Wolfgang Schewe and the Boutique Hotel Nixe on Rügen

From engineer and ice pioneer to Binz's successful hotelier

Published: March 18, 2025

Wolfgang Schewe stands on the roof of the Hotel am Meer on the island of Rügen and looks out over the Baltic Sea.

A summer morning on the beach promenade, a breeze is blowing across the Baltic Sea, mice are squawking and Wolfgang Schewe is walking to work at the Hotel Am Meer. It is his hotel. He opened it in 1995, even though he was an engineer, not a hotelier, and earned his money as an ice cream wholesaler. Nevertheless, he invested in a hotel. Because Schewe had understood one thing: In pioneering times, you can't be timid. You have to follow your gut instinct.

Wolfgang Schewe with daughter Johanna in the restaurant of the Hotel am Meer with a coffee and both laughing.

Wolfgang Schewe and the next generation

His gut feeling and the development

It was a big project, with 60 rooms, and Schewe says that he slept badly at the time. Deep down, however, he always knew that he would make it. And at the latest when he saw how the first guests felt, it was finally clear to him: he was on the right track.

A room from the inside at the Hotel am Meer in Binz - bed, seating with a view of the promenade

For the good and the beautiful

View into the rooms of the "Hotel Am Meer"

Schewe was and is passionate about his work. Sometimes, during a conversation, he literally runs his fingers over the tabletop, as if something inside him is delighted by the fine grain of the wood.

He always had a special sense for spaces, furniture and materials. But then he graduated in engineering, left the former GDR for political reasons and only returned to his home island of Rügen in 1990.

Fisherman's beach next to the village of Binz on Rügen with plants and stones - the view of the water
The hotelier loves the quiet corners of Binz. The fishing beach for example
The "Nixe" house nestles romantically behind the dune grass in Binz at sunset.
The "Nixe" ducks romantically behind the dune grass in Binz.
The beach and promenade of Binz from the air with the pier and part of the Baltic Sea at sunrise
Unmissably beautiful, the beach and the promenade with the Binzer pier on Rügen

In Binz, Schewe opened a second hotel in 2018: the Boutique Hotel Nixe with a fine spa and first-class restaurant, which he opened in a listed Art Nouveau villa. It is located where the white Binzer Bäder architecture shines brightest: on the beach promenade. Wolfgang Schewe likes the beach promenade, but also the quiet corners of Binz. The fishing beach. The beech forest that begins there and stretches up the coast. But his favorite place is the Blue Moon Lounge, right at the top of the „Hotel Am Meer“, a place for looking outwards and inwards. Just as it should be for a pioneer.

Worth seeing

in Binz on Rügen

31 results

  • Außenansicht Hotel Villa Schwanebeck // © Franke

    Hotel Villa Schwanebeck

    • Margaretenstrasse, 18609 Binz

    The cozy-small hotel is a Binz-typical bathing style villa, it is quietly and centrally located in Alt-Binz, only 50 m to the famous beach promenade. Spacious double rooms, small suites and single rooms available.

    Read more: "Hotel Villa Schwanebeck"

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