Kiel Canal

The Nord-Ostsee-Kanal — the Kiel Canal — connects the North Sea to the Baltic at its eastern end in Kiel, and is the world's busiest artificial waterway by vessel count. Some 30,000 ships pass through each year, cutting 460km off the voyage around the Jutland peninsula.

The Holtenau locks at the canal's eastern entrance are the place to see it. Ships the size of city blocks glide through a gap barely wider than their beam, within metres of the towpaths and benches where visitors sit. The contrast between the suburban setting and the industrial scale of the vessels is startling.

The canal itself stretches west across Schleswig-Holstein to Brunsbüttel on the Elbe. Cycle paths run along much of its length, and there are viewing benches at several bridges along the route for those who want more ship-watching.

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A story
The Nord-Ostsee-Kanal was opened in 1895 by Kaiser Wilhelm II, who saw it primarily as a strategic military route that would allow the Imperial Navy to move between the North Sea and the Baltic without passing through Danish waters. At 98.6km it was, at the time of its opening, the longest ship canal in the world. Today it handles more ship traffic than the Suez and Panama Canals combined — around 30,000 vessels a year — and has become the world's busiest artificial waterway by vessel count.

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