Lübeck Splash Bus Amphibious City Tour by Land and Water

The Hanseatic Old Town by road

Lübeck's Old Town sits on an oval island ringed by the Trave and the canal, and the whole island has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987. The splash bus tour starts on the river bank and first climbs into the streets: past the Gothic St. Mary's Church with its twin spires, the Town Hall with its dark glazed brick and arcades, Breite Straße with its shops and the courtyards and passages that hide behind the merchant houses.

From the bus windows you see the everyday Lübeck that boat trips miss: red-brick gables, carved doorways, the narrow lanes leading down to the water and the bakeries selling the marzipan the city is famous for. The captain explains how the Hanseatic League made Lübeck the leading trading city of northern Europe in the Middle Ages and why its merchants built so grandly. The road section lasts around twenty minutes before the bus heads for the ramp.

The Holsten Gate and the salt storehouses

The Holsten Gate is the symbol of Lübeck and one of the most photographed buildings in Germany. Built between 1464 and 1478 as the western gate of the city, it has two round towers with pointed roofs and a Latin inscription wishing harmony within and peace without. Its towers have sunk and tilted on the soft ground over the centuries, which gives it its leaning silhouette.

Next to it stand the salt storehouses, six brick warehouses from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries where salt from Lüneburg was kept before being shipped to the Baltic ports. From the road you see the gate up close; from the water the splash bus gives the view that most visitors never get, with the gate and the storehouses lined up along the Trave. Many visitors ask whether the Holsten Gate is worth visiting inside: it houses a city history museum, and the tour leaves time to walk in afterwards.

The splash and the Trave harbour

The highlight comes when the bus rolls down the ramp and, with a wave over the bow, becomes a boat in the Trave. From here the captain steers along the Untertrave, the old harbour front where Hanseatic cogs once unloaded cloth, furs and salt. Today it is lined with restored warehouses, the museum harbour with historic sailing ships and the promenade where the tour began.

On the water the commentary turns to the port: how the Trave links Lübeck to the Baltic at Travemünde, how the modern harbour moved downstream and what the old cranes and silos along the bank were for. Children usually sit at the front for the splash, so arrive early for a good seat. The river section lasts about forty minutes and is calm, as the Trave here is sheltered and slow-moving.

The seven towers and the bridges

Lübeck is called the city of seven towers after the spires of its five great brick churches: St. Mary's and the Cathedral with two each, and St. Peter's, St. James's and St. Giles's with one. From the water they line up above the roofs in a single view that you cannot get from any street, and the captain tells the story of each: the merchants' church of St. Mary's, the seafarers' church of St. James's and the Cathedral founded in 1173.

The boat passes under and alongside the bridges that tie the island to the mainland, including the old Holsten Bridge by the gate and the swing bridge near the harbour, and glides past the historic houses along the Obertrave. This is the best section for photos of the Lübeck skyline, especially in the afternoon light, so keep your camera ready on the left side for the churches and the right side for the harbour.

The garden district and the Obertrave bank

Around the southern and western edge of the island the Trave runs beside a quieter Lübeck: the painters' corner on the Obertrave, where old houses with gardens come down to the water, and the garden district with its willows, boathouses and small allotments along the far bank. It is the greenest stretch of the tour and a surprise to visitors who know only the brick gates and churches.

The captain uses this calmer section for personal stories of growing up in the city, of floods and winters when the river froze, and of the rowing and sailing clubs that still use the water. The bus then returns to the ramp, climbs out of the river and drives the last few minutes back to the check-in on the Untertrave, where the tour ends after about an hour. From there the Holsten Gate and the Old Town are a short walk away.