Somewhere for the weekend... Rostock

All I ask is a tall ship or two, a garden festival and a couple of days on the fashionable Baltic coast. Why not spend a summer weekend in this historic German port

WHY GO NOW?

Situated between the better-known Baltic resorts of Travemünde to the west and Rügen to the east, the north-east German town of Rostock and its seaside district, Warnemünde, get overlooked by foreign travellers. This year, however, regular visitors from Berlin and Hamburg are unlikely to keep Warnemünde's 16km of golden sands to themselves. Until 12 October, Rostock is hosting the Internationale Gartenbauausstellung (IGA), a 100-hectare exhibition of prize-winning plants and gardens from around the world, constructed on the banks of the river Warnow.

An added attraction for 5-13 July is the annual Warnemünde Woche, a kind of Baltic Cowes Week. This is followed on 7-10 August by Hanse Sail Rostock, a tall ships festival that provides an excuse to party on shore. If neither gardens nor boats appeal, then simply rent yourself a "Strandkorb" - one of the distinctive deckchair-cum-windbreaks that characterise many breezy Baltic resorts - and soak up the holiday atmosphere. For more information contact the German National Tourist Office (020-7317 0908; www.germany-tourism.de).

DOWN PAYMENT

The easiest way to get there is to fly to Hamburg and take the train to Rostock. I flew with Lufthansa (0845 773 7747; www.lufthansa.co.uk) from Heathrow to Hamburg. Return flights this weekend start from £128.50. Lufthansa also has direct flights to Hamburg from Manchester. British Airways (0845 77 333 77; www.ba.com) has daily flights to Hamburg from Heathrow and Birmingham, with return fares for about the same price. The Airport Express bus from Hamburg airport to the Hauptbahnhof (main railway station) runs every 15 minutes (€6.40/£4.50 return) and takes half an hour. More cheaply, Ryanair (0871 246 0000; www.ryanair.com) flies three times a day from Stansted to Hamburg Lübeck, with returns starting from £69 this weekend. However, a shuttle bus from here to Hamburg's Hauptbahnhof takes around an hour and costs €16/£11.50 return. A return train ticket from Hamburg Hauptbahnhof to Rostock costs €57.20/£41 and takes between two and two-and-a-half hours.

INSTANT BRIEFING

The name Rostock is taken from the Slavic for "widening of the river". It is here that the Warnow opens out, finally flowing into the Baltic at Warnemünde - literally "the mouth of the Warnow". Throughout its 800-year history, Rostock's position as a port has heavily influenced its industry. It was one of the first towns to join the Hanseatic trading league and is still home to both ship-building yards and fishing fleets. As with many former East German cities, the historic town centre has only partly survived the ravages of the Second World War and the decades of communist rule that followed. The architecture is therefore a mixture of beautiful Gothic red-brick buildings, Baroque façades, wooden seaside houses with brightly-coloured shutters, wide Sixties-built socialist streets and new post-reunification construction.

REST ASSURED

Die Kleine Sonne is a brand new city-centre hotel at Steinstrasse 7 (00 49 381 4612 1150; www.die-kleine-sonne.de). Painted in bright primary colours, it has a fresh, modern feel and friendly service. Rooms cost from €79 (£56.50) per night with breakfast. Alternatively, you can enjoy old-fashioned comfort in the charming Fischerhus at Alexandrinenstrasse 124 in Warnemünde (00 49 381 548310; www.hotel-fischerhus.de). Bed-and-breakfast starts from €60 (£43) for a double room. Youth hostels are found on the Jugendgästeschiff, a ship moored in the Stadthafen (00 49 381 670 0320; www.djh-mv.de) and in a tall building with a distinctive globe on top by the beach in Warnemünde (00 49 381 548170; www.djh-mv.de). The hostel in Warnemünde is offering a three-night stay for €70 (£50) per person.

