They’re everywhere in Bremen — a rooster, a cat, a dog and a donkey, standing on top of one another. There is the bronze sculpture outside the town hall; a taxidermy take by the prankster artist Maurizio Cattelan in the main art gallery; even the enormous sign on a Kellogg’s factory turned hotel. All these artworks depict the Town Musicians of Bremen, immortalised in a Brothers Grimm fairytale in which they are neglected by their owners and flee to the city to become performers. Their ubiquity sums up this playful city in northwest Germany — one that is brimming with centuries’ worth of stories.
Brits should plot an escape here too (though there’s no need to bring your lute). Bremen is overlooked by most tourists but popular among Dutch weekend visitors, who perhaps find its 400 miles of cycle lanes and cool North Sea climate comfortingly like home. The city is full of brilliantly restored and cleverly repurposed historic buildings, from the pretty gabled houses of the Schnoor district to the idiosyncratic interwar stylings of Böttcherstrasse and a poignant museum in a Nazi submarine factory. Its star turn, though, is the elaborate, Unesco-listed town hall, which dates from the 15th century and rivals any of the gothic landmarks in Bruges.
48 hours in Bremen — at a glance
Day one
• Morning: Paula Modersohn-Becker Museum and Himmelssaal
• Lunch: Bab Maria
• Afternoon: Town hall
• Drink at: Bremen Ratskeller
• Evening: Explore Schnoor
• Dinner: Beck’s im Schnoor
Day two
• Morning: Valentin submarine pens
• Lunch: Tandour
• Afternoon: Kunsthalle
• Drink at: Heldenbar
• Evening: Bremer Braumanufaktur
• Dinner: Zio Manu di Napoli
What to see and do
• Böttcherstrasse is a 100-yard strip of eccentric expressionist red-brick buildings that were erected in the 1920s, destroyed by bombing and meticulously rebuilt. Among its gift shops and art stores two must-visits are the self-portraits and nudes at the Paula Modersohn-Becker Museum (£8; museen-boettcherstrasse.de), the world’s first dedicated to a female artist, and the Himmelssaal (Heaven Hall) at Atlantis House, an art deco-inspired ballroom with a blue and white stained-glass ceiling — to get inside ask for a key at reception in the Radisson Blu hotel behind (free; radissonhotels.com).
• The showstopper in Bremen is its gothic town hall, built in 1405, when the city was a key hub in the Hanseatic League, a loosely aligned network of trading cities. If you thought that the ornate 17th-century façade was impressive, wait until you see the original upper hall, with its immense frescoes and model warships hung from the ceiling. Tours in English run at 12pm daily (£8; tourismus.bremen.de).
• Wander around Schnoor, the oldest part of the city, where half-timbered houses date from the 1600s. This was originally the fishermen’s quarter, then an area where shipping rope and cables were manufactured (schnoor means “string” in Low German). After squeezing through the narrow Katzengang alleyway, ogle the colourful postmodern buildings on Marterburg — dubbed New Schnoor — that look like a Squid Game set.
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• Take the RS1 train to Farge, then the 90 bus to Rekumer Siel, at the northern edge of Bremen, to visit the Valentin submarine pens. More than 10,000 forced labourers were involved in building this 90ft-high bunker, intended for the production of submarines but abandoned mid-construction, during the Second World War; as many as 1,600 died. It’s now a museum with moving testimonial videos from survivors projected onto the walls (free; denkort-bunker-valentin.de).
• It’s easy to spend half a day browsing a collection of European sculpture and paintings from the 14th century to the present at the Kunsthalle, run by the non-profit Bremen Art Society. One highlight is a room full of human statues arranged in ascending size, from figurines to larger-than-life works, including masterpieces by Rodin, Maillol and Gormley (£8; kunsthalle-bremen.de).
• Forget Beck’s, the city’s best known beer export, and instead hit up Bremer Braumanufaktur, an independent brewery in the post-industrial Überseestadt area, a ten-minute tram ride from the centre. Tours include four beer tastings; you may well find yourself ordering a few more of the sweet Nordisch Hells or banana-like Weizens afterwards in a garden by the River Weser (tours £13; drinks from £5; bremer-braumanufaktur.de).
Where to eat and drink
Bab Maria
There is no lunch more indulgent than Ukrainian varenyky, fried half-moon-shaped dumplings commonly stuffed with mashed potato. At Bab Maria, housed inside the Markthalle Acht food hall, they come with beetroot, carrot and cabbage salads, so are nourishing too (mains from £8; markthalleacht.de). Other kiosks serve pizza, tapas or Ghanaian stews.
