Kiel Germany

[Sujormik]

Hi, we have a stop in Kiel, Germany in June and I’m trying to determine what sort of excursion to join or create.  Some go to Hamburg, others go to Lubeck.  Any suggestions on resources to decide which place we might prefer? Trip advisor not much help.  Thanks!

[AnhaltER1960]

3 hours ago, Sujormik said:

Hi, we have a stop in Kiel, Germany in June (...)

Of course it depends a bit, how long you will be in port. The terminal in Kiel is quite centrally in town, as is the central railway station. So either Hamburg or Lübeck are a bit over an hour away by local trains, which run hourly. Schlewsig-Holstein-Ticket gives you unlimited rides on trains in the states of Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg an Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, also (almost) all public transport in Hamburg. Theyre 28 Euro for one person plus 4 Euro for additional persons up to five (44 Euro then).

 

Hamburg /Lübeck are very different in character. While Hamburg is a million-city with large harbour and a wide choice of museums, well worth more than a couple hours, Lübeck is a fairly compact historical (though in parts rebuilt after the war) trade city on the baltic sea, cosier than Hanburg, more walkable. So this choice is a matter of your personal interests.

 

Also consider Kiel itself. Though not much historical buildings left in Kiel, the centre is fairly compact and walkable with a wide variety of shops and an interesting marine museum. It is located at the head of a firth ("Kieler Förde"), which allows some sailing on local ferries, eg. to the seaside resort of Laboe with attractive doonthewatter-atmo. Also a u-boat museum there with a visitable WWII-uboat. There are also the locks of the Kiel Channel with surprisingly big ships coming from or sailing inland. Cycleways on either side, so hiring a bike and watch those ships rolling through contryside also gives a nice day out in fine weather.

[ski ww]

If you are into Naval history I would highly recommend the u-boat museum, I've been there and it's an eye opening experience.  

[Sujormik]

6 hours ago, AnhaltER1960 said:

Of course it depends a bit, how long you will be in port. The terminal in Kiel is quite centrally in town, as is the central railway station. So either Hamburg or Lübeck are a bit over an hour away by local trains, which run hourly. Schlewsig-Holstein-Ticket gives you unlimited rides on trains in the states of Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg an Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, also (almost) all public transport in Hamburg. Theyre 28 Euro for one person plus 4 Euro for additional persons up to five (44 Euro then).

 

Hamburg /Lübeck are very different in character. While Hamburg is a million-city with large harbour and a wide choice of museums, well worth more than a couple hours, Lübeck is a fairly compact historical (though in parts rebuilt after the war) trade city on the baltic sea, cosier than Hanburg, more walkable. So this choice is a matter of your personal interests.

 

Also consider Kiel itself. Though not much historical buildings left in Kiel, the centre is fairly compact and walkable with a wide variety of shops and an interesting marine museum. It is located at the head of a firth ("Kieler Förde"), which allows some sailing on local ferries, eg. to the seaside resort of Laboe with attractive doonthewatter-atmo. Also a u-boat museum there with a visitable WWII-uboat. There are also the locks of the Kiel Channel with surprisingly big ships coming from or sailing inland. Cycleways on either side, so hiring a bike and watch those ships rolling through contryside also gives a nice day out in fine weather.

THANK YOU. This is great information and I truly appreciate the time you took to write it out!  

[cmph]

On 3/16/2023 at 10:18 PM, Sujormik said:

Hi, we have a stop in Kiel, Germany in June and I’m trying to determine what sort of excursion to join or create.  Some go to Hamburg, others go to Lubeck.  Any suggestions on resources to decide which place we might prefer? Trip advisor not much help.  Thanks!

We have a Kiel stop in June, too. We decided to do OYO via train, b/c Norwegian's shuttle costs were ridiculous and it gives us flexibility. They really didn't offer much for Kiel - just a couple options for guided tours, plus the 2 shuttles. 

