Jasmund National Park & Chalk coast - UNESCO
Germany’s smallest national park is home to ancient beech forests. These are of such outstanding importance that UNESCO declared them to be a World Heritage Site. The national park is crowned by gleaming white chalk cliffs. The Koenigsstuhl (King’s Chair) belongs to its most famous sections and is the ultimate tourist attraction. The cliffs reach up 384 ft (117 m) about the sea level and are speckled with fossils. The observation deck offers a view of the peninsula that enchants all who venture to the north eastern tip of Germany.
Cape Arkona - at the northern tip of the island
Just a few miles north of the Jasmund National Park, a 45 metre high cape forms the tip of the Wittow peninsula. Take a stroll through the ages and explore the remains of a Slavic fortress from the 12th century, the listed fishing village Vitt and two over 100 years old lighthouses next to the former naval command bunker complex from the GDR times.
The “New Lighthouse” is still active today and offers visitors a stunning view of the protected landscape. Experience the regional craftsmanship settled on the Rügenhof and around the lighthouses.
Glamorous seaside resorts
With 33 miles of white sandy beaches, Rügen became a hip getaway for nature starved Berliners. It actually looksback on a long and storied tradition as a holiday destination. Numerous white villas and guest houses constructed in Art Nouveau beautify the most popular Baltic Sea resorts
Binz and Sellin. The long sandy beaches with its resort architecture along the promenades lure to take a stroll or hunker down inone of typical, canopied beach wicker chairs and enjoy the maritime atmosphere.
Tree top walk at Rügen Natural Heritage Center
Experience nature from another perspective! A 1,250-metre-long treetop walk takes guests through the forest canopy on a route packed with information and adventure stations. Highligt is the Eagle’s Nest, a viewing platform situated 40 metres above the ground offering fantastic views over the island, the Kleiner JasmunderBodden(lagoon) and the Baltic Sea. Previously a restricted military area, the grounds are now home to numerous endangered plant and animal species.
The Royal Town Putbus
When Prince Wilhelm Malte I founded the city, he created a unique urban combination of architecture, art and landscape. Still today, the ensemble of classical white houses around the circus, the former palace gardens with its church, royal stable house and orangery give Putbus its unique look. Due to more than 700 representative rosebushes Putbus had been given the nickname “Rose City”.
Racing Roland – steaming experience between seaside resorts
For over a hundred years, the narrow-gauge railway “Racing Roland” has been driving in the scenic south-east of Rügen. The train “races” steam-powered with a top speed of 18 mi/h connecting the former residence town of Putbus with the Baltic seaside resorts of Binz, Sellin, Baabe and Göhren.
Hunting Chateau Granitz - a jewel in the middle of the biosphere reserve
A grandiose hunting palace built in 1723 on top of the 107m high Tempelberg was significantly enlarged andaltered by Wilhelm Malte I, Prince of Putbus, in 1837. It still houses an impressive collection of trophies and prestigious salons. The main attraction is the spiral staircase in the middle tower made out of cast iron. With 154 steps it leads up to the 38 m high tower. The viewing platform offers a picturesque panoramic view over the island.
Hanseatic City of Stralsund - UNESCO
The Hanseatic City of Stralsund is known as “Gateway to Rügen”. The island and the mainland city are connected by Rügen dam and Rügen bridge. The historic centre of Stralsund is on an island surrounded by the Strela Sound and the ponds dammed in the 13th century. As a member of the Hanseatic League, Stralsund was one of the major trading centres in 14th and 15th century.
In the 17th and the 18th centuries the town became major administrative and defence centre within the Swedish kingdom, contributing to the development of military art and integrating another layer of cultural influences.
For the centuries, Stralsund’s citizens have preserved a unique cultural treasure that was finally included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2002. Stralsund’s Town Hall fashioned in north-German redbrick Gothic and also the St. Nicholas Church are among the most impressive buildings from centuries past. The warehouses, the OZEANEUM and the marina all make the harbour a popular attraction for tourists and residents alike.
Ozeaneum Stralsund - the world of the northern seas
Experience a unique underwater journey with 45 aquaria about the northern seas and five interesting exhibitions in OZEANEUM Stralsund. Especially the schooling fish basin and the exhibition “1:1 Giants of the Seas” with life-size whale models will fascinate you. The Humboldt penguins on the roof terrace are one of the visitors’ favorites. The OzeaneumMuseum in Stralsund was announced as the winner of the European Museum of the Year Award for 2010.
Classic Car & Military Museum
The Oldtimer Museum Rügen is a unique classic car museum offering a tour through 40 years of divided German automotive history from 1949 to 1989. The East-West comparison presents over 80 typified passenger cars and their special features.
The NVA-Museum Rügen
invites you to a military-technical time travel into one of the most exciting epochs of the recent past. In the times of the Cold War the NVA, the National People’s Army of the GDR, was one of the best equipped armies of the Eastern Bloc with thousands of tanks, airplanes and many other vehicles. Only a few examples of the robust vehicles are still preserved in Germany. Some of them can be marvelled today in the NVA-Museum Rügen at Prora.
Prora - a place oozing with suppressed history
The beach just north of Binz still bears testament to Nazi plans to create the world’s largest resort. The 4.5-kilometre-long megastructure at Prora was originally designed as a national socialist holiday camp between 1936 and 1939 to accommodate 20,000 holidaymakers. Designed by architect Clemens Klotz, due to its high architectural quality, the 15-metre-long Prora model was awarded the Gran Prix at the World Exhibition in Paris.The outbreak of WWII stopped its completion. The locals think of Prora more in terms of its use as a soldier training camp during the Cold War rather than as part of Hitler’s holiday plans. For decades the area located on one of Rügen’s finest beaches, close to the famous Baltic seaside resort Binz, was a restricted military area. Today, it hosts education, documentation and research centre, museum, youth hostel as well as luxury flats.
The Peenemünde Historical Technical Museum
From 1936 to 1945, the research stations in Peenemünde formed the largest armaments centre in Europe. Over an area of 25km², up to 12,000 people worked simultaneously on guided weapons, most famously the world’s first cruise missiles and the first ever functioning large-scale rockets. Both were designed as a weapon of terror against the civil population, made mostly by forced labourers and from 1944 they began to be used in the Second World War as “Vergeltungswaffen” (V-weapons). The exhibitions document who worked in Peenemünde, how the people lived and why the enormously elaborate weaponry projects were carried out.