A Weekend in Bremen, Germany
My husband and I recently spent a weekend in Bremen, which is about a two-hour trip from home.
[Last updated October 25, 2025]
We didn’t choose Bremen because of anything in particular except that we wanted a weekend away, and we also felt we needed to be close enough to get home quickly if anything went wrong with the three teenagers we were leaving behind. At least I wanted to be close; my husband didn’t agree that it was necessary.
I had glimpsed a bit of Bremen on a school trip a few years before, and particularly wanted to explore the Schnoor neighborhood more thoroughly. So we went.
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Bremen Altstadt
The main tourist draws in Bremen are in the Altstadt (old city) area. Dominated by St Petri Dom cathedral, the marketplace at the center of town is home to a number of lovely buildings from the period when Bremen owed its prosperity to being a Hanseatic League member.
If you’re interested in Hanseatic League history, here are some other articles about Hanseatic cities:
- A Riga city tour: 10+ things to see in Riga
- A maritime-themed weekend in Hamburg
- Boat Bike Tours: A review of “Hansa Highlights” (a one-week trip in the Netherlands visiting a whole list of Hanseatic towns)
The Rathaus is the old city hall, and, together with the Roland statue in front of it, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was built in the early 15th century and renovated in Renaissance style in the 17th century. Unfortunately, when we visited, a mayor had recently died, so the Rathaus was closed to visitors. Nevertheless, the ornamentation on the exterior is intricate and worth some study.
The Roland statue in front of the Rathaus is over five meters (16.4 feet) tall and is the largest of 26 such statues in Germany. Roland, apparently, is a symbol of market rights and freedoms, so again it’s linked to Bremen’s status in the Hanseatic League.
The other famous Bremen statue stands next to the Rathaus; it depicts a donkey with a dog, a cat and a rooster on its back, illustrating a Grimm fairy tale called “The Town Musicians of Bremen.” I wrote about the statue and the story in this article.
A row of buildings nearby on Marktplatz is also an indication of what much of the Altstadt must have looked like before the World War II.
Böttcherstraße
Atop the entrance to the very short Böttcherstraße (Straße means “street.”) hangs a shining bas-relief called Lichtbringer (Bringer of Light), depicting the archangel Michael battling the forces of evil. It was dedicated to Hitler by Ludwig Roselius, the man responsible for developing the whole street in the 1920s. According to Wikipedia, Hitler rejected the artwork as “degenerate.”
A stroll down Böttcherstraße shows some interesting architectural contrasts. The 1920s-era expressionist-style buildings (Hitler, apparently, did not like those either.) were restored after bombing in the war. One building, though, was built in 1588 and is now the Ludwig Roselius Museum. Since we only had the weekend in Bremen, we didn’t go inside, but it houses Roselius’s personal art collection.
The flowing organic shapes of the expressionist buildings seemed to me attractive and playful, and respectful of Roselius’s older building in their midst. One of these newer buildings is home to the Paula Modersohn-Becker Museum, named after the artist it exhibits.
Ludwig Roselius Museum and Paula Modersohn-Becker Museum: Böttcherstraße 6–10. Open Tuesday-Sunday 11:00-18:00. Admission: €10; children under 18 free. Website.
On the same street is the Glockenspiel House, originally two warehouses from the city’s Hanseatic days. Notice the set of 30 Meissen porcelain bells, which are played three times a day. Watch for the wooden panels that rotate at the same time, colored with relief images of famous sailors. The two buildings are now an office building.
Weser River
If the weather is good, a walk along the Weser River is pleasant. On Saturdays in the warmer months a flea market takes place, which combines well with a promenade along the water. Kiosks offer food and, especially, beer to keep you going. You’ll be charged an extra euro for the glass, which you get back when you return it, but why not keep it as a souvenir?
Another option in the warmer months is to take a boat ride along the river or farther afield if the port of Bremerhaven interests you.
Book a walking tour of Bremen.
Schnoor
My favorite section of Bremen is Schnoor. This is the oldest surviving district of Bremen: only a couple of blocks, but lined with houses from the 15th to 18th centuries. While these were originally poor fishermen’s homes, nowadays it’s a pedestrian shopping district with lots of interesting little shops, galleries and cafés.
