs in the east, shallow lagoons in the west, seaside resorts with white villas in between. The going is mostly flat. On Jasmund the route climbs onto the moraine hills above the chalk cliffs, and the climb near Sassnitz continues for several kilometres. With time to spare, take the detour to Hiddensee.
264.1 kmLoop tourMulti day tour
- Cycling
Mönchsweg von Glückstadt nach Puttgarden
The route follows the monks who travelled from Bremen into Slavic eastern Holstein in the twelfth century. It links more than a hundred churches, chapels and monasteries of fieldstone and brick, many of them accessible in daytime during the summer half of the year, and runs mostly through flat inland country before reaching the coast in eastern Holstein. It rides pleasantly, with long stretches on quiet, mostly paved back roads.
341.3 kmMulti day tour
- Canoeing
Wasserwanderweg Schwentine
The Schwentine links the lakes of Holstein Switzerland with the Kiel fjord, and you paddle across open water and, in between, along river stretches in the shade of old beeches. The water runs calmly; the current helps without pushing. Several mills require a portage, and there are landing places everywhere.
53.9 km
- Canoeing
Wasserwanderweg Untereider
The lower Eider is wide and slow and, between Rendsburg and the Nordfeld weir, free of tides; the current is so weak that you can paddle in either direction. The banks are flat and open, with reeds, dykes and a great deal of sky. Seals show themselves in the tidal Eider below the Nordfeld weir.
76.9 kmMulti day tour
Tours: © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL. Lengths computed from the mapped course, as of September 12, 2026.
Animals you can meet here
September to OctoberCommon crane
At times more than 70,000 cranes rest in the shallow bodden waters south of Darß and Zingst in autumn, one of the most important staging areas in central Europe. The evening is the moment: they come in from the fields to roost in the shallows.
all yearGrey seal
The largest predator in the Baltic had almost gone from these waters and has been back since the nineties. The animals haul out to rest on the sandbanks off Rügen and around the Greifswalder Oie, visible with a bit of luck from an excursion boat.
all yearWhite-tailed eagle
With a wingspan of over two metres it is hard to mistake. The north east holds the largest population in Germany, and over the lakes and lagoons one is usually in the air once you have watched for a while.
October to MayBarnacle goose
Barnacle geese graze mostly on inland grassland all winter, then in spring move onto the salt marshes and feed up for the flight to the Arctic. In the Wadden Sea they gather in tens of thousands, in smaller flocks on the Baltic coast, and when a flock lifts off you hear it before you see it.
Pictures: Freepik
What to check before booking
- Is it heated and insulated?
- There are worlds between a summer model and a house built for the whole year, and from the outside you can hardly tell. Anyone booking outside the warm months asks about heating and windows, and whether the site is open at all by then.
- How old is the house?
- Mobile homes stay on their pitch for many years. Layout, windows and insulation have changed a great deal in that time. The year of manufacture often says more than the description.
- What is the terrace like?
- An open wooden deck, a roofed veranda or a closed porch, all of it occurs. In summer you sit out there more than inside. A look at size and shade is worth it.
- Where does it stand on the site?
- On the edge with a clear view or in the middle of a row, that is a wide difference. The site map shows it faster than the text does. Ask as well how far it is to the car and to the entrance.
- What do you need to bring?
- Bed linen and towels are not included everywhere. Some hosts lay them out, others rent them, and with others again you pack your own.
Who it suits
Made for
Families and groups who want the campsite without pitching a tent. For a first camping holiday it works particularly well, because bathroom and kitchen are already there. Anyone travelling with children has short ways to everything that happens on the site.
Less so for
Anyone looking for quiet and distance is rarely in the right place. Mobile homes usually stand close together, and light construction muffles less than a stone wall does. The floor also sits above the ground, so steps lead up to the door.
Where it comes from
The mobile home descends from the American travel trailer. As long as the units were towed behind a car they stayed narrow, about two and a half metres. In 1954 the industry built the first ones a good three metres wide, which only a truck could move, and called them mobile homes. The type reached Europe by way of Britain, where static caravans had stood on holiday parks since the 1930s; it came to campsites in France and further south in the 1970s.
Good to know
Mobile does not mean drivable
The chassis is not licensed for the road. The house arrives once on a low loader and then stays where it stands.
The door is a step up
The floor rests on the chassis and therefore sits above the ground. If walking is difficult, ask how many steps there are or whether a ramp exists.
Dogs only by arrangement
Rental accommodation often follows different rules than the tent field. Whether the dog may come inside is stated in the listing or settled beforehand.
Getting there
- 2 h 45 minBerlin
- 3 h 10 minHamburg
- 5 h 00 minLeipzig
- 7 h 15 minKöln
- 7 h 15 minFrankfurt am Main
- 8 h 15 minMünchen
Good to know
Fishing on a holiday permit
Fishing on the Baltic requires a licence. Without an exam it works with the Touristenfischereischein in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and the Urlauberfischereischein in Schleswig-Holstein, both valid for 28 days. In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern the coastal waters need a separate permit as well.
Dogs on the beach
Every municipality sets its own rules. In Schleswig-Holstein dogs are only allowed on general beaches from 1 November, before that on designated dog beaches only. On the mainland coast of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern the usual window is 1 November to 30 April.
Nesting season
From April to mid-July dogs must be leashed almost everywhere. Near protected areas this is worth taking seriously: disturbing a nesting site carries substantial fines.
Bridges to Usedom
Both approaches open for shipping. The Peene bridge at Wolgast at 5:45, 7:45, 12:45, 17:45 and 20:45, closing the road for up to 30 minutes. The Zecherin bridge at 5:45, 8:45, 12:45, 16:45 and 20:45, up to 20 minutes.
Getting to Ruegen
The B 96 bridge stands 42 metres above the water and never opens. The older Ruegendamm does, several times a day for around 20 minutes. If you are stuck there, the ferry from Stahlbrode to Glewitz is the way round.
Fire and wild camping
Open fires are banned on the beach and in the coastal forest, tolerated only at marked fire pits. Sleeping outside a campsite is prohibited in both states, and in the national park so is leaving the paths.
Protected landscapes
- National park
- JasmundVorpommersche Boddenlandschaft
Names and boundaries: © OpenStreetMap contributors.