Bremen Ratskeller
Vaults beneath the town hall hold what is billed as the world’s largest collection of German wines. Casks have been kept here since the 15th century and the Bremen Ratskeller team still produce excellent wines, including a lightly sparkling scheurebe secco. Guided tours culminate in the candlelit sight of a barrel of 1653 rosé from Rüdesheim — so old you can smell it in the air (£12, including one drink; ratskeller-bremen.de).
Beck’s im Schnoor
This traditional north German restaurant serves hearty dishes fit for a Hanseatic merchant in an old-time tavern setting, all low ceilings and wooden panelling. Order the chaotic but delicious labskaus — corned beef, potato and onion mash with a fried egg, herring, beetroot and gherkins; as bright as Schnoor’s houses (mains from £9; becks-im-schnoor.com).
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Tandour
Bremen’s signature fast-food dish is the rollo wrap: a flatbread filled with falafel or meat plus salad. It’s assembled absurdly quickly before your eyes then briefly baked in a very hot oven. Its birthplace is said to be Tandour, a restaurant in the studenty Viertel area east of the centre. Its tandoori chicken version is popular for a reason (from £6; Sielwall 5).
Heldenbar
The speciality is craft beer and the clientele edgy at Heldenbar, on the first floor of the arthouse Cinema im Ostertor in Viertel. After securing a pint of crisp Hopfige Heldin lager, pull up a stool beside a barrel or sink into a sofa (drinks from £4; heldenbarbremen.de).
Zio Manu di Napoli
In the same light-filled building as the Bremer Braumanufaktur brewery you’ll find Zio Manu di Napoli, which helpfully specialises in stomach-lining fried pizzas. The Montanara is more like a Hungarian langos, with its base deep-fried then generously topped with ricotta, pistachios and mortadella (mains from £8; ziomanu.de).
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Where to stay
Arthotel ANA Residence
Townhouse hotel with a homely vibe
If it’s good enough for Beyoncé, it’s good enough for you. A Destiny’s Child photo — signed when Queen Bey’s group stayed here in the early Noughties — hangs proudly at reception in this small hotel five minutes’ walk from Bremen Hauptbahnhof station, on residential Hohenlohestrasse. There’s a homely vibe inside, with each of the 40 rooms, spread over two beautiful townhouses, decked out with a hodgepodge of vintage furnishings (room-only doubles from £49; great2stay.de).
John & Will Silo-Hotel
Epic views from a former grain silo
Ask to stay on one of the upper floors of this 11-storey hotel in Überseestadt and you can expect spectacular city views, from the spires of the old town to the belching Beck’s HQ. Open since last summer, John & Will was formerly a Kellogg’s grain silo (it is named after the company’s sibling founders), meaning that each room is a circular or semicircular concrete box. King-size beds and rainfall showers offer a touch of luxury, while cleverly designed window seats make cosy reading nooks (room-only doubles from £83; johnandwill-hotel.com).
Park Hotel Bremen
Grande dame surrounded by parkland
The city’s most famous hotel has the feel of an old-school spa resort. It’s at the edge of Bürgerpark, a Richmond Park-like expanse of meadows, woods and ponds just north of the centre. The bucolic setting is a big draw, but so too are the outdoor pool and food, particularly afternoon teas in the striking, round Kuppelhalle room, overlooking a lake. Rooms are spacious and sedately decorated, with floor-to-ceiling windows facing onto the park (room-only doubles from £307; hommage-hotels.com).
Getting there and around
Ryanair flights from Stansted to Bremen take 80 minutes. The airport is within the city, and tram No 6 will whisk you to the centre in ten minutes. Central Bremen is walkable, but if you’re staying outside the old town it’s worth buying a BremenCard, which includes public transport and discounts on the main sights (£10 a day; bremen.eu).
Visit responsibly
Hop on the Eurostar from St Pancras to Brussels then travel on to Bremen via Cologne — an eight-hour journey overall. Alternatively, you could make your trip a twin-centre break by flying to bigger, chicer Hamburg from Manchester, Edinburgh or Heathrow — from there it’s an hour to Bremen by rail.
Huw Oliver was a guest of the tourist boards of Germany (germany.travel) and Bremen (bremen.eu)
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