In the past Rugen may have been hidden behind the iron curtain, however it has now become a popular holiday destination for Germans and non Germans alike. Rugen is Germany’s largest island and is situated in the Baltic Sea off the coast of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. There are a number of hotels in Rügen as well as many other reasons why people may wish to visit this amazing island. There are a number of options for the traveller who wants to go to Rugen as the island is connected to the mainland by a bridge, which is able to be crossed by road or rail. A ferry service also connects the mainland to the island, with services operating from the mainland towns of Stalsund, Wolgast and Greifswald. Rugen also has an airport located in Guttin. All of these options mean that the island of Rugen is easily accessible by road, rail, sea and air.

A great many visitors who have stayed in a Hotel Rügen used to get to their destination by using the Rugendamm bridge. It was a road and rail bridge which connected Rugen with the city of Stralsund on the German mainland. The bridge was constructed in the 1930’s, opening in 1936 to the delight of locals and tourists alike. There were three separate parts to the Rugendamm; the Stelasundbrucke which is the actual 1.8 km bridge over the Strelasund, the Ziegelgrabenbrucke which is another bridge over the Ziegelgraben which had to open three times a day to allow tall ships to pass, and a road and rail track on the small island of Danholm between these two bridges. Because of this complicated solution in getting to Rugen, a new bridge has recently been built which deals with some of the problems of the Rugendamm.

In the past anybody who wanted to get to a wellness hotel rügen by road or rail would have to put up with the huge traffic jams that would happen three times every day when the Ziegelgraben would open for the tall ships to pass. This could be a nightmare for travellers as well as for locals. In 2004 construction on a bigger and longer bridge began, and this was opened on October 20th 2007 by the German chancellor Angela Merkel. This is a much larger construction, being 4.1 km in length for the entire connection and having a pylon height at the centre of 128 metres. This new bridge is known as the Rugenbrucke and has made the lives of travellers to and locals of the island of Rugen much easier.

Many of Rugen’s most famous locations and hotels are accessible from a historic narrow gauge steam railway system. A ferry system is also in place, both a cable ferry from Stahlbrode and a regular ferry from Trelleborg in Swedon. Rugen’s airport is located in Guttin and there are regular flights to and from Berlin and Uetersen, and irregular flights from a few other locations as well. Getting to a hotel in rugen is never going to be a problem, the hardest part of your journey may be deciding what method of transport you are going to use.