exploring Bremen & its surrounding areas
You are here: worth seeing in the surroundings
Cuxhaven - a day trip (1/3)
City impressions with the Gaffel Schooner "Hermine," built in 1904
During summer temperatures, many people from Bremen want to go to the water and set off on foot. Many places are reachable within the city itself by foot or bike, and there is even a bit of beach downstream in Brake and on Harriersand, Germany's largest river island. However, many consider the seaside resorts of Cuxhaven as "their home beach."
Buildings from the imperial era just before the turn of the century behind the sea dike in Cuxhaven
The coastal city at the mouth of the Elbe is easily accessible from Bremen by car via the A27, which passes by Bremen and Bremerhaven and ends in Cuxhaven. The train journey with a transfer in Bremerhaven takes a bit longer. However, even in the off-season, Cuxhaven with its seaside resorts is a good destination for an excursion, for example by bike.
The former lightship Elbe 1 in the harbor of Cuxhaven was decommissioned in 1988 after 40 years of service
A small cargo ship has just disappeared from view when another one emerges from the light mist over the North Sea. This time, a real "big boy" is coming along the invisible deep fairway in the otherwise rather flat Wadden Sea. Even at short distances, the stiff breeze swallows all engine noises, so that the steel giant with its thousands of stacked containers seems to glide silently through the water.
The container ship "OOCL Tokyo" passes by headed for Hamburg. The 2007-built ship has a draft of 11 meters and is 323 meters long
While visiting "landlubbers" with their collars turned up against the cool wind show keen interest on the viewing platform of the harbor "Alte Liebe" as the colossus passes quite close to the harbor, locals have long since lost interest in such things unless it's for professional reasons. The freighter continues at full speed past the harbor facilities - a customer for Hamburg - and the large cranes in Cuxhaven's 1997-inaugurated deep-water port remain idle this time. (Want to learn more about passing ships? Then the smartphone app "Vessel Finder" is a tip.)
From the visitor platform in Kiel-Holtenau, you can watch the locking process from the North Sea-Baltic Sea Canal into the Baltic Sea or vice versa
Not every ship that passes Cuxhaven heads for the ports of the major Hanseatic city. Just a few kilometers further inland along the Elbe on the opposite bank at Brunsbüttel lies a brilliant water engineering structure: the start (or endpoint) of the North Sea-Baltic Sea Canal. The 98-kilometer-long waterway, opened in 1914, stretches through Schleswig-Holstein until it flows into the Baltic Sea at Kiel-Holtenau. Ships must pass through two locks to save themselves about 460 kilometers of detour on the world's most heavily trafficked man-made waterway. In Kiel, you can watch the locking process directly.
Best views: open water on one side, the harbor on the other
For many people, Cuxhaven was once a gateway to the world. At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, the port city, like Bremerhaven, was an important stopover for numerous emigrants on their way to the New World. Through the HAPAG halls built between 1900 and 1902, they reached ships that were moored at a private pier and would take them toward a future full of hopes. Exhibitions in the halls inform visitors today about this exodus.
HAPAG Halls
For the steamers on the transatlantic route to New York, a dedicated pier called Steubenhöft was completed in 1913 in Cuxhaven (then still part of Hamburg until 1937), as the ports in the Elbe metropolis were becoming increasingly difficult to reach for the ever-larger ships. Until the early 1970s, you could travel by ship across the Atlantic from here; then air travel became a faster alternative. Since the England ferry to Harwich last departed from the pier in America Harbor in 2005, it is mainly cruise ships that set sail from here with well-paying guests on great voyages to the Baltic or Mediterranean.
Ships in the fishery harbor
Meanwhile, only the stern of the container ship is still visible, and the spectators turn to leave when the organizer of the harbor tour sees his chance to loudly advertise and get one or another as a paying guest onto his comparatively small ship. But the response remains moderate, perhaps also because the weather isn't really exciting right now. We don't feel like it either, neither cruising through the harbors nor sailing with slightly larger ships to the seal banks, let alone to Germany's only high-seas island Heligoland.
Simply patience: those who want to go from Alte Liebe to the fishery harbors pass this drawbridge over the Landwehr Canal on the shortest route and can take a look at a vertical street or the leisure boats in the marina right next door
Before we mount our bikes for our tour through the seaside resorts to Wernerwald, which, by the way, is a curiosity on the german North Sea coast, but more on that later, we take a short trip through the fishery harbor, both the old and the new.
A slowly dying trade: coastal fishing with cutters
New residents have long since moved into the fish halls in the old fishery harbor. While, among other things, fish is still the focus at the Old Fish Kontor, both in sales and tasting, others in the red brick buildings along the harbor basin have nothing to do professionally with marine life, such as the police or the confectionery manufacturer Bahlsen with its outlet.