 

Depending on your family's preferences, Hamburg is the better choice for museums. My teens think most museums are boring though, and we didn't have any "must-sees" in either Hamburg or Lubeck. 

 

We decided on Lubeck over Hamburg, b/c it's going to be much easier touring. We have a decent amount of time in port, but with Hamburg, we'd have to travel around a bunch within the city to see various sites. It's not that we're uncomfortable taking mass transit, but I don't want to waste half the day taking trains around. With Lubeck, we're walking from the train station to all the things we want to see, which are all easy walking distance to each other; short list is Holstentor gate, Rathaus, St. Mary’s, Niederegger Café, St. Petri.

 

Oh, and in terms of resources - my starting points were various cruise lines' excursions plus a couple other excursion sites' tours. I used those to build a list of the major attractions that might interest my family. I used google maps to build sample walking tours to give everyone an idea of the length of time, in comparison to the guided tours I used for inspiration. 

[Sujormik]

5 hours ago, cmph said:

We have a Kiel stop in June, too. We decided to do OYO via train, b/c Norwegian's shuttle costs were ridiculous and it gives us flexibility. They really didn't offer much for Kiel - just a couple options for guided tours, plus the 2 shuttles. 

 

Depending on your family's preferences, Hamburg is the better choice for museums. My teens think most museums are boring though, and we didn't have any "must-sees" in either Hamburg or Lubeck. 

 

We decided on Lubeck over Hamburg, b/c it's going to be much easier touring. We have a decent amount of time in port, but with Hamburg, we'd have to travel around a bunch within the city to see various sites. It's not that we're uncomfortable taking mass transit, but I don't want to waste half the day taking trains around. With Lubeck, we're walking from the train station to all the things we want to see, which are all easy walking distance to each other; short list is Holstentor gate, Rathaus, St. Mary’s, Niederegger Café, St. Petri.

 

Oh, and in terms of resources - my starting points were various cruise lines' excursions plus a couple other excursion sites' tours. I used those to build a list of the major attractions that might interest my family. I used google maps to build sample walking tours to give everyone an idea of the length of time, in comparison to the guided tours I used for inspiration. 

Thank you, we are leaning towards Lubeck also. I admit the trains make me a little nervous.  But my husband doesn’t like museums and there’s a Jewish component in Lubeck we are interested in.  I appreciate your reply.

[sailawaybellaluna]

Hello, we are also going to be in Kiel in June on board the Holland America Nieuw Statendam. We've visited Hamburg before and are considering Lubeck. May I ask what you have found in terms of the best train journeys and where you are booking through?

[cmph]

13 hours ago, sailawaybellaluna said:

Hello, we are also going to be in Kiel in June on board the Holland America Nieuw Statendam. We've visited Hamburg before and are considering Lubeck. May I ask what you have found in terms of the best train journeys and where you are booking through?

Hi! I'm not sure if this question was for me? We are not booking an excursion. We are just going to buy regular train tickets. You can get an idea of pricing here: https://www.bahn.com/en. (NCL's bus is a ridiculous $129 pp, roundtrip, in comparison!) It's a direct trip, no transfers. Put in Kiel Hbf to Lubeck Hbf. My short list of places to see in Lubeck is walking distance from Lubeck Hbf.

 

FWIW - we are American, so train travel is not our norm in the US where we live; I understand completely if that is outside of your norm. Train travel between cities is very easy in Germany, so it's kind of like buying metro tickets in major US cities (if that makes sense). 

 

 

 

 

[sailawaybellaluna]

1 hour ago, cmph said:

Hi! I'm not sure if this question was for me? We are not booking an excursion. We are just going to buy regular train tickets. You can get an idea of pricing here: https://www.bahn.com/en. (NCL's bus is a ridiculous $129 pp, roundtrip, in comparison!) It's a direct trip, no transfers. Put in Kiel Hbf to Lubeck Hbf. My short list of places to see in Lubeck is walking distance from Lubeck Hbf.

