The Hanseatic League: legendary economic and cultural trade association of the Middle Ages. By bike you can experience it on the Old Salt Road. Around the Baltic Sea and far beyond, free trade created enormous wealth in the Hanseatic cities, which is still visible today in the many monumental buildings. A prominent example is Lüneburg, which exported the salt from its salt pans. The salt was of great importance for the herring trade on the Baltic Sea, which is why the city quickly gained in prestige.

To transport the salt, a trade route was built. Later, the salt was transported on the canal. For salt transport, the path and the canal are no longer useful today, but it was a wonderful bike path, the 71-mile (114-kilometer) Old Salt Road from Lüneburg to Lübeck.

I've divided the way into two stages - with a stopover in the Till-Eulenspiegel-Stadt Mölln. The first stage is 37 miles (60 kilometers) long and starts in Lüneburg. The pretty city can be easily reached by train, as well as Mölln and Lübeck. From Lüneburg you follow the Elbe side canal and dive into an idyllic and quiet landscape. From Mölln you drive along the Elbe-Lübeck Canal to Lübeck. The magnificent Hanseatic city is known not only for the marzipan, but also for its many towers. Passing witnesses of the Slavic era, the path leads you to Travemünde, the important Baltic Sea port. From here, the Lüneburg salt was shipped to many Hanseatic cities. The northernmost district of Lübeck but also has a beautiful sandy beach with the typical beach chairs.

You cycle mostly on paved bike paths or on good gravel roads. The old salt road is completely flat except for two short, slightly hilly stages and thus also for inexperienced cyclists good to create. The bike path is a great way to try a trip of several days and immerse yourself in the world of touring by bike. Just take a weekend time. Or you make two daily stages out of it. Whatever you decide, the bike tour in the footsteps of the Hanseatic League will inspire you.