Wismar, Germany

Fate had it in for WISMAR. The first Hanseatic city east of Lübeck has similar looks to the league-leader on which it was modelled in a cobbled Altstadt stuffed with gables and red-brick Gothic. And it retains the backbone of the central harbour that made it a rich port with considerable diplomatic clout during a medieval golden age. Unlike Lübeck, however, Wismar was conquered. Snatched by the Swedes in 1648, it became a southern bulwark of the empire and suffered the consequent woes of siege, fire and pillage – the legacy of their hundred-and-fifty-year occupation is scattered throughout, not least the fabulously mustachioed "Swedish heads" that are a town mascot. Worse still were air raids in 1945 that obliterated two massive medieval churches.

Since the Wende, Wismar has taken tourism seriously. It again declares itself a Hansestadt (Hanseatic town), and a major renovation programme has buffed up its neglected charm, something that elevated it onto UNESCO's World Heritage list in a joint application with Stralsund. Away from the set pieces, however, the broad streets have an air of wistful faded grandeur. It may be one reason why film director F. W. Murnau turned to Wismar as a backdrop for his 1922 Gothic-horror classic Nosferatu: shots include the prewar Markt and the vampire's ghostly ship drifting into the old harbour. Dates for the diary include the Hafentage (www.wismarer-hafentage.de), which brings fleets and a funfair to the harbour in the second weekend in June, and Schwedenfest (www.schwedenfest-wismar.de) over the last weekend in August.