If you are interested in old maritime history and the role of North Germany in sea-based transport and trade for centuries, Kiel is fascinating to visit! Kiel harbour promenade boasts several historic landmarks and memorials commemorating maritime traditions and events, putting their mark on the northernmost city for shipping trade traffic in Germany.

Visit Kiel before your cruise | Photo: Travel In Culture

What are the best things to do in Kiel?
One of the absolute highlights in Kiel is the magical Christmas markets (Weinachtsmarkt) that pop up everywhere in the city in December. The stretch of shopping street (Holstenstrasse) from the retail venue Sophienhof down to Alter Markt and St Nikolai Church is converted into several sections of the Christmas market with culinary Christmas specialities and hot glühwein. So is the Rathausplatz (Landeshauptstadt Kiel Town Hall) bordering the Kleiner Kiel Lake, a lavishly decorated marketplace for the festive season.

Rathausplatz | Photo: Travel In Culture

Photo: Travel In Culture

The Kiel Canal is an artificially dug 98-kilometre-long canal meandering through the landscape of North Germany, established towards the end of the 1800s to link the North Sea to the Baltic Sea. The completion of the project was tremendous progress for the shipping trade as it saved the long journey around Jutland and the narrow straits in Denmark. Still, the canal is well justified, as, on average, 90 cargo ships pass through the waterway daily.

Photo: Travel In Culture

Even if arriving in Kiel, Germany, on a cruise, the Kiel Canal is perfectly reachable on foot from the city centre. A stroll up to Wik at the Kiel Canal along the Kiellinie takes approximately 1,5 hours (a 7-kilometre walk). The walk back can be done more directly and is only 5,5 kilometres. Nevertheless, the Kiellinie is a lovely stroll past multiple places of interest.

Kiel Maritime Museum, former fish auction house (kiel Maritime Museum Fish Market & Museum Bridge) | Photo: Travel In Culture

Begin the itinerary at the old Fish Auction House, now converted into Kiel Maritime Museum (Schifffahrtsmuseum), telling the city’s maritime history. Until 1978, it was a fish auction hall. Outside the museum is a ship’s lighthouse, formerly belonging to the historic Alexander von Humboldt lightship, as well as a museum bridge featuring a rescue boat, a fireboat, and a passenger ship from bygone times.

Kiellinie Promenade museum bridge | Photo: Travel In Culture

Harbour tours depart from the Seegarten Brücke close to the iconic ‘Der Segler’ sculpture (created by Karlheinz Goedtke in 1962) and Kiel cruise terminal at Ostseekai (Kiel Cruise Port).
Shortly after the Schloss Garten and the Langemarck-Denmal monument (the Gefallenen-Ehrenmal der Christian-Albrechts-Universität, erected in memory of 541 students and 17 teachers who died in the First World War), the Kiellinie Promenade starts.

Aquarium Geomar is a small aquarium with an outdoor seal pool visible and accessible from the Kiellinie Promenade. A few hundred meters further, the Landdagsparken, the park of the Schleswig-Holstein state parliament, offers a panoramic view of the fjord. The bathing jetty Badestelle Bellevue is close and is the obvious opportunity for a dip in the (cold) sea (at least in winter for the winter bathers)!

Walk the Kiellinie on your Kiel cruise | Photo: Travel In Culture

Small marinas, yacht clubs, and boat bridges line the coast, supplemented by a beach bar or two! One of the tiny marinas is the Seebad Düsternbrook.

The Marinesoldaten Ehrenmal monument for fallen marine soldiers | Photo: Travel In Culture

A memorial to fallen marine soldiers is the Marinesoldaten Ehrenmal, a cultural landmark originally for soldiers who lost their lives between the First Schleswig War in 1852 and the First World War.

Gorch Fock | Photo: Travel In Culture

Wik, the northern district adjacent to the Kiel Canal, has a ‘sports harbour’ and the historical landmark Gorch Fock, named after the original tall ship of the German Navy (built in 1933 and replaced in 1958). Also, Wik has the Flandernbunker, which is today a local history museum.

