Adventure and fun for parents and kids

 
Anyone travelling to the Baltic Sea in summer is looking to enjoy the sun, beach and sea in Warnemünde. Fooling around with the kids in and by the water, building sandcastles, playing football, flying kites or just relaxing and lazing around in the sun. Anyone looking for a bit of variety will find plenty of alternatives in Rostock.

 
In Warnemünde, there's something happening for the little ones almost every day in July and August. The youngest holidaymakers will get their money's worth on Warnemünde beach with the organised children's entertainment and adventures by torchlight. "Every man for himself" teaches bathing rules and safe beach behaviour through play. Pirate trips on the cutter "Pasewalk" make every child into a buccaneer. Look down once from the lighthouse onto the beach or find out more about the peculiarities and dangers of the sea on a real sea rescue boat ? these could be highlights of a Baltic Sea holiday.

 

The main attraction of any stay at Rostock with children is a visit to North Germany's largest zoological gardens. 1,500 animals and 250 species live in unique park and forest scenery. And it becomes a real adventure in the zoo everywhere where there's something to play with or try out right next to the animal enclosures. Balance like a flamingo, run like a lynx, clamber like a monkey. The motto is learning by doing. Also exciting are the show feeds of the elephants, seals, bears and penguins.

 

Stroll in a Chinese garden by the Baltic Sea? Admire the engine room of a real deep-sea freighter or marvel at a living church? That could be exciting for families too, and Rostock's IGA park is just the right place for it.

An extensive park with flowers, streams, reeds and old trees, but which is not just open for walkers to relax in and enjoy. There are exciting playgrounds for children big and small to climb and romp around in, a ship's arena for gymnastics or playing football. Of interest to grown-ups for instance is the wicker cathedral, whose pillars and arches consist entirely of wood and green leaves. A nature trail introduces the visitor in playful fashion to indigenous trees, lets them try out their sense of touch or find matching bird pairs in a memory game.

 
Landlubbers shouldn't miss the museum on the ship. The 10,000 tonne deep-sea freighter "Dresden", today a shipbuilding and shipping museum, displays holds, the bridge and ship's engines, as well as the ship's hospital and a Slav dugout.

 

Karl's strawberry patch in Rövershagen is an adventure farm for the whole family, offering not just shopping but a strawberry museum, kids' adventure land and petting zoo. According to the season, the farm also invites brave guests into a mysterious maize labyrinth or presents an artistic ice world.

 

The Blohm stables and holiday farm offers plenty of activities for horse-lovers young and old. Learn how to ride and treat horses in small groups or individual lessons. Children are invited to the forestry and charcoal-burner farm Rostock-Wiethagen, to practise using a map and compass, make charcoal or read game animal tracks.

 

Rainproof variations? These exist in Rostock too: indoor playgrounds, climbing course, wobbly mountain, kart track and trampoline court are all adventure stations at Kids' Land Rostock in Roggentin. Enthusiastic kids have loads to try our at the "Metropole" family fun centre in the heart of town, whether it's a big climbing frame or a labyrinth of nets, three big slides, a trampoline and climbing wall. Families can go swimming all year round in the Neptun indoor pool or in Gehlsdorf.