If less industrialisation was one of the main indicators for measuring a county‘s suitability for tourism, then Mecklenburg-Vorpommern would be leading. However, the county high up in the north east of Germany has three more rather important attractions to offer: the Baltic coast, numerous lakes and lots of green countryside.

Although Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is the sixth largest federal state in terms of area, it is after the small state of Saarland and city state of Bremen the third smallest in terms of population. Therefore it is the federal state with the slightest population density. With 1.6 million inhabitants, this means 69 people per square kilometre. This is the slightest amount in Germany. Due to low industrialisation unemployment rates are with 10 percent quite high.

The county is characterized by villages and provincial towns. The only big city is port Rostock. However, three of the 14 German national parks and the two biggest German islands Rügen and Usedom, are located in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The Mecklenburg lakes are many lakes that arose during the last ice age. It is not really surprising that tourism contributes highly to the GDP of the county.

The islands Usedom, Rügen and Hiddensee, but also the peninsula Fischland-Darß-Zingst as well as the seaside resorts Heiligendamm, Graal-Müritz and Kühlungsborn are predominated by nostalgic architecture of the late 19th century and among the favoured destinations in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The historical old towns of Stralsund and Wismar which are since a decade listed as UNESCO world heritage are also worth seeing.

Many of the more than 2000 old manor houses and castles as well as many churches and windmills are worth an excursion. The harbour of Rostock, called Warnemünde, is the biggest cruise harbour in Germany with more than 350,000 passengers per year. However, Hamburg will soon take its place.

Also the hunting lodge of Granitz, the Schweriner castle and the castle of Basedow are definitely worth a visit, but also the Warnemünder week and the Hanse Sail which attract yearly nearly a million visitors are should not be missed. Since the last years tourism in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is significantly growing. In 2012 the county had the highest growth rate of international visitors in Germany.

More information: http://www.mecklenburg-vorpommern.eu/cms2/Landesportal_prod/Landesportal/content/en/Our_State_for/index.jsp

Photo: Schwerin, dlaurro/Shutterstock