Culture Guide:
Museums & Theatre on the Flensburg Fjord

Flensburg Maritime Museum & Rum Museum

The flagship of Flensburg's museums – and one of the highest-rated attractions in all of Schleswig-Holstein. Since 1984 it has occupied the former 1842 customs warehouse that once stored rum and sugar from the Danish West Indies. Seven permanent exhibitions stage the city's seafaring story with breathtaking atmosphere: it smells of salt, tar and faraway places.

The exhibitions span Flensburg's merchant courtyards and shipping companies, the West India trade in sugar, rum and slavery, and modern marine engineering. A dedicated section confronts the city's colonial legacy without flinching. In the Rum Museum in the old customs cellar, an 18-minute film traces the history of Flensburg rum – from the Caribbean to the grog glass. There is also a bridge simulator to steer yourself and audio guides for the full tour.

Museum Harbour & Museum Shipyard – 20 historic ships

Right on Flensburg's waterfront sits one of the most beautiful historic harbours in northern Germany: the wooden Schiffbrücke pier with around 20 historic sailing vessels is freely accessible at any time. Figureheads, tarred ropes, the smell of wood and saltwater – this is not a museum, this is living maritime tradition. The heart of it is the salon steamer ALEXANDRA from 1908, the oldest of her kind still in excursion service.

The adjoining Museum Shipyard is a non-profit workshop that builds and restores traditional sailing and working boats from historic plans. Three times a year the museum harbour sets sail: the Rum Regatta, the Apple Run to Glücksburg, and the Grog Tour on 26 December.

Braasch Rum Manufactory Museum

For centuries Flensburg was one of Europe's most important rum-trading cities. Inside the Braasch wine and rum house on the historic Rote Straße sits a small, beautifully curated museum about that tradition: free entry, with guided tours every Wednesday at 4pm, followed by a rum tasting.

Museumsberg Flensburg – Art and cultural history

With 3,000 m² of exhibition space, the Museumsberg Flensburg is one of the largest museums in Schleswig-Holstein – and one of the least known outside the region. Set on a hill above the city theatre, it offers a unique view of art and cultural history from the 13th to the 20th century.

Two buildings form a single ensemble: the Heinrich Sauermann House (1902) holds original Schleswig farm parlours and northern Germany's most important historic furniture and applied arts collection. The Hans Christiansen House shows the high-calibre painting collection – its centrepiece is one of the most significant Art Nouveau collections in Germany. On the ground floor: the Natural History Museum.

Outside, the Christiansenpark awaits with the mummy grotto (featuring a Phoenician sarcophagus from around 400 BC!) and the Ice Age House.

Glücksburg Castle Museum – cradle of European royal houses

The Glücksburg moated castle, built 1583–1587, is not only one of the most beautiful Renaissance castles in northern Europe – it is also a museum you should not miss. Its original interior is largely preserved: vividly coloured calfskin tapestries (around 1680), elaborate stuccowork, porcelain and silverware, portraits of European royal houses and the festive Hirschsaal (Stag Hall) of 1591.

Phänomenta – the hands-on museum

The Phänomenta in Flensburg is the original – it was founded in 1993 as the first institution of its kind. More than 170 experiment stations on around 2,500 m² make STEM topics physically tangible. The motto: »from wonder to thinking«. No tour, no guide, no supervision – just facilitators who help when you get stuck.

Housed in a historic courtyard ensemble near the Nordertor, the Phänomenta today belongs to Europa-Universität Flensburg. The main audience is school-age children – but adults are just as amazed.

Glücksburg Planetarium – stars above the fjord

Glücksburg is home to one of the most modern planetariums in Germany – run by Hochschule Flensburg. With its full-dome projection system it shows regular screenings and lectures, including special programmes for school classes.

Stadttheater Flensburg – the Schleswig-Holstein State Theatre

The Stadttheater Flensburg is a listed monument and a cultural institution in one. Built in 1894 to plans by Otto Fielitz, its architecture nods to the Italian Renaissance – with North German brickwork as a concession to local tradition.

Today it is the home of the Schleswig-Holstein State Theatre and its symphony orchestra. The programme spans opera, drama, dance theatre and symphony concerts. The Kleine Bühne in the same building shows chamber productions and premieres. Chamber concerts at the Museumsberg are a Flensburg speciality.

Orpheus Theater – the smallest fine theatre

For more than 25 years the Orpheus Theater has played in the historic timber-framed Porticus of 1740 – with just 60 seats it is one of the smallest and finest theatres in the state. Chandeliers, brass-fitted columns, mirrors, candlelight. The line between stage and audience disappears.

