Bad Schwartau is a small spa town just north of Lübeck, on the river Schwartau where it bends toward the Bay of Lübeck. The "Bad" prefix marks it as a recognised health resort: there is an iodine-saline spring and the Sole-Therme spa, along with the Kurpark with its Wandelhalle and Kneipp pools.
Most visitors come either to take a cure or as a short stop on the way somewhere else. The town is best known nationally for one thing: the Schwartauer Werke factory, which has been making the jars of Schwartau jam found on every German breakfast table since 1899. Otherwise it is a quiet, leafy place — pleasant enough to walk through if you happen to be in Lübeck and want a half-day's escape from the old town. The Baltic coast at Travemünde is just a few kilometres further north.