Get this. A train will take you every half-hour from either Kiel or Lübeck to the town of Schwentinental in Schleswig-Holstein.
Yes, I’m aware that you might be thinking — what’s the big deal? And deal is the right word to use, just so you know.
Schwentinental is home to a 90-thousand square meter shopping center, known as the Ostseepark with like 700 stores.
Getting here is easy. But then that means you might miss out on seeing the town itself. Which was created, by the way, by merging the towns of Raisdorf and Klausdorf back in 2008.
Klausdorf is the smaller of the two towns, with just around 6,000 people living here. And it’s where you’ll find what was once the Preetz Monastery, founded in 1224.
Raisdorf, the bigger sister town, managed to rebuild itself after being bombed during World War II. Why here? Because of its close proximity to the city of Kiel.
Today people from all over can come to Schwentinental to enjoy its Schwentinepark, a 40 acre outdoor recreational park. Not only can you go swimming (the Rosensee also acts a power plant giving Raisdorf electricity), but there’s a wild game park, and during the Fall a “scary maze” is built to get your heart racing as you find your way out.
This isn’t the only way to enjoy the Baltic Sea and Northern German air, ya know. The nature area surrounding Schwentinental (and the Schwentine River) has a number of biking paths and hiking trails, including the E1 European Hiking Route.
I think if you follow it far enough you’ll see the Kiel Fjord and the Kiel Bay. Oh, you’ll see that anyway since Schwentinental is close enough to it on its own.
All this clean air and activity (shopping can be hard work) can make you tired — so spending the night at one of the guesthouses or inns is always an option. You couldn’t have hit all 700 stores in one day — so, yeah, best to stay & do it all over again.
