Schleswig-Holstein · Self-guided walk
Lübeck in one walk 8 sights, 60 minutes
A self-guided walking tour of the Lübeck Old Town: 8 sights on one 3.9 km loop, about 60 minutes on foot, back where you started.
No two days to spare? Here is the short version: the big sights in one loop. I would take longer. I always take longer.
At a glance
The walk in numbers.
- Distance
- 3.9 km, a loop
- Time
- about 60 minutes of walking at 4 km/h, plus however long you stop
- Sights
- 8
- Start and finish
- Holstentor
- Steps
- on Holstentor
- Cost
- free: no guide, no booking, no tip
The route
Map of the Lübeck walk: 8 stops, one loop.
The gold line is the walk. The numbers are the stops, in the order you reach them. The pale lines are every other street in the Old Town.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
The stops
8 sights in Lübeck, in walking order.
Each stop says how far the next one is and which streets take you there.
1. Holstentor
the start
A city gate, built from 1464 to 1478 by the city's master builder, Hinrich Helmstede. Over the arch on the field side, a Latin line from 1871 wishes the town unity within and peace without. Stand in front of it for a minute and something starts to look a little odd.
Next: Niederegger, 450 m, about 7 min.
2. Niederegger
about 7 minutes of walking from the start · inside open Mon–Fri 09:00–19:00, Sat 09:00–18:00, Sun 10:00–18:00
On Breite Straße, right across from the Rathaus, in the house the founder bought in 1822. For a rock with my appetite, the shop window is the most dangerous spot in the Old Town. Go up a floor: a few famous faces are waiting for you there, standing very still. Whose faces, I am not telling you.
Next: St.-Marien-Kirche, 100 m, about 2 min, along Breite Straße.
3. St.-Marien-Kirche
about 8 minutes of walking from the start
The highest brick vault in the world, 38.5 metres above the floor, and the mother church of Brick Gothic: around 70 churches around the Baltic Sea were built with it as their model. That much brick, stacked that high. I would not know where to start. The best thing here is not the biggest, though. It is a very small one. I am not telling you what.
Next: Heiligen-Geist-Hospital, 560 m, about 8 min, along Breite Straße, Koberg.
4. Heiligen-Geist-Hospital
about 17 minutes of walking from the start
Slim turrets line the front. Nobody can climb them and they do nothing at all: they are there for looks, which I respect in a building. Behind them stands one of the oldest social institutions in Europe. Inside, a surprise is waiting.
Next: Johannis-der-Täufer-Brunnen, 700 m, about 10 min, along Langer Lohberg, Tünkenhagen, Rosengarten, Bei Sankt Johannis.
5. Johannis-der-Täufer-Brunnen
about 27 minutes of walking from the start
A saint in bronze on shell limestone, standing in a schoolyard. He looks very sure of himself. I have questions.
Next: Museumsquartier Sankt Annen, 470 m, about 7 min, along Bei Sankt Johannis, Schlumacherstraße, Balauerfohr, Sankt-Annen-Straße.
Lunch break
Konvent Café im Aegidienviertel, Sankt-Annen-Straße 1, about 10 m off the route, open Tue–Sun 09:30–18:00, Mon closed.
Breakfast in the shade of the Aegidienkirche. More on what to eat in Lübeck.
6. Museumsquartier Sankt Annen
about 34 minutes of walking from the start
Old walls from 1502, and beside them a modern art hall, built in 2003 on the foundation walls of a church that had stood as a ruin for almost 130 years. New on old, like a fresh lid on an old pie. Somewhere in here is the most precious work of art in the city. I am not telling you what.
Next: Dom, 420 m, about 6 min, along Sankt-Annen-Straße, Fegefeuer.
7. Dom
about 40 minutes of walking from the start
The Dom sits at the southern tip of the Old Town, in what grew up as the cathedral quarter, and the streets on the way there are a good long meal. Why does it stand on exactly this spot? An animal is said to have chosen it. Which animal, I am not telling you.
Next: Malerwinkel, 600 m, about 9 min, along An der Obertrave, Dankwartsbrücke.
8. Malerwinkel
about 49 minutes of walking from the start
A small green across a footbridge from the Old Town, a leftover spur of the old city ramparts. Sit on the bank, look back over the river and chew on the skyline for a while. It is not telling you the whole truth. Neither am I.
Back to the start: Holstentor, 650 m, about 10 min, along Dankwartsbrücke, An der Obertrave.
Every stop counts from the street; the hours are for going inside. Opening hours from OpenStreetMap, © OpenStreetMap contributors. Check before you go.
After the walk
The rest of Lübeck.
This loop is 8 sights. The Old Town is 93 streets, and I have opinions about all of them. Every street of the Lübeck Old Town, with what to eat and where.
Cobble Gobble is a walking game for iPhone: every street is a line of dots you collect by walking it, and the phone stays in your pocket. Your first city is free.