Timmendorfer Strand can prepare a new ice slide for the winter season. The municipality received the required approval in the week before 14 November 2026, tourism chief Joachim Nitz told Norddeutscher Rundfunk. The attraction is due to open in early December. The Baltic Sea resort hopes it will attract more visitors outside the summer season.
The planned slide is to be around 70 metres long and made of real ice. Around €300,000 has been earmarked for the overall winter programme, including lighting and events, according to NDR. The municipality hopes to attract up to 80,000 more visitors than in previous years. This is an expectation, not a result already achieved. Whether the investment pays off will only become clear after the season.
Elsewhere in Schleswig-Holstein tourism organisations are preparing attractions for the darker months. In Eutin the City of Lights is due to begin on 23 November 2026 and run until 31 January 2027. According to Eutin Tourismus GmbH more than 50 illuminated installations will be displayed in the town centre. They highlight the town’s history, historical figures and its former courtly life. Guided tours of selected installations are among the new features planned.
The event will therefore continue beyond the Christmas period. An earlier event schedule from Eutin Tourismus GmbH had given 3 January 2027 as the end date. The extended period gives the town an opportunity to offer visitors a reason to come after the holidays, too. The announced dates alone do not show whether this will lead to additional overnight stays or sales.
Another offer is aimed specifically at people from the region. Under the Tapetenwechsel promotion, local residents can book discounted hotel stays from 18 November 2026 on the Bay of Lübeck according to NDR. The promotion is due to run from January to the end of February 2027, with a maximum of two nights available. According to the report, bookings are made through the relevant tourist information office.
The different schemes share the same economic goal: towns, hotels and restaurants want to spread demand more evenly across the year, rather than concentrating it so heavily in the peak season. The Schleswig-Holstein Tourism Agency sees additional winter visitors as an opportunity to boost revenue for restaurants, shops and accommodation providers, and thus support year-round jobs. The impact, however, will depend on how many people actually visit, stay overnight and spend money locally.
Such schemes also involve costs for local authorities. Lighting, events and facilities have to be organised and funded before the level of demand is known. In Timmendorfer Strand, approval means one of the requirements for the new slide has now been met; its opening and the hoped-for increase in visitors are still to come.
Editor: Mira Cadena (Article created with AI assistance).