 

FWIW - we are American, so train travel is not our norm in the US where we live; I understand completely if that is outside of your norm. Train travel between cities is very easy in Germany, so it's kind of like buying metro tickets in major US cities (if that makes sense). 

 

 

 

 

Thanks so much for the website! The Holland American excursion prices to Lubeck are also quite ridiculous! 

 

Curious, were you able to book a roundtrip journey between Kiel and Lubeck? It gives me the option to search for roundtrip but doesn't show availability and let me reserve a specific time. When I search as separate one-way journeys, then I can reserve? Hmm... We are only in Kiel from 8am - 4pm, so I'm hoping this plan isn't too aggressive...

[cmph]

40 minutes ago, sailawaybellaluna said:

Thanks so much for the website! The Holland American excursion prices to Lubeck are also quite ridiculous! 

 

Curious, were you able to book a roundtrip journey between Kiel and Lubeck? It gives me the option to search for roundtrip but doesn't show availability and let me reserve a specific time. When I search as separate one-way journeys, then I can reserve? Hmm... We are only in Kiel from 8am - 4pm, so I'm hoping this plan isn't too aggressive...

I guess that makes me feel slightly better that it's not just NCL overcharging lol. 

 

I did not attempt to buy roundtrip tickets. However, I did see that if you start to enter details, it should pop up with a way to book the return trip too. It's sort of greyish text, under the date, so it's easy to miss. I did this for near-future dates, just to get an idea of pricing. Definitely make sure to view the details to confirm you are booking direct travel. We'll probably just use the app for day-of purchasing. It says that you can do it as late as 10min after departure. 

[Sujormik]

On 3/26/2023 at 11:53 PM, sailawaybellaluna said:

Hello, we are also going to be in Kiel in June on board the Holland America Nieuw Statendam. We've visited Hamburg before and are considering Lubeck. May I ask what you have found in terms of the best train journeys and where you are booking through?

Sorry for late reply, is this for me? We are on Oceania and we’re looking at a Get Your Guide tour so Jewish Lubeck.  They’re unable to provide transport so we’d have to take the train without a guide, not sure I want to try that in a language I don’t speak!

 

[Sujormik]

Here’s a new option, curious what y’all think.  We can use one of our “free” (really just included) excursions to take the bus to a Lubeck from Kiel and then sign up for our tour there once we arrive.  But if it’s really that easy to take the train from Kiel, the costs saving might make it worthwhile to try it.  Then use our “free” excursion later in the trip.
 

The timing of the trains may actually be more favorable and give us more time in Lubeck, but I’m always so nervous about complications and missing the ship departure. Advice?

[gnome12]

19 minutes ago, Sujormik said:

Sorry for late reply, is this for me? We are on Oceania and we’re looking at a Get Your Guide tour so Jewish Lubeck.  They’re unable to provide transport so we’d have to take the train without a guide, not sure I want to try that in a language I don’t speak!

 

Train ticketing machines in Germany give you the option of switching to English (and presumably other languages). You can also use the Deutsche Bahn app in English to purchase tickets in advance, or the website bahn.com.

Edited March 30, 2023 by gnome12

[Sujormik]

19 minutes ago, gnome12 said:

Train ticketing machines in Germany give you the option of switching to English (and presumably other languages). You can also use the Deutsche Bahn app in English to purchase tickets in advance, or the website bahn.com.

Sorry to be a pain, I’m so grateful for your guidance!  I’m looking at the Bahn site.  It will show me times from Kiel to Lubeck, but I cannot select one, nor can I get the return Lubeck to Kiel to show up.  Any suggestions for navigating this? $80 rt for 2 is a bargain compared to the $300 to take the bus from the ship.

[cmph]

4 minutes ago, Sujormik said:

Sorry to be a pain, I’m so grateful for your guidance!  I’m looking at the Bahn site.  It will show me times from Kiel to Lubeck, but I cannot select one, nor can I get the return Lubeck to Kiel to show up.  Any suggestions for navigating this? $80 rt for 2 is a bargain compared to the $300 to take the bus from the ship.

