Listed as a Unesco World Heritage Site for the beauty of its historic centre, Wismar is still underrated although increasingly trendy with travellers who think outside the box. Did you know that Wismar was, a century ago, a city occupied by the Swedes? It became a German city again in 1903. The medieval towns of Wismar and Stralsund, on the Baltic coast of northern Germany, were major trading centres of the Hanseatic League in the 14th and 15th centuries. In the 17th and 18th centuries they became Swedish administrative and defensive centres for the German territories. They contributed to the development of the characteristic building types and techniques of Brick Gothic in the Baltic region, as exemplified in several important brick cathedrals, the Town Hall of Stralsund, and the series of houses for residential, commercial and crafts use, representing its evolution over several centuries. The inhabitants are not resentful of this Swedish occupation, since each year they celebrate the end of summer, a typical Swedish holiday in the port of Wismar. Wismar has an airport, but you are more likely to have direct connections by booking your flights to Lübeck or Rostock Airport, which is an hour by car or train from Wismar.
