Travemünde is where the Trave river reaches the sea, and the ferry view is the best way to take in that moment. A small passenger and vehicle ferry crosses the river mouth to the Priwall peninsula, and from the quay on the town side you can watch it go back and forth, with the lighthouse, the harbour mouth and the open Baltic framing the scene. Across the water lies the Priwall, a long spit of dunes, holiday homes and a small marina, and moored there is the Passat, a steel four-masted barque built in 1911 that once carried grain from Australia and now serves as a museum ship.
The river mouth is a busy place. Large ferries from Scandinavia and the Baltic states dock at the terminal just upstream, and their huge white shapes slide past the beach with surprising quiet. Cargo ships and tankers make their way to Lübeck's port, and sailing yachts dodge between them. In July the town hosts Travemünde Week, one of the great sailing regattas of the Baltic, when hundreds of boats fill the bay and the quays are packed with visitors.
Travemünde belonged to the Hanseatic city of Lübeck for centuries and still does administratively, which explains the Lübeck-style brick buildings and the sense of a town that has always looked outward. The lighthouse, dating from the sixteenth century, is claimed to be the oldest in Germany, and it still stands on the waterfront. The seafront promenade, with its hotels, casino and old pavilion, has the slightly faded air of a nineteenth century resort, and a stroll along it before dinner is a good way to unwind.
Riding in, you come off the long, flat roads of Ostholstein into a town that is often busy, with tourist traffic and ferry queues. The cobbles near the harbour are slippery in the wet, and parking near the ferry can be tight in summer. Travemünde has about fourteen thousand people, so fuel stations, supermarkets, and cafés are all available, and fish rolls and ice cream stands crowd the quay. The ferry itself is short and cheap, and carrying a motorbike across is simple, though queues can build on summer weekends. Bring a windproof layer, since the breeze at the river mouth is brisk even on a warm day.