MUST SEE

On a sunny day, take the boat from Rostock Stadthafen on the banks of the Warnow near the town centre, to the IGA. The exhibition is easy to describe in terms of statistics and superlatives: 180,000 varieties of flowers; 10,500 roses blooming over the summer on the "rose hill"; the largest number of international participants at any IGA; the first world-class exhibition to be held in a former East German state and so on. However, what really distinguishes this from other garden shows is its close association with the water. Step ashore and you find yourself in the "floating gardens", a series of three linked gardens demonstrating the evolution of plant life. Each of seven small "Rostock gardens" tells a different seafaring story, and even the childrens' basketball pitch is built in the shape of a boat.

Day tickets cost €14 (£10) per adult (two children under 12 can go for free with each adult), or €7 (£5) per child under 16, and include transport to and from the fair on the Rostock transport network. You pay extra to ride on the cable car above the exhibition, which enables you to see the gardens from the air. The IGA is open daily from 9am to dusk until 12 October. Boats leave the Stadthafen every 30 minutes from 10.30am to 3.30pm in summer and cost €4 (£2.85) one-way to the IGA at Lütten Klein or €9 (£6.40) for a return to Warnemünde. Transport by tram, bus or S-Bahn within Rostock city centre and all the suburbs costs €2.80/£2 per day for unlimited travel.

Once you've seen enough of the IGA, take the boat or train on to the seaside resort of Warnemünde. This is a classic old fishing village, composed of little streets and 18th-century-style wood and glass houses. There is always a holiday atmosphere here and you can spend hours happily strolling along the banks of the Alter Strom - the old course of the Warnow - buying fishy snacks fresh from the cutters or stopping for ice creams in one of the many little cafés. The golden sands are great for sunbathing in hot weather, although there is usually a strong breeze. Walking along the prom that borders the broad beach is a popular pastime all year round.

In the historic centre of Rostock itself, sights worth seeing include St Peter's Church, which you can ascend in a lift for a great overview of this diverse town; St Mary's Church, most notable for its ancient astronomical clock and huge Baroque organ; the splendid gabled houses in the pedestrian zone leading to Universitätsplatz (University Square); and the square itself, with its shady linden trees and recently-commissioned fountain, complete with somewhat grotesque bronze statues depicting the joy of life.

MUST BUY

Shops in the pedestrian zone in the historic centre of Rostock sell mostly standard stuff. More fun is Warnemünde, where you can browse in little sailingwear stores, quirky record shops and local galleries, or buy buckets and spades or seashells for the children. Added to this are the colourful stalls that appear along the banks of the Alter Strom during festivals, selling everything from crafts and clogs to currywurst and crèpes.

MUST EAT

Fresh fish is definitely the order of the day. If you're concerned about pollution in the Baltic, be assured that much has been done in recent years to clean up the sea and that the beaches in the area have all been awarded the EU's "blue flag" for cleanliness. For a beautiful setting, try Stadthafen Restaurant Borwin on the banks of the Warnow. This spacious restaurant has a wooden balcony overlooking the river. Specialities, which may include monkfish, sole, herring and cod, vary by season. The cost of a two-course meal with wine is about €45 (£32). In Warnemünde, there are lots of little bistros as well as some bigger restaurants. At the Teepott Restaurant on the seafront, you can look out over the beach and watch ferries departing for Scandinavia. Built in the 1970s, the large glass construction housing the restaurant is also home to a café, Greek restaurant and museum. A two-course meal with wine costs about €30 (£21). The local snack is Rostocker Rauchwurst - smoked sausage in a roll with mustard.

INTO THE NIGHT

East German nightlife doesn't always rock, but there are plenty of beer gardens and pubs, particularly in the area around Universitätsplatz and the Kröpeliner Tor, where many of the town's 12,000 university students congregate. Clubs tend to have English names, such as the Sky-Bar, upstairs in the Hotel Neptun in Warnemünde; Worldclub in Kröpeliner Strasse in the city centre; and the After Work Party every Thursday evening in the Kunst-Passage, which plays Eighties and Nineties pop.