New life has moved into the former fish halls at the old fishery harbor
The way from the old to the new fishery harbor leads past the Wreck and Fishery Museum Windstärke 10. The name says it all. Do you think Formula 1 races are dangerous? On a fishing cutter, for example, which still leaves the harbor for coastal fishing, there are no monocoques for Captain & Crew, at most life jackets. And otherwise, professional shipping is nothing for people who are not resilient in many ways and sometimes risk their lives.
Evening view through the window into the wreck and fishery museum Windstärke 10. Not Inviting? It's worth it anyway; there are beautiful exhibits and exciting stories
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Map
Further information
Joachim-Ringelnatz-Museum
Südersteinstraße 44
27472 Cuxhaven
Phone: +49 4721 394411
Email: ringelnatz@ewetel.net
www.ringelnatzstiftung.de
Windstärke 10 (Wind Force 10)
Wreck and Fishery Museum Cuxhaven
Ohlroggestraße 1
27472 Cuxhaven
Phone: +49 4721 700-70850
Email: windstaerke10@cuxhaven.de
www.windstaerke10.net
www.cuxhaven.de
https://feuerschiff-elbe1.de
https://hapaghalle-cuxhaven.de
www.dickeberta.de
Trips to Helgoland and Neuwerk
A catamaran to Helgoland departs from Hamborn, with stops in Wedel and Cuxhaven. www.helgoline.de
easide resort ships from Cuxhaven to Helgoland and Neuwerk:: https://www.cassen-eils.de
Trips to the Seal Banks
www.cuxhaven-schifffahrt.com
https://reederei-narg.de
Stade - on the banks of the Schwinge River
Do you know Stade? No? What a shame! Then feel free to read on if you'd like to learn about this smaller Hanseatic city on the Elbe, neighboring the much larger Elbe metropolis of Hamburg. As is often the case, the tourist's gaze doesn't fall on the entire city but rather focuses here on the historic city center and a bit of its surroundings. In our opinion, Stade is a beautiful and worthwhile destination for a short visit or even a few extra days.
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Bremerhaven in general
Bremerhaven was only founded in 1827. To secure Bremen's status as a port city amid the threat of the Weser - Bremens lifeline - silting up, Bremen acquired 342 acres (morgen) of land from the Kingdom of Hanover for 74,000 talers under then-mayor Johann Smidt. About 60 km downstream from Bremen, this land became home to the first urgently needed seaport built by Bremen: the so-called Old Harbor, completed by 1830.
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Bremerhaven - Zoo am Meer (Zoo by the Sea)
In addition to the 19th-century harbor facilities, the Zoo am Meer is the oldest attraction on the site between the Weser River and the pedestrian zone. It opened in 1928 under the name "Tiergrotten." The enclosures house polar bears, seals, penguins, various bird species such as gannets and keas, reptiles like turtles, raccoons, Arctic foxes, pumas, monkeys, and others - almost 50 animal species in total.
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Bremerhaven Havenwelten
Since early 2008, Bremerhaven has not only had a new tallest building but also a new landmark in its Weser-side skyline with the ATLANTIC Hotel SAIL City, which rises 147 meters directly behind the Weserdeich. Architecturally, the structure perfectly embodies a maritime city - it stands like a powerful, rounded ship's superstructure. On the 20th floor, at a height of 77 meters, there is an observation deck (SAIL City) that is also accessible to non-guests.
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German Emigration Center Bremerhaven (Deutsches Auswandererhaus®)
Opened in 2005, the German Emigration Center® vividly and engagingly presents the history of emigration to America across five eras, spanning from 1830 to 1974. In total, 7.2 million people departed from Bremerhaven to seek a new home and build a new life beyond the Atlantic. For its emotionally compelling and historically grounded exhibition, the museum received the European Museum Award in 2007.
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Klimahaus® Bremerhaven 8° Ost
In this futuristic building, visitors embark on a journey along the 8th meridian east, traveling around the globe through all climate zones. Across multiple levels, there is plenty to read, see, hear, and experience sensorially and tactilely about climate and its impact on local nature and human life. Visitors are not limited to being passive observers but are invited to actively engage with numerous exhibits.
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Heligoland - a day trip
Germany's only supposed high-seas island is a destination for thousands of visitors each year, most of whom are day-trippers during the warmer months. And yes, admittedly, Heligoland isn't immediately in Bremen's surrounding area. However, it can be reached as a day trip from Bremerhaven and Cuxhaven - which is why we decided to visit.
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Wilhelmshaven – Seaside City on the Jadebusen
It's hard to imagine Wilhelmshaven without its naval presence, as the city only developed after a naval base was built in the 19th century. Even today, the German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) maintain a large base here with several squadrons. Yet, there is much more to discover in this port city beyond its military significance.
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