Bay of Lübeck

The Bay of Lübeck opens onto the southwestern Baltic, within the larger Bay of Mecklenburg. At Travemünde the River Trave meets the sea, linking the bay with the port of Lübeck upstream. Ships passing through this entrance connected the Hanseatic city with ports around the Baltic.

Lübeck's sea trade also depended on routes into the interior. The Stecknitz Canal, completed in 1398, joined the Trave and Elbe river systems and made it possible to carry Lüneburg salt by water to Lübeck. The bay was thus part of a network connecting inland producers with Baltic shipping.