Holstein Switzerland

The name is a nineteenth-century tourist coinage: the region is not mountainous, but for flat Schleswig-Holstein its glacial hills, the highest around 168 metres, and its roughly two hundred lakes were enough to invite the comparison. The lakes fill hollows left by the last ice sheet and are linked by streams, which makes the area a canoeing region; the Fünf-Seen-Fahrt boat route crosses five of them in sequence. Plön Castle, white and standing on a rise above the Grosser Plöner See, was a ducal residence and later a school. Sea eagles breed in the area and are seen over the water.

History

The name goes back to the 19th century, when Swiss holidays were fashionable and other regions borrowed the name; on 20 May 1885 Johannes Janus opened the Hotel Holsteinische Schweiz at Malente on the Kellersee, and its name passed to the station and then to the whole region. The area has been settled for several thousand years; in the early Middle Ages Slavic Wends lived here and founded Plön and Eutin, and from about 1500 aristocratic estates dominated the landscape and economy, while from the 16th century Plön and Eutin were ducal residences and around the turn of the 19th century Eutin was called the "Weimar of the North". Until the middle of the 19th century the region was under Danish rule, and in 1867 it passed to Prussia as part of Holstein (Wikipedia, Holstein Switzerland).

What you'll find

• The lake chain - around two hundred glacial lakes linked by streams.
• Plön Castle - a white ducal building above the largest lake.
• The five-lake boat route - a scheduled crossing of five lakes in sequence.
• The sea eagles - a breeding population hunting over the water.

When to go

May to September; boats and canoe hire run in season. Autumn brings colour and quiet. The region is a short trip from Kiel, Lübeck or Hamburg.

Good to know

The Switzerland comparison is a marketing name; the hills are low. Boat routes are seasonal. Plön Castle is in institutional use with limited access.

Nearby

Kiel lies north; Lübeck is south.

Key facts