OH hey!! Are you on Chrome? I realized that it works perfectly fine/differently in Firefox. So I think it might be a browser issue!

[cmph]

@Sujormik just took a quick screenshot to show you what I mean. On Firefox, you can actually get to that red shopping cart button. That definitely never showed up on Chrome, but I wasn't really digging too deeply since the pricing was all I was interested at the time.

 

[Sujormik]

1 minute ago, cmph said:

@Sujormik just took a quick screenshot to show you what I mean. On Firefox, you can actually get to that red shopping cart button. That definitely never showed up on Chrome, but I wasn't really digging too deeply since the pricing was all I was interested at the time.

 

Thank you! I’m actually on my iPad, I rarely use the laptop at all any more!  I should really sleep but these things run through my head all night and I can’t relax!  I do appreciate it.❤️

[lucas34]

Hi all...I was looking a cruise that will end to Kiel can anyone give me ideas how to travel from Kiel to Hamburg airport? If the ship arrives at 07h it the 12 o´clock flight OK?

How is Kiel as a town? I have many nice memories from Travemunde, Lubeck and Hamburg...

[sailawaybellaluna]

18 hours ago, cmph said:

@Sujormik just took a quick screenshot to show you what I mean. On Firefox, you can actually get to that red shopping cart button. That definitely never showed up on Chrome, but I wasn't really digging too deeply since the pricing was all I was interested at the time.

 

Thank you for sharing this! I thought I was losing my mind! I was in fact using Chrome as well!

[cmph]

3 hours ago, sailawaybellaluna said:

Thank you for sharing this! I thought I was losing my mind! I was in fact using Chrome as well!

I don't know what it is about Chrome sometimes! I prefer using it, but there are a handful of sites that just won't work there. The only reason it even occurred to me was b/c I just bought shoes a few days ago on a site that wouldn't work in Chrome. T

 

he app seems like the way to go, though - at least if you are ok with on-the-fly planning (which is our preference in this case).

[14ersco]

On the bahn.com site there are also regional options available (see post #2)  The cost is 28 Euro for the first passengers and each additional passenger (up to 5 total) are 4 Euro each.  For Lubeck it is Schleswig-Holstein Kleingruppenkarte day pass: https://www.bahn.com/en/offers/regional/regional-day-tickets

This allows you to take almost any train to your destination (see website for restrictions, potentially the ICE trains).  If you before you go download onto your mobile an offline map from Google maps for the area of interest, plus add favorites for the stations. I have in the past been given a list of all upcoming trains or use the bahn app.  In our previous land trips in various parts of Europe bahn.com was releasing timetables about 2 months out.  So we are waiting until next week to book our regional passes for Kiel and Warnemunde for our late June cruise.

[tony s]

Question as we are on NCL in August and plan to do on our own from Kiel to Hamburg. How far is train station from where ship docks? As I saw the ridiculous price for Kiel to Hamburg shuttle. We plan to do a free walking tour and hit Groningers Brewery for lunch. Language is not issue for me. Is it realistic to do Hamburg and be back before 6pm

[cmph]

23 minutes ago, tony s said:

Question as we are on NCL in August and plan to do on our own from Kiel to Hamburg. How far is train station from where ship docks? As I saw the ridiculous price for Kiel to Hamburg shuttle. We plan to do a free walking tour and hit Groningers Brewery for lunch. Language is not issue for me. Is it realistic to do Hamburg and be back before 6pm

Looks like it's a little over 20min walk, or a super-short taxi ride. The Kiel port site shows the Dawn at Cruise Terminal Ostseekai for both your date and mine https://www.portofkiel.com/files/pok/Downloads/Kreuzfahrerlisten/Kreuzfahrtliste.pdf

 

Google maps shows convenient bus and ferry options, as well, but I'm not sure they would save any time. They would, however, save on whining from teenagers! I'm not sure they're cost-effective for 4 of us though, vs. sharing a single cab, though.