The programme: deliberately diverse, deliberately demanding. Cabaret, jazz, music theatre, tap, chanson, pop – no fixed pigeonhole. No public subsidy: the Orpheus survives entirely on its audience.

Niederdeutsche Bühne – Low German stage drama

Since 1920 the Niederdeutsche Bühne Flensburg has staged drama in Low German – classics and original productions, comedies and serious pieces. In this region Low German is not folklore but a living language. A highlight: the annual Christmas performances from mid-November.

Theaterwerkstatt Pilkentafel – contemporary off-theatre

In one of the winding lanes of the historic captains' quarter sits the Theaterwerkstatt Pilkentafel. The programme ranges from performing arts to dance and performance – with a clear social and political stance. Contemporary, experimental, uncompromising.

Det lille teater – the Danish theatre in Flensburg

Det lille teater has set itself the task of keeping Danish language and culture alive in the border region. The programme features classical and modern Danish plays – plus cabaret and poetry slams.

Krimmelmokel puppet theatre – fairy tales for little audiences

Based at the Deutsches Haus, the Krimmelmokel puppet theatre stages fairy tales and plays for children – from Mother Hulda and Sleeping Beauty to its own productions. A loving offering for the region's youngest theatre-goers.

SG Flensburg-Handewitt – the Hölle Nord at the GP JOULE Arena

There are sporting experiences, and then there is the »Hölle Nord« (»Northern Hell«). When SG Flensburg-Handewitt take the floor at the GP JOULE Arena, something happens that you rarely feel in an arena this size: 6,300 people in one room with no roof above the noise, and the largest standing terrace in the German Handball-Bundesliga.

SG Flensburg-Handewitt is one of the most successful handball clubs in the world. 3 German championships, 4 DHB Cup wins, the EHF European League (most recently May 2025) and the Champions League – the club from Germany's northernmost city has played and won on the very biggest European stages.

The arena has been officially called GP JOULE Arena since October 2024 – previously it was known as the Campushalle and FLENS-ARENA. The two largest fan clubs are called »Die Wikinger« and »Hölle Nord«.

Deutsches Haus & 51 Stufen arthouse cinema

The Deutsches Haus is Flensburg's most important major-event venue – and a building with political history: it was built between 1927 and 1930 by the German state in gratitude that Flensburg had voted for Germany in the 1920 German-Danish referendum.

Symphony concerts, New Year's concerts, balls, galas and conferences take place in the great hall with 1,448 seats. In summer it is a venue for the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival. In the same building: the 51 Stufen arthouse cinema – arthouse film, film series, the Flensburg Short Film Festival, documentaries and special screenings.

Volksbad cultural centre – concerts in the old bathhouse

The Volksbad cultural centre is one of Flensburg's most charming concert and culture venues – a historic bathhouse that became a stage. Its unique rooms with their old tiles and special acoustics have already drawn names like Fettes Brot, Lukas Graham and Royal Republic.

Kulturwerkstatt Kühlhaus – Flensburg's independent culture scene

A former fruit cold-storage building of the German railway – converted into a culture workshop by volunteers. Since 1994 the heart of Flensburg's independent culture scene: concerts, poetry slams, cabaret, open-air summer cinema, legendary techno and 80s parties, and the Kühlhaus summer festival.

Roxy Concerts – Flensburg's concert club

Roxy Concerts is Flensburg's most important club for rock concerts – with a focus on rock, metal, gothic and indie. The low stage and standing-room concept create maximum closeness between artists and audience.

UCI Kinowelt Flensburg – the multiplex for the whole family

For everyone who wants to go to the cinema in the evening without the arthouse demands: UCI Kinowelt Flensburg shows current blockbusters, family films and special screenings on several screens. Right in the middle of Flensburg's city centre.

Haithabu Viking Museum – a millennium of Vikings

Haithabu was once one of the most important trading towns in northern Europe. Opened in 1985, the Haithabu Viking Museum is Germany's oldest and one of the most successful Viking museums – more than four million visitors since opening.

The museum consists of the exhibition building with spectacular original artefacts, plus the open-air site within the historic semicircular rampart, where reconstructed Viking houses based on original finds can be walked through on plank paths. Currently: the exhibition »Viking Twilight« with the Bayeux Tapestry (full-size reproduction, 68 m!).

Gottorf Castle Museum Island – Schleswig

The Schleswig Museum Island is regarded as the largest museum complex between Hamburg and Copenhagen. The Archaeological Museum displays the 23-metre Nydam ship (around 320 AD) in the Nydam Hall – one of the most important archaeological artefacts in northern Europe.

Outside: the Gottorf Globe (a giant 17th-century globe, reconstruction) and the baroque garden reopen from April 2026.