Lübeck - Only a 50 minute train ride from the Hauptbahnhof (8 Euros). It has a gorgeous city center with many old (1500s) buildings and churches. Old town is essentially on an island in the middle of the city, and you pass through a beautiful old tower that was once part of the city gate. It's wonderful to just wander the streets, looking at the old houses, gardens and tiny cobblestoned streets. The city hall is one of the very best that I have seen in Northern Europe with its wandering passages, craft stone work inside and, imposing exterior dark stone. You can easily explore Lübeck in a day unless you want to spend some serious time in the many brick (not enough local stone so most are built completely of brick) churches and visit the Puppen Museum - a puppet museum with the largest privately owned collection in the world and after being drug around to 20+ puppet museums (don't ask...) in the last two years it is the best on that I have seen. The Christmas market here (Nov/Dec) is GREAT and is the place for VERY German presents for the folks back home.

Schwerin - Which is part of the Former Eastern Germany, but just on the edge, has one of the few real castles left standing in this part of Germany. There is a good English tour that includes the castle grounds right on the water. There is a street fair going on near the large church in the center of town almost every weekend in the spring and summer. A nice day trip although I'm not sure what else there is to do there other than seeing the castle - I need to look into it more. The castle is worth the trip though.

Cuxhaven sits right on the edge of the north Area where the Elbe empties into the sea. It is a nice place to ride bikes along the water. At low tide (there is a 15+ tide flux here because of the latitude) one can see sand stretching all the way to the horizon, with a few ships obviously very far out at sea. There is an island you can cross to at low tide, either by foot or on horse drawn carriages (trotting along over sand that would be covered by water in only a few hours), or by boat at high tide. Take care not to miss your ride back as sleeping there without a reservation (or even with...) is REAL expensive. The island is a great place for a picnic, date, or a place to take tour significant other for romance.

St-Peter Ording is also at the North Sea - wide-open spaces, fresh air, great walks along empty shores... only in winter or Early spring though - take a jacket and hat! It's a bit overcrowded in the height of summer. About 20km before you get there is a little town called Tönning. In September there is a very atmospheric horse market and before Christmas an old warehouse is converted into a Christmas market. On the edge of town is a very impressive maritime museum, with the reconstruction of a sperm whale which beached there several years ago dominating one section. Well worth a weekend.

If you like Lübeck, you'll love Lüneburg! Easy to get to via train from the Hauptbahnhof (also 8 Euro), takes about a half-hour. Beautiful strolls through the old part of town, by the river etc. Interesting architecture. The town sits on top of an enormous underground pillar of salt, off which it became rich centuries ago. The Salt museum is not to be missed and The Christmas market there is great as well. Go a little south to Wildpark Lüneburger Heide (Garlstorf). April - October there is a twice-daily display of falconry (as long as its not wet). You can take in both shows in a day as they are different…

Other great weekend places are the North Sea islands of Pellworm, Föhr and Amrum. You have to take a ferry, but once there, you can start to really feel like you've gone back in time. Great for cycling or just hanging out. I would avoid Sylt, which is over-rated and thanks to the train connection bringing thousands of cars, not much of an island anymore.

Friedrichstadt is an old Dutch settlers' town, situated on the river Eider. It's near Husum (10-15 km from Hamburg). Friedrichstadt is called the Venice of the North (like a few other places, including Hamburg...) as it has many "Grachten" (canals). It's a nice day out to stroll around the little streets and make a boat trip on the canals. Talking about Husum: it's famous for the crocus-blossom in the castle-garden in early spring. Husum is called the grey town at the ocean - the harbor merges into the city centre, you see lots of little fishing boats there, bringing in the shrimps. Both Husum and Friedrichstadt are great places to eat fish - don't ask Andreas for restaurant recommendations...

Altes Land is always nice in spring when apple and cherry trees are in bloom and Buxtehude is a nice little town in Altes Land to stop and have something to eat. The Fruit region of the Altes land is the largest continuous area of fruit production in all of Europe, though it is split up into thousands of small farms. Later in the year when cherries and apples are ripe it's worth going back to again for apple pie, apple wine, wild honey. Cycle along the river and through the fields and have some fresh cake/pie (the don't do cookies well for some reason) in one of the many cafes.

If you have a bit more than a day, the Harz is the nearest hilly region to Hamburg. About 3 hours drive south from Hamburg, well worth to spend some time there in the summer and fall. In the fall, the leave turn sort of like in New England. There are also a couple of climbing areas and LOTS of hiking trails there if you are into that sort of thing - take bug-dope as the ticks can be REALLY bad there in the summer and Germany/Europe is having a bloom of Lyme disease.