A small coastal town in Germany’s Schleswig-holstein not far from the border with Denmark, Eckernförde has more than a touch of Danish hygge. Some of the port buildings alongside the creek are painted that rusty red typical of Scandinavian countries, and the narrow cobbled lanes lined with half-timbered fishermen’s cottages look to be straight out of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairytales, particularly where the wooden lifting footbridge spans the narrows in the port.

Not so long ago this was primarily a fishing town, famous for its silver harvest of sprats and herring, which used to be prolific in these parts of the Baltic. A century ago there were as many as 47 smokeries in town, preserving the fish for winter consumption; all but one are now closed, and the one in Gudewerdtstrasse is now a very authentic Alte Fischräucherei museum run by volunteers.

These days Eckernförde is better known as an Ostseebad, a spa resort, which means the beach is thick with Strandkorb beachbasket chairs, including a new line that you can actually stay in overnight. You can see why the place is popular, because the beach itself is three miles of gentle sands, beautifully protected at the back of a sheltered bay, backed by a promenade dotted with little cafes.

Fish food

You can still eat fish here, of course. Notably in the rather unremarkable-looking Meergold restaurant/shop in Jungfernsteig, where good value fish lunches (including herring) are super fresh. For top-end cuisine, Fischdeel (Kattsund 22) is a proper gastronomic experience, with engaging chef Torsten Schott regularly popping out of his kitchen to find out exactly what his customers want.

Some of that fish is still landed in the small port, where you can often buy direct from the fishermen themselves. Otherwise the port often has vintage tall-masted sailing ships berthed here, with the quayside itself backed by newly-developed coffee places and upmarket apartments.

Unlike many a beach resort Eckernförde is a proper town, and whilst a lot of the shops are craft- and gift-oriented for the holiday visitor, it also has all the normal high street activity required to sustain a community outside the holiday seasons. One particular feather in its cap is the annual nature documentary festival ‘Green Screen’, which takes place here every September, when the small town brims over with international film makers and broadcasters.

All in all, it’s a charming mix of Danish and German port-beach-town, and worth seeking out.

You can’t travel across Germany and not be aware of the nation’s sophisticated network of navigable waterways. Top of the list is the Kiel Canal, Europe’s Panama, a largely man-made 98km waterway which slices the head of Denmark from the body of Europe, and saves Baltic shipping a 460km detour in so doing. And while most of the inland shipping in Germany is by barge, the Kiel can accommodate serious boats, although the latest generations of container ships, cruise ships and oil tankers are simply too big to squeeze under the bridges.

Originally called the Kaiser-Wilhelm Canal, and referred to in Germany as the Nord-Ostsee Kanal, the Kiel was partly built for military purposes. During the last years of the 19^th century the newly formed nation was flexing its muscles, commercially as well as militarily, and it saw the distinct advantage of having a passage, through wholly German territory, between the Baltic and the North Sea.

These days it’s an international waterway used by 90-130 ships per day, and it can easily be transited within a day, although particularly big vessels sometimes have to wait in designated sidings before they can proceed. There’s a lock at either end, but there’s not a huge difference between sea-level and canal level; the locks are mainly to defend the canal against the movements of the tides.

The strangest thing of all about the Kiel is the sight of big ships moving serenely across land

Authorities are stern about leisure use – and there’s decidedly no sailing. Big ships have very poor ability to do emergency stops, and travelling through the canal at limited speed they have a limited ability to steer, so it wouldn’t do to get in their way. And yet there are leisure users, and every year teams of oarsmen set out for what is called the toughest rowing race in the world, a 12.7 section starting at Rendsburg, which attracts top international crews.

Perhaps the strangest thing of all about the Kiel Canal is the sight of big ships moving serenely across land. The topography is pretty flat around the Kiel, and for road users the water itself is largely invisible until you’re actually on a bridge travelling across it. Some of the bridges are curiosities in themselves, both for their height and their engineering. The iron railway bridge at Rendsburg, for example, is the longest in the world, and trains have to ascend in a series of loops at the Rendsburg end to get high enough to cross.

All in all, it’s a clever, historic piece of commercially successful engineering, and good sample of Germany’s willingness to invest. In Britain we could have had a similar operation to save the detour around Scotland, but pennies were pinched and the Caledonian Canal wasn’t built big enough, so it swiftly became obsolete for all but leisure users.

Getting There: The canal is north of Hamburg. International airports are at Hamburg and Lübeck. International rail connections to Hamburg are via Cologne from Brussels (Thalys), which connect with the Eurostar from London. See our Travel page for airlines, rail and tour operators.

Staying There: our recommended hotels are here for Schleswig-Holstein, and here for Hamburg.

More information on the Kiel Canal