Vacation Apartments on the Baltic Sea
The resort architecture that began at Heiligendamm in 1793 and later shaped Binz, Sellin, Ahlbeck and Kühlungsborn left this coast with houses full of balconies and verandas, and such houses divide up well. That is exactly what happened, and since the 1990s new buildings in the same style have gone up beside them. On the Bodden side and in the villages of Fischland and Darss, a vacation apartment is more likely to sit inside one of the thatched houses whose carved doors give Born and Prerow their look. In the fishing harbors between Maasholm and Sassnitz the catch is sold and smoked, which settles the question of dinner on a good many days.
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
- What kind of building is it in?
- An old town house in the middle of a city and a purpose built holiday complex at the edge of a village are both called holiday apartments. Whether permanent tenants also live there changes the tone in the stairwell. The map in the listing says more than the title.
- Which floor, and is there a lift?
- Without a lift every suitcase becomes an issue, and under the roof it gets warm in summer. The title rarely says so. The details almost always do.
- Own entrance or shared hallway?
- Some flats have a door of their own to the street, others share the hallway with the neighbours. With tired children that makes a difference.
- Kitchen or kitchenette?
- A kitchenette often means two hotplates and a kettle. A full kitchen has an oven and room to chop. Anyone staying longer studies the photographs.
- Where does the car go?
- A parking space is not automatically part of it. In old towns and spa resorts parking is the scarcest commodity, and the fee for it comes on top of the rent.
- What comes on top of the rent?
- Final cleaning and bed linen are often billed separately, and in many places a visitor levy is added. On a short stay that weighs more heavily.
Who it suits
Made for
Couples and families who stay longer and want to cook. In cities a holiday apartment is often the only way to sleep with children in two separate rooms without taking two hotel rooms. It also suits work stays that run over several weeks.
Less so for
In most buildings there are neighbours, sometimes long term tenants, sometimes other guests. How close they live is not always stated in the listing. Groups who get loud in the evening therefore run into trouble with the other residents, and anyone staying a single night carries the final cleaning for that one night.
Where it comes from
The holiday apartment goes back to the summer retreat. In the nineteenth century city dwellers moved to the countryside for weeks at a time as soon as the railway took them there, and those who could not afford a villa rented from locals. The room in someone else's house later became a self contained flat with a kitchen of its own. Since 1994 the German Tourism Association has awarded stars for them, one to five, according to fittings and service.
Good to know
Stairs are part of it
Many holiday apartments sit on an upper floor, and not every building has a lift. Step free means only what is explicitly advertised as such.
Dogs less often than in a house
In a building with several parties the host rarely decides alone, and the house rules often have something to say about it. Asking before booking is easier than arguing on arrival.
A washing machine is not a given
Some flats have one of their own, other buildings have a shared laundry room. On a longer stay it is worth a look.
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.
