Lübeck
Entertainment

add to Travel Bag (NEW)  

Lübeck, the cultural capital of the north, definitely has an extensive range of cultural activities to offer; there is a large number of museums and theatres here and the list of events during the year is a long one.

Theatre
By far the most famous theatre in Lübeck is the wonderful City Theatre. The city theatre has a varied offering—opera, operettas and musicals as well as acting are on the programme. Lübeck´s theatre scene is also enriched by the Theatre Combinale, a private theatre with a range of challenging entertainment, as well as by the VITA theatre and the Theatre Partout, which offers outdoor productions now and then. Variety is provided in the form of Cabaret, Song evenings and dance theatre performances, which are also sometimes to be found in the Museum Church of St. Katharinen.

Children can get a taste of theatrical atmosphere in many places. Apart from the program at the Freilichtbühne Wallanlagen (Open air stage) in the summer, and the Lübecker Unterwasser Marionettentheater (Puppet Theatre) in the winter, the Marionettentheater Fey (Fey Puppet Theatre) and the Theater am Tremser Teich both offer exciting performances for kids.

The Christmas stories in the Stadttheater (City Theatre) are always sold out and thus booking early is recommended.

Guest ballet performances mainly take place in the nostalgically shaped Kolosseum, but some performances do also take place in the Stadttheater (City Theatre).

Museums
Museums are to be found on every corner in Lübeck. The St. Annen Museum, one of the nicest museums in Germany, is located in the late Gothic buildings of the St. Annen monastery. It's not just fans of medieval religious artwork who will be inspired here, and the rooms and the garden are themselves worth a visit. The Buddenbrook House should be no less famous. It was newly opened on the 125th anniversary of Thomas Mann's birthday. Here you can learn everything about the Mann brothers and their works as well as find out information about the Buddenbrooks. Information on Lübeck's style of home furnishing can be found at the Museum for Art and Art history of the Hanseatic city in the Behnhaus/Drägerhaus. A collection of Romantic paintings, as well as German Impressionism and Expressionism of the 20th century, can be seen here. At the Holstentor, Lübeck's landmark, there is a lot of city history to discover. Lübeck's best known delicacy, the famous marzipan, is on display in the Niederegger Marzipansalon. The Museum for Nature and Environment contains, amongst other things, the skeleton of a whalebone whale which was stranded many many million years ago. Barlach sculptures decorate the façade of the Museum Church of St. Katharinen in which many art treasures are to be found, including a painting by Tintoretto. Finally there is also, apart from the Ethnological Museum, the Burgtor Monastery where the famous big Lübeck coin treasury and various art and archaeological exhibitions can be seen. Living and working nearby the former blast furnace works is the theme of the Herrenwyk Historical workshop.

Live Music
Live music can be found in various locations in Lübeck. The most elegant is definitely the Music and Congress Hall in which the opening concert of the Schleswig Holstein Music Festival also takes place. In addition to this, there are also numerous live events in the Werkhof which is very informal. Lübeck's bands as well as international musicians and cabaret artists find a stage here. Jazz can be heard, and how could it be otherwise, in the Dr. Jazz Club Lübeck. There is also a whole host of clubs and pubs in Lübeck in which live music is offered. An inside name in this respect is the Flou which regularly engages musicians of varying genres. Atmosphere is created by special live music events provided in the Rider's Café, Body & Soul, Hüx, Alten Zolln and the Alte Feuerwehr.

Operettas and concerts on the open air stage in Wallanlagen are a highlight in the summer.

Lübeck's churches are just some of the locations for classical music events—it is not just organ recitals which are staged here. St. Petri, for example, often rings with the sound of gospel music. Fans of classical music will get their money's worth at the concerts given in the Lübeck Academy of Music. The cathedral courtyard is the stage for concerts, and not just in the summer—Christmas carol singing with a great atmosphere can be found around here at Christmastime.

If you are still not satisfied with the things that Lübeck has to offer, than you should make time for the Schleswig Holstein Music Festival where numerous events are held in barns, riding stables and estates in and around Lübeck, as well as for the summer festival in Eutin.

For a couple of years, children's concerts like Peter and Wolf have been lovingly staged in the Stadttheater (City Theatre).

Cinema
An extensive programme of popular films is shown at the Filmpalast StadthalleFilmpalast Stadthalle. Quality films are shown at the Lichtspiele Hoffnung which is a very intimate place, seeing as it has only one cinema. The cinemas Kommunales Kino and zwei50 are similar. Films which have already been shown in the big cinemas for a while will then be shown at the Capitol.

In the summer, open air cinema evenings on the Freilichtbühne (Open air stage) in Wallanlagen enjoy a great amount of popularity.

Night Life
In Lübeck you can easily leave your car at home or in a central location since many of Lübeck's discos are only a few minutes away from each other. The three Lübeck clubs Body & Soul, Queen´s Club and Hüx make up a triangle. In the traditional Body & Soul on the Elbe-Lübeck canal, a stone's throw from the Old Town, Rock and Pop is on the programme at the weekend, Black Music on Fridays and fans of alternative rock come here on Tuesdays. The small Hüx, with a sizeable regular clientele, is one of the old-established discos on the edge of Lübeck's Old Town, where Rock, Soul and Funk is played. Moreover, in the comparatively big Queen's Club, techno and hip hop is played. The Red Zone on the other side of Lübeck's Old Town, which plays mainly House, attracts Lübeck's more stylish clientele. Varying events take place here on Fridays. The Eishaus, which lies out of town, is cool, and the dominating taste in music here is again House. In the Rider's Cafe, away from the mainstream, you can hear Trance, House, Goa and Rock. If you swear by hard rock music, then the right place for you is Route 99. Outside of Lübeck, in the direction of Stockelsdorf, is the large disco Abaco. The scene in Travemünde's Nautic, where many tourists also go to dance, is stylish and chic.

Events
There is always something to celebrate in Lübeck. The most famous event is the Lübeck Christmas Market which takes place in front of the Old Town Hall. The Town Hall is complemented by the Märchenwaldwhich is to be found in the shadow of the Marienkirche on the Christmas market on the Koberg. The Christmas Market in the Heiligen Geist Hospital enjoys such a crowd that you have to join a long queue in order to gain entry. Less well known but no less pleasant is the St. Petri Art and Crafts market which also takes place at Christmas. At Easter there is a people's market in the Heligen-Geist Hospital, in which art and craftwork from around the world is offered. In spring, the Spring market takes place on the Wall peninsula in front of the Music and Congress Hall. The kite festival benefits from the windy conditions in Travemünde and has already been staged successfully on the beach many times. In summer the Public and Remembrance festival is firmly marked in on the calendar, taking place on the Festival Square and with many Lübeck families accompanying the festival procession. Summer is also the time for the Schleswig-Holstein music festival, street festivals such as the Hüx street festival, the younger Friendship Party and the high quality ten day Trave Bank Festival. But what would the summer be like without the Travemünde Week in which boating enthusiasts and fans of the unique atmosphere on the Travemünde promenade celebrate the entire night long.
Autumn is the time for Lübeck's Old Town Festival which takes place every two years, as well as for the Lübeck Autumn market on the Wall peninsula, something which the Lübeck youngsters particularly look forward to. If the weather in Lübeck is stormy, the cinema in Lübeck has a special event ready—the Northern film days with showings and premières of new Scandinavian and Baltic films.