When you are a student, especially an Erasmus one, you want to explore the new city you are living in and get various new experiences you could use in your life after the program. Most of the students choose Erasmus not just for good study opportunities or to gain foreign language skills, but they also want to travel abroad or just get out of their hometowns, see and feel new opportunities and reveal themselves in the other light – out of the comfort (mommy) zone. And that is just perfect. But things happened and unfortunately because of the Corona there is no possibility of traveling somewhere easily or going into famous well-known places. And of course it is hard to be in your room all day and do nothing, but you don’t have to be sad, mad or disappointed because after reading this article you will see that even in these Corona times there are still many places you can visit and explore. Kiel has a lot of beautiful spots which are accessible without car, do not have any opening hours or entrance fee which makes it even better for students. All of these places are safe to visit, because it is an open area and it does not interfere with Covid-19 restrictions.

Points of Interests

  • Downtown in Kiel as in almost every other city is the most beautiful place and full of culture. Besides shops, cafes and restaurants (though most of them are not operating at the moment) it yet includes much more. Downtown combines numerous of interesting history facts, monuments, landmarks, old and big oaks and even a Kiel castle. Definitely, it should be the first thing to see and explore (and I also recommend visiting downtown in the evening – it is extremely beautiful).

Photo by Emilija Patalauskaitė

  • Kieler – Rathaus (The Kiel Town Hall) is the city hall of Kiel. The 106m high town hall tower is one of its landmarks. It is really beautiful from outside, but you can also go inside of it – and you will have to do it when you register Kiel as your residence (of course inside you have to wear a mask).
  • Schleusenanlage Kiel-Holtenau – big machinery and big infrastructure with a 100+ year history to it. There is a good poster exhibition on the south side of the lock. It is a bit further from the city (about 30 minutes bike ride from Kiel Town Hall, but it is definitely worth it). You can sit there and just be hypnotized by ships that are going through the Kiel Canal.
  • Holtenau Nord Lighthouse is almost in the same place as Schleusenanlage Kiel-Holtenau. It is located at the entrance of the Kiel canal. So, if you are coming to see at least one of those – definitely plan in some time to see another too. It is not open for a visit but still a very nice area to walk around and relax.
  • Kiellinie (The Kiel line) is a promenade in the Kiel districts of Düsternbrook and Wik. It is a nearly 4 km long street located near the harbor of Kiel. It can be reached by bus, car or ship from different places in Kiel. You can go there for a walk, breath some fresh air or maybe practice sport (it is perfect for in-line skating or running). During these activities, you can observe beautiful Kieler Förde, seabirds or ships.

Nature & Parks

  • Nord-Ostsee-Kanal (The Kiel Canal or “North-[to]-Baltic Sea canal”) is a 98-kilometre-long freshwater canal in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. You can take a bike and go for a ride along The Kiel Canal. Or just go for a walk along the canal.
Photo by Emilija Patalauskaitė
  • The Hiroshimapark is a green space in the center of Kiel. It is located between the City Hall and the Kleiner Kiel and commemorates the first atomic bomb being dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.
  • Falckensteiner Strand and Schilksee Strandbad are the beaches in Kiel. It takes a bit more time to get there, but you can reach Falckensteiner Strand in an hour with the bike from Town hall and 8 minutes more to Schilksee Strandbad or go within 20 minutes by car. You can go there for a walk on the sand and just make a stop for some time to think about things and look into dreamy waves.
  • Schrevenpark is a park in Kiel. There is plenty of room to jog, walk, play frisbee, make BBQ or just sit and read a book or study. In the park there is a pond which is very nice too so, you can just sit next to it and relax.
  • Die Kieler Tiergehege (Kiel animal enclosure/Game Reserve). Kiel maintains a total of five animal enclosures (Hammer, Hasseldieksdamm, Suchsdorf, Tannenberg, Uhlenkrog), which were built over 40 years ago and are looked after by the Green Spaces Office. In addition to the forest and park areas, the animal enclosures are used for local recreation. The close contact with the animals is always a special experience of nature.

As you see there is a lot of places to visit even in these strange times of Corona, so be healthy, be safe and start exploring Kiel and Schleswig-Holstein! Good luck!