Flandernbunker | Photo: Travel In Culture

Continuing through the fascinating Anschar Park (and campus), with remarkable buildings such as Atelierhaus and the house of Anschar Kultur- und Kreativwirtschaft, the route passes by the Petruskirche. As an architectural masterpiece, the church, built in 1905-1907, combines a Neo-Gothic style with Romantic, Renaissance and Art-Nouveau elements.

Petruskirche, Wik | Photo: Travel In Culture

Finally, you will reach the Kiel Canal (Nord-Ostsee-Kanal) and its narrow locks, which most impressively can handle large cargo ships that pass through North Germany. As one of the world’s most frequented, manually dug waterways, the canal is always busy with ships and boats. The 98-kilometre-long direct route between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea saved considerable transportation time and a long detour around the Jutland peninsula when it saw the light of day. It was initiated in 1887 under the emperor Vilhelm I, inaugurated in 1895, and expanded in 1914. Today, it plays a significant role in container traffic to Hamburg Port.

Photo: Travel In Culture

For the return to the centre of Kiel, another shorter option is a more direct walk through the city. Don’t miss the beautiful lakes, surrounded by Ratsdienergarten and Hiroshimapark (with a statue of Otto von Bismarck), Kiel Castle, and the Stadtmuseum Warleberger Hof. The latter is a museum of the city’s history and one of the city’s oldest buildings, dating from 1616.

Photo: Travel In Culture

Finally, before arriving at Townhall Square (Rathausplatz), you will pass by the local landmark and history museum, Kieler Klosterverein.

Dänische Straße | Photo: Travel In Culture

As one of the best and most impressive Christmas markets in North Germany, the Kiel Weinachtsmarkt includes various smaller or larger individual market sections, enchanting the city from the end of November until Christmas.

Kiel Christmas Market at Holstenplatz | Photo: Travel In Culture

The large Christmas market on Holstenplatz spellbinds everyone with its abundance of fairy lights, Christmas decorations, delicious scents of glühwein, punch, sweet Christmas treats, and traditional German hot dishes.

An igloo-like entrance, illuminated spruce trees, a large red deer, and long LED garlands create a unique setting for the Christmas market filled with glühwein stalls and a genuine Christmas atmosphere with Santa Claus walking around. Food stalls supplement the wine and punch, offering a typical German gastronomic experience or Hungarian ‘Langos’, fried bread topped with various ingredients.

Food stalls at the Christmas market Kiel on Holstenplatz | Photo: Travel In Culture

Continuing along Holstenstrasse, another remarkable Christmas market is the one at Asmus-Bremer-Platz, characterised by its fascinating pyramid statue. As the focal point of the square, people gather around it for Christmas cheer and culinary tastings. Evangelic characters are the theme of the four pyramid levels.

Asmus-Bremer-Platz | Photo: Travel In Culture

Photo: Travel In Culture

The Asmus-Bremer-Platz Christmas market is also the perfect place to have grilled sausages (bratwurst) or perhaps delicious ham – accompanied by a mug of glühwein. You pay a deposit for the mug, and then you can refill it around the market.

Glühwein at Asmus-Bremer-Platz – Kiel Germany Christmas Market | Photo: Travel In Culture

The walk continues up to Alter Markt and St Nikolai Church or down to the Boat Harbour (Bootshafen) and the smaller and less crowded (especially in the evening) harbour promenade Christmas market on the other side of Kaistrasse. The maritime setting is beautiful at night, with the lights reflected in the water.

Photo: Travel In Culture

Finally, don’t miss the Rathaus Markt. Again, you will find everything within German culinary specialities for the festive season. Backdropped by the impressive town hall building, the fairytale decorations are a feast for the eyes.

Christmas market, Kiel, Germany | Photo: Travel In Culture

For more inspiration for what to do along the waterways in Germany, you may want to read Explore Moselle Valley on a River Road Trip

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