Activities in Eastern Germany - Germany is Wunderbar

Germany’s oldest and smartest seaside hotel

The Grand Hotel Heiligendamm, first built in 1793, quickly became a spa retreat for the aristocracy of central Europe. But it has been a struggle to keep in going in modern times.

Chemnitz comes in from the cold

In the early 20th century it was the wealthiest city in all Germany, and during the Communist period it was one of the four big hitters of the GDR (German Democratic Republic). Today, the other three – Berlin, Dresden and Leipzig – have all moved on, but Chemnitz has lagged behind.

Germany Holidays: Prora, a giant resort with a dark past

Built by the Nazis as a giant holiday resort for the masses, Prora on Germany’s Baltic coast has recently been reborn as a complex of upmarket apartments and hotels

Germany Holidays: Checkpoint Alpha

Everyone knows Checkpoint Charlie, in Berlin, but Checkpoint Alpha in Helmstedt was far more active – and a lot of it is still there, as a memorial to the internal border between West and East.

Germany Holidays: Schwerin, a gem in the east

Left alone by the industrial development of the former East, Schwerin and its castle have recaptured their ducal majesty since Reunification

Germany Holidays: The real Santa’s workshop

Seiffen, a former mining village in the Ore Mountains south of Dresden, has around 130 workshops making traditional wooden figures and decorations for Christmas shops and markets

Germany Holidays: Mecklenburg’s live-aboard waterways

A little-known world of lakes and waterways lies pillowed in rolling agricultural land north of Berlin. A bit of adventure, a bit of history, and a lot of nature.