Why this ride
149 km from Hamburg to Hamburg, about 2 h 19 of riding. It goes by way of Zone 2: Petrikirche - Dom zu Lübeck, Zone 3: Marienkirche, Hanseatic City of Lübeck and Zone 1: Burgkloster - Aegidienstrasse.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Hamburg day out · Zone 1: Burgkloster - Aegidienstrasse
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 149 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 19
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Scenic road chapters
Baltic Coast Scenic Road
For 1 km this is Baltic Coast Scenic Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it — expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 2 km
- Named road
- Baltic Coast Scenic Road
Baltic Coast Scenic Road
1 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it. Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 1 km
- Named road
- Baltic Coast Scenic Road
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Hamburg
Hamburg opens up to the water. The Elbe runs through the city, the port covers a large chunk of it, and the harbour front is a long working landscape of cranes, container ships, tugs and ferries, with the sound of horns carrying across the water at night. The old warehouse district, the Speicherstadt, is a block of red-brick buildings on oak piles, built in the 1880s and now partly part of a UNESCO listing, with canals running between them and gabled facades reflecting in the water. Next to it, the HafenCity is a modern district whose centrepiece is the Elbphilharmonie, a concert hall in the shape of a glass wave on top of an old warehouse, opened in 2017 after many delays and a scandalous overrun in costs.
Read the complete Hamburg write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Hamburg is where the day begins. Next is Zone 2: Petrikirche - Dom zu Lübeck.
2. Zone 2: Petrikirche - Dom zu Lübeck
Lubeck's old town is a compact island, and Zone 2 is where its religious and civic heart lies. The Petrikirche, the church of St Peter, is a brick Gothic hall church that now serves as an exhibition space, and its tower has a lift that takes you up to a viewing platform with a view over the red roofs, the Trave river and the silhouettes of the other churches. It is the best way to understand the shape of the city, an oval island ringed by water.
Read the complete Zone 2: Petrikirche - Dom zu Lübeck write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Zone 2: Petrikirche - Dom zu Lübeck comes up about 68 km into the recorded legs. Next is Zone 3: Marienkirche.
3. Zone 3: Marienkirche
Walk into the Marienkirche in Lubeck and your neck tips back without any instruction. The nave rises to a brick vault nearly forty metres above the floor, among the highest brick vaults in the world, and the whole church is a statement from the merchants who paid for it, built in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries as the main church of a city that considered itself the equal of any bishop. It became the model for brick Gothic churches all round the Baltic, from Stralsund to Tallinn.
Read the complete Zone 3: Marienkirche write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
At least about 70 km into the recorded legs you reach Zone 3: Marienkirche. Next is Hanseatic City of Lübeck.
4. Hanseatic City of Lübeck
Lubeck was once the queen of the Hanseatic League, the medieval trading network that dominated the Baltic and North Sea. From the twelfth century, merchants here shipped salt from Luneburg, fish from Scandinavia, grain and furs from the east, and the wealth they made went into brick: huge churches, tall gabled houses, warehouses and a city gate that still leans slightly under its own weight. The Holstentor, built in 1478, with its two round towers and sagging central block, has been the symbol of the city ever since.
Read the complete Hanseatic City of Lübeck write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Hanseatic City of Lübeck, about halfway. Next is Zone 1: Burgkloster - Aegidienstrasse.
5. Zone 1: Burgkloster - Aegidienstrasse
Lübeck's old town is an island, wrapped in the arms of the river Trave and its canal, and you cross water to reach almost every part of it. The island was the capital of the Hanseatic League, the trading alliance of north German and Baltic cities that dominated the sea for centuries, and the wealth of those merchants is visible in the seven great church spires that fill the skyline. UNESCO listed the old town in 1987, and unlike many cities, it has the feel of a place still in use rather than a museum.
Read the complete Zone 1: Burgkloster - Aegidienstrasse write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Zone 1: Burgkloster - Aegidienstrasse sits at 79 km, about halfway. Next is back through Hanseatic City of Lübeck.
6. back through Hanseatic City of Lübeck
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hanseatic City of Lübeck write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Hanseatic City of Lübeck comes up about 75 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Zone 3: Marienkirche.
7. back through Zone 3: Marienkirche
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Zone 3: Marienkirche write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 80 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Zone 3: Marienkirche. Next is back through Zone 2: Petrikirche - Dom zu Lübeck.
8. back through Zone 2: Petrikirche - Dom zu Lübeck
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Zone 2: Petrikirche - Dom zu Lübeck write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Zone 2: Petrikirche - Dom zu Lübeck, late in the day. Next is Hamburg.
9. Hamburg
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hamburg write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 149 km.
Leg by leg
Hamburg to Zone 2: Petrikirche - Dom zu Lübeck
Hamburg → Zone 2: Petrikirche - Dom zu Lübeck is 68 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Zone 2: Petrikirche - Dom zu Lübeck to Hamburg
back through Zone 2: Petrikirche - Dom zu Lübeck → Hamburg is 67 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.