Bad Doberan and the Molli

The Molli has run since 1886 on nine hundred millimetre gauge between Bad Doberan and the resorts of Heiligendamm and Kühlungsborn, and it is still steam-hauled year-round as a scheduled service rather than a heritage operation. Leaving Bad Doberan it runs along Mollistrasse, a normal shopping street, with pedestrians and parked cars beside the track and the engine whistling its way through. The minster, built from 1294 for a Cistercian abbey, is among the finest brick Gothic churches in the region and keeps almost all its medieval furnishings, including a double-sided high altar and a monumental cross, unusually complete for a Protestant church.

What you actually see

• The street running - a steam train down the middle of a shopping street.
• The minster - brick Gothic with almost all its medieval furnishings intact.
• The scheduled steam - a working service, not a heritage-only line.
• Heiligendamm - Germany's oldest seaside resort, founded 1793, on the route.

When to go

April to October for the resorts; the railway runs year-round on a reduced winter timetable. The minster closes during services and in winter afternoons.

Honest expectations

It is a real timetabled railway, so seats fill in summer. The minster keeps limited winter hours. Heiligendamm's historic buildings are partly private.

Nearby

Rostock lies east; Wismar is west.