Beach holidays in Germany sound like an anomaly, but the marzipan-white resort of Heiligendamm lies along an unexpectedly beautiful Baltic coastline nicknamed "Berlin's bathtub".

In summer, stressed-out capital dwellers regularly journey a few hours north to spend seaside weekends here.

Beer, Beethoven, efficiency — when you're talking Germany, these are the things that roll off most tongues. But beaches? What the world doesn't know is that Germany's northeastern seafront, in the state of Mecklenberg-Vorpommern, has long fired the imagination of its painters, poets and politicians (including one notable dictator). There are expanses of pure white sand, ice-blue waters and coastal pines. White villas, their wrought-iron lacework harking back to the late 18th and early 19th centuries, sit alongside surreal castles commissioned by eccentric Prussian nobles. Street signs are still in Gothic script and holidaymakers still hunker down in traditional Strandkörbe (wicker baskets).

Off-limits to Westerners during the Cold War, the region is now getting hotter, both literally and metaphorically. This year, thousands of environmentally conscious Germans are sticking to their home shores and enjoying temperatures warmer than Mallorca's.

Take a quick splash through the Bathtub's top spots:

Rügen Island:

Much mythologised in the German imagination, Rugen was frequented in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by the country's good and great, including Bismarck, Thomas Mann and Einstein. Its chalk coastline was also immortalised by the Romantic artist Caspar David Friedrich in 1818.

Unfortunately, Hitler was also beguiled by Germany's largest island, choosing one of its most beautiful beaches to build a monstrous holiday resort for his loyal troops. Later, GDR governments made Rügen the holiday choice for dedicated comrades; top apparatchik Erich Honecker visited there. Although it boasts 574km of coast, much of Rügen is covered in leafy vegetation. Driving across the island, you'll pass beneath lush canopies of chestnut, oak, elm and poplar trees. Its surrounding waters are national parks or protected nature reserves.

Many visitors make a beeline for the main resort of Binz and the Stubbenkammer area of white chalk cliffs in the Jasmund National Park. However, Rügen has many corners to explore and also features some interesting historic buildings. Its resorts' white villas have been refurbished since 1990, when the island began to reclaim its place in tourist itineraries. A couple of flights of architectural fancy are found in the planned town of Putbus. The Jagdschloss Granitz, Germany's largest island, which boasts more white cliffs than Dover, features boat trips, spas and the grotesquely compelling shell of the 4.5km-long Nazi holiday resort, Prora, built on Hitler's orders.

Warnemünde:

At the mouth of the Warnow River just north of Rostow is one of Germany's most popular resorts. A lighthouse and a mollusc-shaped 1960s pavilion stand guard over a gorgeous sandy beach where punters sip cocktails, watch flaming sunsets and savour freshly caught seafood.

Heiligendamm:

The "white town on the sea" is Germany's oldest seaside resort, founded in 1793 by the Mecklenburg duke, Friedrich Franz I, and fashionable throughout the 19th century as the playground of nobility. It languished during the Communist era and was only reborn when the exclusive Kempinski Grand Hotel complex reopened in 2003. There's still a little here bar the Kempinski (the G8 venue), but the dinky "Molli" train links to nearby Bad Doberan and Kü:hlungsborn.

Usedom Island:

The first place to be called "Berlin's bathtub", this island is also where the first space rocket was fired in 1942. Once on Usedom, you can walk into Poland, which owns the eastern half. The greatest assets of this island are its 42km stretch of inviting beach and its bask-worthy weather (it has, on average, more than 1900 hours of sunshine annually, which makes it the sunniest place in Germany). Elegant 1920s villas with wrought-iron balconies grace many traditional resorts, including Zinnowitz and Ückeritz in the western half and Bansin, Heringsdorf and Ahlbeck further east.

Hiddensee Island:

If Rügen is exalted, the mention of Hiddensee Island makes Germans swoon. Dat söte Länneken (the sweet little land) is a tiny patch off Rügen's western coast. What makes it so special is its remote, breathtaking landscape. North of the village of Kloster are the heath and meadows of the "Dornbush" area, with the island's landmark lighthouse and wind-buckled trees. From the main village of Vitte, dunes wend their way south to Neuendorf. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Hiddensee bewitched artists such as Thomas Mann, Bertolt Brecht and Gerhart Hauptmann, the last of whom is buried here.

Originally published by Lonely Planet.