Just 10 kilometers from your vacation resort of Glücksburg is the harbour town of Flensburg with its historic harbour, cosy cafés and restaurants and lovely stores for shopping. Find out more about the rum town and its history and take a nice day trip to the town that gives our fjord its name.

Historic Port of Flensburg

Flensburg's history is characterized by seafaring and the associated trade. The museum harbor features traditional and historic sailing ships, cranes and jetties. If you are interested in the craft of maritime culture, a visit to the Flensburg museum shipyard - also just a few steps away - is highly recommended. Here, boat builders still work in the traditional way. And children can make their own sailing ship together with their parents, which is guaranteed to fit in any bathtub. The saloon steamer Alexandra, a historic coal steamer that regularly makes its rounds, also departs from here.

Exciting and detailed knowledge about seafaring and trade can be found in the nearby Flensburg Maritime Museum - the former customs packing house. The museum has a range of exciting exhibitions covering the entire spectrum of the city's maritime history, from shipping to technology and shipyards. Exciting stories about the people: from courageous captains and resourceful merchants and not forgetting the history of rum, as Flensburg is still considered the rum city of Germany today. In the basement of the museum there is a dedicated exhibition with a modern multimedia installation.

Rumstadt

When Flensburg once belonged to Denmark, the story began that still gives the Frisian way of life a touch of the exotic today. Over 250 years ago, sailors from Flensburg brought rum back from the Caribbean islands. The "gold of the Caribbean" thus became an important commodity on the world market and opened up a new economic sector for the city. This is why it is still popularly known as the "rum city" of Germany. Every year, the "Rum Regatta" takes place from the museum harbor. Here, traditional sailors take to the water with the aim of winning second place, as first place is more of a gag prize. The winners of second place, on the other hand, receive three liters of rum donated by the last remaining historic rum house in Flensburg. So the motto is: "Better safe and sound and second than broken and wider." Anyone who wants to feel the Caribbean-Frisian drop on their palate can do so during a visit to one of the rum houses.

Rum houses, old town, shopping and more

There were over 200 rum houses in the heyday of rum. The oldest rum house in Flensburg, Rumhaus Johannsen Rum, still exists in Marienstraße, with its own recipes for refinement and new product development. It was founded on May 1, 1878 by Andreas Heinrich Johannsen and is now run by his great-grandson Martin Johannsen. Nowadays, however, it is not just rum that is available there, but also other spirits and delicacies. In addition to wine and other spirits, delicious rum can also be tasted and purchased at Wein & Rumhaus Braasch, which found its current location in the 1990s. Braasch, a trained distiller, provides expert information and in the in-house museum you can learn all about the history of the manufactory and the history of rum in Flensburg.

Afterwards, it's worth taking a trip to the cute old town. The nearby Oluf-Samson-Gang is one of the most beautiful alleyways in Flensburg's old town and is a listed building. Flowers entwine the facades of the narrow fishermen's houses with their centuries-old half-timbered houses with small mullioned windows and ornate doors. You then pass through the Nordertor gate into Norderstraße, where countless worn shoes dangle from ropes between the houses. Many stories circulate about the origins of this bizarre sight. The shoes are definitely worth a photo opportunity. If you then walk towards Nordermarkt, the pedestrian zone with its stores in Südermarkt begins. And after an extensive shopping spree, you can simply relax in the small cafés in the courtyards of Rote Strasse.

Phenomenta

"What's behind the phenomenon?" This question is not only for children, but also for adults. Fascinating for everyone, the Phänomenta is an exhibition with exciting phenomena from science and technology that offers plenty to marvel at, do and think about. On 3,000 square meters, you can discover many a secret behind the phenomenon. The Phänomenta is an adventure museum. As a science center, it is part of the Europa-Universität Flensburg and even if you are not a tinkerer and thinker, you are sure to have a lot of fun here.