The Kaliningrad Region (Kaliningrad Oblast) is a relatively small exclave of the Russian Federation, which lies between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic coast and the Fresh Lagoon. It covers an area of ​​15,125 km² and borders two states:
– Poland with a length of 206 km and
– Lithuania with a length of 303 km.
– although the region is part of Russia, it has no limit to it

The Kaliningrad area has a coast to the Baltic Sea and the Fresh Lagoon with a length of around 250 km.

Tidal range

At Kaliningrad the mean tidal range of the Baltic Sea is only around 0.3 m. (Detailed explanations under tides, ebb and flow.)

Compare
The world’s highest tidal range can be found in the Bay of Fundy in Canada, where it is up to 16 m, and at spring tide even over 20 m. The Bay of Fundy is located on the Atlantic between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, which is called Nova Scotia in German and whose capital is Halifax. On the German North Sea coast it varies between 1 m and 3 m. In the western Baltic Sea, on the other hand, the tidal range is only 0.3 m, while it is barely noticeable in the eastern Baltic Sea.

Longitude and latitude

The Kaliningrad region extends roughly over the following geographical latitude (abbr.) And geographical longitude (abbrev.):

Δφ = from 54 ° 18 ‘to 55 ° 16’ north latitude Δλ = from 20 ° to 22 ° 48 ‘east longitude

You can find detailed information on this subject under:
geographical longitude and latitude, general

Time

For the Kaliningrad region, the following value applies to Central European Time (CET). A minus sign means that it is earlier there and a plus sign that it is later than after CET:

Δ t (CET) = + 1 h

More detailed explanations of the time can be found under: Time zones, time.

The highest point of the sun in Kaliningrad

Kaliningrad lies at a north latitude of around 55 °.
When the sun or its image point is at the tropic, i.e. at = 23.5 °, summer starts in Kaliningrad – as in the rest of Europe – on June 21st. Then, for the highest position of the sun at noon, according to Eq. 1 (see position of the sun, general)

55 ° = (90 ° – h) + 23.5 °

so:

H = 58.5 °

This is the highest level above the horizon (exactly: above the chimney) that the sun occupies within the year in Kaliningrad.

Mountains or elevations

Wystiter Hügelland
The highest point in the Kaliningrad area is 230 m high and belongs to the Wystiter Hügelland in Rominter Heide.

Rivers

Memel
The longest river in the country is the Memel (Russian Neman). The Memel rises southeast of Minsk in Belarus, flows through Lithuania and after around 735 km flows into the Curonian port together with its two main estuaries – the Russ and Gilgestrom. From Tilsit, its lower reaches form the border with Lithuania.

Pregel
The Pregel has a length of around 123 km and flows into the Fresh Lagoon at Kalinigrad (Königsberg). The river is created by the confluence of the Instrutsch (Inster) and the Angrapa near the city of Chernyachovsk (Insterburg), which has 41,000 residents.

Angrapa (Angerapp)
The river “rises” in the Mamry (Wall Lake) in Poland and after approx. 172 km through the confluence with the Inster at Tschernjachowsk (Insterburg) forms the Pregel

Instrutsch (Inster)
The Instrutsch has a length of km up to the confluence with the Angrapa to the Pregel.

Lawa (all)
The river has its source in Poland, which it passes through for approx. 190 km before it flows into the Kaliningrad Oblast and here after another 75 km flows into the Pregel near the village of Znamensk.

Lakes

Wystiter See
The country includes some very small lakes. The largest of these is Lake Wystiter on the border with Lithuania with an area of ​​17 km². With a depth of up to 40 m, it is also the deepest lake in the country and dates from the Ice Age.

Curonian Spit, Fresh Spit

Curonian Spit
The Curonian Spit (= headland) lies between Klaipėda (in German: Memel) in Lithuania and Lesnoi (in the Kalinigrad region). The southern part belongs to the Russian Kaliningrad region. It is a total of around 100 km long headland, the widest point of which is around 4 km wide. They separate the Curonian Lagoon from the Baltic Sea.
In earlier times the vegetation was cut down in many places on the island, and the sandy soil no longer had a hold. Shifting dunes were created, some of which were later planted with pine trees, birches and juniper trees. Places were buried under the great sand dunes until the 19th century. Near Nidda and Pillkoppen are the largest dunes with a height of up to 70 m. Many artists saw the special charm of the landscape, and pictures of the Curonian Spit and the Curonian Lagoon by Lovis Corinth, Bischoff-Culm, Max Pechstein, Schmidt-Rottluff, Wilhelm Eisenblätter, Ernst Mollenhauer and others were created! Thomas Mann built a holiday home here in 1929, where he and his family spent the summer holidays from 1930 to 1932. The house is now a museum.
The Kurschskaya Kossa National Park is located on the peninsula. In addition to the Museum of the Curonian Spit, visitors to the dune landscape can also visit the famous ornithological station in Rossitten.
The Curonian Spit with the sand dune near Nida (Nida) in Lithuania was added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 2000 as a cross-border world heritage site.

Fresh Spit
The Fresh Spit is an approx. 70 km long headland that separates the Fresh Lagoon from the Baltic Sea. The maximum width of the Fresh Spit is around 1.8 km. The transition from the Fresh Lagoon to the Gdańsk Bay lies near Baltiysk – the former Pillau. The border with Poland is at a northern latitude of around 54 ° 25`.

Fresh lagoon, Curonian lagoon and the Baltic Sea

Fresh Lagoon
The Fresh Lagoon is part of Poland and the Russian Kalinigrad Oblast. The border between Poland and the Kaliningrad Oblast runs not quite in the middle of the Fresh Lagoon. The Kalinigrad Oblast borders the Fresh Lagoon in the southwest and the Curonian Lagoon in the northwest, both of which are part of the Baltic Sea. The oblast borders directly on the Baltic Sea between the two Haffs or spits. The Fresh Lagoon is part of the Baltic Sea and is bordered by the Fresh Spit – a relatively narrow tongue of land about 70 km long and a few hundred meters wide (maximum 1.8 km) – by the Gdańsk Bay and thus by the open Baltic Sea Cut. The transition to the Gdańsk Bay is at Baltiysk – the former Pillau.

Curonian Lagoon
The Curonian Lagoon is separated from the Baltic Sea by the Curonian Spit (= headland). The northern part of the lagoon and the spit with the famous sand dune of Nida (Nida) belongs to Lithuania and the southern part to Kaliningrad Oblast. The border to the Lithuanian part of the lagoon lies at a northern latitude of around 55 ° 15` – with a length on the Russian side of around 40 km and a maximum width of around 40 km. The length of the Curonian Spit in the area of ​​the oblast, which extends here in an almost straight direction from southwest to northeast, is around 45 km. The Memel flows into the lagoon and, in front of it, forms the border with Lithuania with its two estuary arms.