The Wallanlagen in Bremen
If you look at a map of Bremen, you’ll see that the old center of town is bordered on one side by the Weser River and on the other by a zigzag-shaped canal called the Wallgraben, the old city moat.
The points of the zigzag – what remains of the old city defensive walls – have been landscaped into beautiful gardens called the Wallanlagen. We walked from the Schnoor section around the center of the city through this lovely park as far as the unexpected Muhle am Wall, a Dutch windmill. This one was built in 1898 to replace several earlier ones, but apparently the Wallanlagen had 15 windmills in the 18th century. On a sunnier day we might have stopped here for a drink in the mill’s outdoor café, but as it was threatening rain, we gave up walking for the day and headed back to our hotel.
While there is certainly more to see in Bremen – several more old churches, the Bohemian Viertal section, and quite a few museums – we felt that our weekend in Bremen was just enough for a little taste of the main tourist sights. Walking from sight to sight, we enjoyed ourselves, despite overcast skies and occasional rain.
And, in case you were wondering, we were happy to find that the teenagers we left at home didn’t “break the place” or cause any trouble at all!
Have you ever visited Bremen? What would you recommend doing there on a longer visit?
Book your accommodations in Bremen.
Other museums in Bremen
Some of these museums may work together with the two mentioned in the article above to reduce pricing if you go to more than one of them in a day. Make sure to keep your ticket and ask at the next museum.
- Bremen Harbor Museum (History of Bremen as a port city). Am Speicher XI 1. Tram 3 to Waller Ring stop. Open Tuesday-Sunday 11:00-18:00. Admission: €5; children to 18 free. Website (in German).
- The Focke Museum: Bremen State Museum of Art and Cultural History (about the city’s history and general cultural history). Schwachhauser Heerstrasse 240. Take tram 4 to the Focke-Museum stop. Open Tuesday-Sunday 10:00-17:00. Admission: €6; children 18 and under free. Special exhibitions cost more. Website (only in German).
- Gerhard Marcks Haus (an art museum). Am Wall 208. Tram 2 or 3 to Theater am Goetheplatz stop. Open Tuesday-Sunday 10:00-18:00, Thursday open until 21:00. Admission: €5 but they request €10 to support the museum. Children under 18 free. Free on the first Thursday of the month. Leaflet.
- Kunsthalle Bremen (art museum). Am Wall 207. Open Tuesday 10:00-21:00 and Wednesday-Sunday 10:00-18:00, but from February 17, 2026 it will close on Wednesday-Sunday at 17:00. Admission: €18; free for children under 19. Website.
- Übersee-Museum (“Overseas” museum: cultures and natural history). Bahnhofsplatz 13 (opposite the central train station). Open Tuesday-Friday 9:00-17:00, Saturday-Sunday 10:00-17:00. Admission: €15; children 6-17 €7.50. There may be an extra charge for special exhibitions. Website.
- Weserburg Museum of Modern Art. Teerhof 20 (an island in the Weser river). Open Tuesday-Sunday 11:00-18:00. Admission: €12; children to 18 free. When special exhibitions are happening at the GAK Gesellschaft für Aktuelle Kunst (contemporary art), a combi-ticket is €13. Website.
- Wilhelm Wagenfeld Museum (consumer design). Am Wall 209. Take tram 2 or 3 to Theater am Goetheplatz stop. This museum only does temporary exhibitions and is closed when a new one is being set up. When it is open, hours are Tuesday 15:00-21:00 and Wednesday-Sunday 10:00-18:00. Admission: €6. Website (in German).
If you’re planning to spend time in Hamburg too, take a look at these articles:
Getting to Bremen
By car, Bremen is about an hour and a half southwest of Hamburg. Compare rental car prices. Train, assuming it’s on time, will get you to Bremen from Hamburg more quickly than that.
Bremen has its own airport, with many routes within Europe. For the most part, budget airlines like Ryanair, Corendon and Eurowings use this airport.
My travel recommendations
Planning travel
- Skyscanner is where I always start my flight searches.
- Booking.com is the company I use most for finding accommodations. If you prefer, Expedia offers more or less the same.
