Shipspotting on the Kiel Canal: The Kiel lock viewing platform on the southern side of the canal offers an optimal view of the ships in the canal and the Holtenau lock.
With around 30,000 ships passing through the Kiel Canal every year, the connection between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea with locks in Brunsbüttel and Kiel is one of the most frequented artificial sea waterways in the world. The Kiel-Holtenau lock is located in Kiel, one of the two endpoints of the Kiel Canal. It separates the canal from the Kiel Fjord, part of the Baltic Sea. In the Wik district of Kiel there is a viewing platform right next to the lock, from which you can wonderfully watch the passing ships and how they enter the lock chamber and are locked.
Container ship Fenja in the lock chamber
When I visited the lock viewing platform, I was lucky again. Because just as I arrived I was able to make out a container ship in the canal that was approaching the Kiel-Holtenau lock, coming from Brunsbüttel. It wasn’t long before Fenja, a 127 meter long container ship, entered the lock. The ship, coming from Cuxhafen, passed the Kiel Canal on its way to Riga in Eastern Europe.
Photos Kiel Canal Lock Kiel-Holtenau
Kiel Canal Lock system in Kiel
Kiel Canal Lock in Kiel
Kiel Canal viewing platform Kiel-Wik
Kiel Canal locks viewing platform
Kiel Canal viewing platform lock Kiel
Container ship in the Kiel-Holtenau lock
Kiel Canal lock chamber Kiel-Holtenau
Opening times of the viewing platform
You can visit the viewing platform at the Kiel Canal lock in Kiel daily from sunrise to sunset. Entry to the platform costs 1.00 euros. A pay machine is located directly in front of the viewing platform. By the way, parking is free of charge. And there is also a small café on the observation deck, where ice cream, drinks and small snacks can be purchased. If there is no ship in sight: There are also numerous information boards about the canal, its construction and its history.
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