| Stepenitz | |
| Subdivision Type1: | Country |
| Subdivision Name1: | Germany |
| Subdivision Type2: | States |
| Subdivision Name2: | Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Schleswig-Holstein |
| Subdivision Type3: | Reference no. |
| Subdivision Name3: | DE: 9628 |
| Source1 Location: | Northwest of Schwerin and the Neumühler See |
| Source1 Elevation: | ca. |
| Mouth Location: | Into the Pötenitzer Wiek |
| Tributaries Right: | Poischower Mühlenbach |
| Tributaries Left: | Radegast, Maurine |
| Custom Label: | References |
The Stepenitz is a right-hand tributary of the Trave in the northwest of the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and within the borough of Lübeck in the state of Schleswig-Holstein.
The river rises northwest of city of Schwerin and the lake of Neumühler See near the Brüsewitz settlement of Eulenkrug and north of a hill ridge[1] at a height of about . From there it first flows through the lake and then a succession of other lakes, including the, the Cramoner See, the and the . Continuing to head northwest, it collects the River Radegast in Börzow and the Maurine 4km (02miles) before Dassow. The river section from Rüting to Dassow has numerous meanders.
Just behind the in Lübeck the Stepenitz empties into the Dassower See. Through this lake its waters reach the Pötenitzer Wiek, a bay of the Trave river, the Priwall Peninsula and Mecklenburg, where the Stepenitz discharges into the Trave at sea level. A few hundred metres further north, by Travemünde, the Trave reaches the Baltic. The length of the river from source to its mouth on the Dassower See is . Its catchment covers an area of .[2]
The source region of the Stepenitz lies on the . While the Stepenitz flows in a northwesterly direction via the Trave to the Baltic, the waters of the Sude, which rises just a few kilometres further southwest and heads in a southwesterly direction, run via the River Elbe to the North Sea.