A Long Weekend in Rügen Island, Germany

For our "big trip" in July, we went to Rügen Island on the Northern coast of Germany. I will refer to it as the "Cape Cod of Germany." There are many different resort-style towns on the island. We stayed in one of the more affordable ones called Binz. I met up with Mr. E at the Frankfurt International Airport, where he disembarked and we embarked on our 55-minute flight to Berlin on Lufthansa. It was so easy, that I can image we will fly to different places in Germany in the future if we don't have the time to take the train. 

From Berlin Tegel airport, we took a bus to the Berlin train station, where we hopped on a nice train that took us all the way to Binz. We hung out in the bar cart and had a wonderful time. After we arrived, it was a ten-minute walk to our spa hotel, where we were greeted with a spread of fresh fruit and champagne in our room. We were also given beach towels, robes and slippers (for the spa). The downside of the room was a lack of air conditioning, but we made do. 

We were some of the youngest people in our hotel. With our room, we were able to access the spa, which had six different saunas and three different indoor pools. It was incredibly relaxing, and the saunas were nice after a long day of biking and drinking. I definitely miss being able to go to the sauna everyday. We went to the sauna the first day, and slept very well. 

The next morning, we walked out towards the beach. To the left, was the FKK beach (clothing-free) and to the right was the textile beach, so we headed to the right and didn't look back. The beach is beautiful, with soft white sand. The water is about the temperature of the Med, so we were fine with swimming there. It's definitely a shock to the system when you're used to the warm Gulf waters. 






We rented bikes from Pauli's Radshop in Binz, and it was an easy and inexpensive experience. You can easily ride your bike all over Rügen Island, so you can see much more than just on your feet. Next time, I'd pay the money for the E-bike, so we can cover even more ground. From Binz, we rode to Sellin. It's a beautiful resort town, with a precious pier (see below). 

Sellin Pier
Sellin Beach
The next day, we decided to ride our bikes to Prora. Prora is known in this area because it is where the Nazis built one of the largest hotels in the world. It was built between 1936 and 1939 as part of the "Strength through Joy" program. The system of 8 buildings were able to house 20,000 vacationers, though nobody ever holidayed in this hotel. The buildings remained derelict until 2008, when a portion was bought, and now each of the buildings are slowly being bought and redeveloped. Here is an article about the site, with an aerial picture of the entire complex.






Our last day in Binz was the Fourth of July. We were most likely the only Americans on the island, and we celebrated by walking up and down the beach and getting a cocktail at one of the well-placed beach bars sprinkled along the strand. At the end of the day, we turned our bikes back in and walked the 20-minute walk back to our spa hotel.



One of the beach bars


Famous converted Life Guard Station


One of the ferries that comes from Sassnitz 













Overall, it was a great experience and I would not hesitate to go back. Being a holiday location for people from Sweden, Finland, Russia, the common tongue was English. Though, we didn't encounter any other Americans the entire time we were there. We were only able to visit 3 towns, and I would like to return to see Sassnitz and the chalk cliffs of Jasmund National Park. Rügen Island has a lot of character, from the cute beach chairs to the charming statues situated all around the strand.








Location: Binz, Germany

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