Known as the 'Queen of the Hanse', this former Hanseatic port, once the largest in Germany, was heavily damaged during WW2 but has since been meticulously restored. A history of literary culture (notably Gunter Grass and Thomas Mann) gives the city a refined air - a great place to come in summer for open air coffee shop culture and classical music concerts. The Schleswig-Holstein classical music festival runs here throughout August. It's also a great jumping off point for visiting the idyllic Schleswig-Holstein countryside, peppered with fine country estates, castles, and laid back baltic beach resorts such as Hohwacht.

Don't miss a visit to the reconstructed Marienkirche, destroyed in 1942. During the raid by the RAF the huge bells crashed down to the floor, where they remain today where they fell, a mass of twisted metal. Nearby is the famous nail cross of Coventry, made from salvaged metal from Coventry Cathedral, destroyed by the Luftwaffe. A moving twin monument to the war.

Written by  James Dunford Wood.

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