Bremerhaven and the Havenwelten

Bremerhaven lies about 60 km north of Bremen at the mouth of the Weser, and the direct RE1/RE9 Regionalexpress train covers the distance in 35-45 minutes, arriving at Bremerhaven Hauptbahnhof a short walk from the Havenwelten waterfront district. The main draw is the Deutsches Auswandererhaus, an award-winning museum that recreates the departure halls and ship cabins used by the roughly seven million emigrants who left continental Europe through this port between 1830 and 1974. A few minutes' walk away, the Klimahaus Bremerhaven 8 Grad Ost takes visitors on a simulated journey along the 8th meridian through eight climate zones, from Alpine snow to Sahara heat and Antarctic cold. The German Maritime Museum, set beside the historic Alter Hafen basin, displays the Bremen Cog, a wreck of a medieval trading ship recovered from the Weser. A practical itinerary starts with the Auswandererhaus in the morning, breaks for lunch at one of the harbourside cafes overlooking the Neuer Hafen marina, and continues into the Klimahaus or Maritime Museum in the afternoon before the return train. Because all three main attractions are indoor museums, Bremerhaven works as a day trip in any season, though summer afternoons allow extra time to walk the harbour promenade and watch container ships pass the Kaiserschleuse locks. Visitors arriving on the first morning trains generally beat the tour-group crowds that build up at the Auswandererhaus after 11am.