Facts

• Population 2.7 million.
• Area 15,729 sq. km.

Famous Facts

• Thomas Mann was born in Lübeck and Günter Grass lives just outside the town.
• The North Frisian Island of Sylt is the playground for Germany’s jet set.
• Helgoland, an island in the North Sea, is economically not part of the EU, thanks to an agreement back in 1840, so this is the place for some duty-free shopping.
• There is still much evidence of the state’s Viking past.
• The Hanseatic League was established here.

Where about

The most northerly of the German states, Schleswig-Holstein borders Denmark to the north, and is flanked by the Baltic Sea to the east and the North Sea to the west. To the south-east the state is bounded by Mecklenburg-Lower Pomerania and Hamburg and to the south-west by Lower Saxony.

How to get there 

Hamburg Airport and Lübeck-Blankensee (Hamburg-Lübeck).