- Discover Cars offers an easy way to compare prices from all of the major car-rental companies in one place.
- Use Viator or GetYourGuide to find walking tours, day tours, airport pickups, city cards, tickets and whatever else you need at your destination.
- Bookmundi is great when you’re looking for a longer tour of a few days to a few weeks, private or with a group, pretty much anywhere in the world. Lots of different tour companies list their tours here, so you can comparison shop.
- GetTransfer is the place to book your airport-to-hotel transfers (and vice-versa). It’s so reassuring to have this all set up and paid for ahead of time, rather than having to make decisions after a long, tiring flight!
- Buy a GoCity Pass when you’re planning to do a lot of sightseeing on a city trip. It can save you a lot on admissions to museums and other attractions in big cities like New York and Amsterdam.
Other travel-related items
- It’s really awkward to have to rely on WIFI when you travel overseas. I’ve tried several e-sim cards, and GigSky’s e-sim was the one that was easiest to activate and use. You buy it through their app and activate it when you need it. Use the code RACHEL10 to get a 10% discount!
- Another option I just recently tried for the first time is a portable wifi modem by WifiCandy. It supports up to 8 devices and you just carry it along in your pocket or bag! If you’re traveling with a family or group, it might end up cheaper to use than an e-sim. Use the code RACHELSRUMINATIONS for a 10% discount.
- I’m a fan of SCOTTeVEST’s jackets and vests because when I wear one, I don’t have to carry a handbag. I feel like all my stuff is safer when I travel because it’s in inside pockets close to my body.
- I use ExpressVPN on my phone and laptop when I travel. It keeps me safe from hackers when I use public or hotel wifi.
Rachel Heller is a writer living in Groningen, the Netherlands. She is the owner and primary author of this website, Rachel’s Ruminations, a travel blog focused on independent travel with an emphasis on cultural and historical sites/sights. Read more here about her and about this website. All photos in her articles are her own, unless otherwise specified. Rachel also owns and operates a website about World Heritage travel.
I love all the buildings in your photos. Bremen looks a great place to visit and wander around. Lots of charm.
It is!
Hello Rachel, not sure if I have mentioned this in your blog but my German ancestor was from Bremen (or from the area), so, I have always had the desire to visit Northern Germany to find more about my roots. I am glad the city looks so great. Gives me more impulse to plan a trip to the area.
Let me know when you’re headed this way! The landscape around here, and between here and Bremen, is FLAT. Fields, farms, villages, the occasional windmill or canal. That’s about it!
I just love the towns of Germany — at least the ones I’ve visited so far and judging by your post I’m pretty sure I’d love Bremen. I was actually in Bremen very briefly, just to make a train change. Wish I’d planned better and stayed.
Bremen doesn’t have as much to see as cities like Berlin or Koln, but it’s worth a day or two!
I know what you mean about leaving teenagers at home. It was a great idea to be close on the first occasion – you will feel more comfortable from now on. Bremen looked like a good choice and it is nice not to have to travel very far for a couple of days. It sounds like an interesting place with the zigzags and 15th century houses turned shops.
I wasn’t really worried about the kids. They’re all good kids. And the worst that happened was a messy kitchen! (Teenagers eat A LOT!)
I hope to visit Europe some day & it’s good to read about some of the “lesser-known” places like Bremen.
And as for “teens” alone…I always think of those impromptu Facebook “parties” that you get to read about in the papers the next day- lol.
Haha, I know! Though none of them is the type to do that. A few years ago in our next-door town, one party got so out of hand that it made international news! That happened because the girl whose birthday it was set the event on Facebook to public and shareable rather than private. Thousands showed up! That may be the party you read about…
This is a lovely post Rachel!
Bremen is a very nice historical town with (in my opinion) an English feel but then again, i say the same thing about Heidelberg which reminds me of York lol!
I think a weekend is fine as Bremen is such a small place. However, my German in-laws live about 30 mins away in a town called Achim and Oyten. If you have a few more days, I would recommend them for the valleys, fields, lakes and horse-riding!
Thanks for the recommendation!
This time your teens were nice and obedient to get your trust and next time they’ll have a great party 😉 #TPThursday
That hadn’t occurred to me … :/