Wilhelmshaven

Wilhelmshaven is in East Frisia. The city's current population is about 75,000.

Understand

As the name indicates ("haven", or rather in its modern German spelling "Hafen" means harbor), Wilhelmshaven's main claim to fame is its connection to the sea and its function as a harbor. Founded in the 1850s as Prussia's military port on the North Sea, it served as the main harbor for the German navy on the North Sea throughout the Kaiserreich (1871-1918). As the treaty of Versailles greatly limited the size of the German fleet, Wilhelmshaven sought and found new economic activities and invested heavily in tourism, which became the second important "industry". Both the Nazis and post-war Germany kept and expanded the military capacities at Wilhelmshaven, but the most controversial piece of infrastructure is an entirely civilian one; the JadeWeserPort, Germany's largest harbor project. It was opened in 2012 and is intended to become the third largest German port on the North Sea (after Hamburg and Bremen), however due to various factors transport volumes have stayed well below expectations as of 2015.

Get in

Due to the JadeWeserPort, several traffic connections have been upgraded in recent years and/or are scheduled to be upgraded in the future

By car

A29 is intended to serve as a major transportation route to and from the harbor and thus also serves as a good entry point to the city

By train

• 🌍 Wilhelmshaven railway station. Regional trains run from Oldenburg (every half hour to hourly), Osnabrück (every half hour to hourly) and - several times daily - Bremen. If you arrive from further away you will probably have to change trains at one of the latter two.  

By plane

The next major airport is in Bremen (BRE ^IATA), but depending on your plans it might also make sense to fly into Hamburg (HAM ^IATA), as there are more flights to Hamburg than to Bremen.

• 🌍 JadeWeserAirport (WVN  ^IATA). This grandiosely titled general aviation airstrip sees some flights through Yourways serving as their "hub" of sorts of a network contained wholly in northern Germany. Destinations of interest include several of the East Frisian Islands and Sylt.  

By boat

The harbor mainly caters to freight ships and as such there are neither all that many ferry connections, nor is Wilhelmshaven a stop on many cruise-lines. A connection to Heligoland was ended in 2014 due to lack of demand.

Get around

By bus

Wilhelmshaven has a city bus system. Sadly they do not accept the Niedersachsen-Ticket.

See

• JadeWeserPort Infocenter, Am Tiefen Fahrwasser 11, ☎ [phone], fax: [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]. Tu-Su 10:00-18:00. An exhibition on the port as well as modern container trade in general. They also offer bus tours through the harbor itself (6.90€,5.90€ reduced; combined ticket with exhibition 9.90€, 7.90€ reduced). You can access the roof of the exhibition building to see what is going on at the harbor from a better vantage point. adult: 4€ reduced: 2.50€. (updated Apr 2016)
• 🌍 Deutsches Marinemuseum (Navy museum). (updated Mar 2017)
• 🌍 Botanischer Garten der Stadt Wilhelmshaven, Gökerstraße 125. botanical garden (updated Mar 2017)
• 🌍 Kaiser-Wilhelm-Brücke (Emperor William Bridge). 159m long swing bridge (updated Mar 2017)

Do

Buy

Eat

• 🌍 An Bord, Schleusenstraße 22, ☎ [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]. (updated Dec 2016)
• 🌍 Südstrand 101, Südstrand 101, ☎ [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]. (updated Dec 2016)

Drink

Sleep

• 🌍 Apart-Hotel Seenelke, Südstrand 120, ☎ [phone], fax: [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]. single from 105€ double from 150€. (updated Apr 2016)
• 🌍 Ecosleep Boardinghouse, Marktstraße 146, ☎ [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]. single from 32€ double from 56€. (updated Apr 2016)
• 🌍 Hotel Fürstenwerth, Marktstraße 95, ☎ [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]. Check-in: 14:00-18:00, check-out: till 11:00. single from 59€ incl. breakfast double from 84€ incl. breakfast. (updated Apr 2016)

Connect

Go next

• Varel
• Bremerhaven
• Lower Saxon Wadden Sea National Park