The tripto catalogue lists 17 places on the North Sea and Baltic coasts – islands, cliffs, seaside resorts and beaches. Almost all are family-friendly, and the islands themselves charge no entry.
Heligoland is Germany's only offshore island, with red cliffs, the 47-metre Lange Anna sea stack, gannets on the bird cliff and grey seals on the Düne. Amrum, with the Kniepsand, has one of the widest beaches on the North Sea and is about two hours by ferry from Dagebüll. Föhr is the largest German island reachable only by boat or plane, with the Frisian Cathedral and thatched villages. On the Baltic, Hiddensee is car-free, with the Dornbusch lighthouse and four villages. Cape Arkona at the northern tip of Rügen has two lighthouses, a Slavic hillfort and the fishing village of Vitt, and Binz, with 5 km of sandy beach and white resort architecture, is Rügen's largest seaside resort.
The catalogue's places are in Schleswig-Holstein (seven, mainly North Sea islands) and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (six, mainly Rügen and Hiddensee), plus Övelgönne in Hamburg.
In practice: plan a full day for an island, ideally several. Costs come from the ferry – for example Dagebüll–Amrum €22.80 return – and the spa tax, usually €2.50–3.75 a day; children and teenagers under 18 are often exempt. The swimming season is June to August, while spring and autumn are good for walks and birdwatching.
Coast & islands
Helgoland
Heligoland (Helgoland) is Germany's only offshore island in the open North Sea, a tiny outcrop of red sandstone about 48 km (30 miles) from the mainland. Visitors come for the dramatic cliffs and the 47-meter Lange Anna sea stack, nesting…
Coast & islands
Wittdün auf Amrum
Amrum is one of the three large North Frisian islands and is famous for the Kniepsand, a sand beach up to 1.5 kilometers wide. Behind the beach rise dunes, heath and pine forest, and inland lie thatched-roof Frisian villages. The island is…
Coast & islands
Insel Hiddensee
Hiddensee is a car-free island in the Baltic Sea off the west coast of Rügen and one of the most charming day-trip destinations in northern Germany. About 17 kilometers long, it offers wide sandy beaches, heathland, a hilltop lighthouse an…
Coast & islands
Putgarten
Cape Arkona (Kap Arkona) near the village of Putgarten is the dramatic northern tip of Rügen, Germany's largest island, on the Baltic coast of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Chalk and clay cliffs rise up to 43 meters above the sea, crowned…
Coast & islands
Binz
Binz is the largest and best-known seaside resort on Rügen, Germany's biggest island, on the Baltic coast of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. It's famous for a fine, white sand beach about 5 kilometers long, a promenade lined with ornate whi…
Coast & islands
Wyk auf Föhr
Föhr is Germany's largest island that can only be reached by boat or plane, and its mild climate has earned it the nickname "Frisian Caribbean". This green North Sea island offers a long sandy beach at Wyk, thatched Frisian villages, medie…
Coast & islands
Helgoland
Heligoland (Helgoland) is Germany's only offshore island in the open North Sea, a tiny outcrop of red sandstone about 48 km (30 miles) from the mainland. Visitors come for the dramatic cliffs and the 47-meter Lange Anna sea stack, nesting…
Coast & islands
Wittdün auf Amrum
Amrum is one of the three large North Frisian islands and is famous for the Kniepsand, a sand beach up to 1.5 kilometers wide. Behind the beach rise dunes, heath and pine forest, and inland lie thatched-roof Frisian villages. The island is…
Coast & islands
Wyk auf Föhr
Föhr is Germany's largest island that can only be reached by boat or plane, and its mild climate has earned it the nickname "Frisian Caribbean". This green North Sea island offers a long sandy beach at Wyk, thatched Frisian villages, medie…
Coast & islands
Hooge
On Hallig Hooge, people live on mounds. Because this flat marsh island in the Wadden Sea has no high sea wall, its houses stand on ten artificial dwelling mounds called Warften. Several times a year a storm tide floods the meadows, leaving…
Coast & islands
Insel Hiddensee
Hiddensee is a car-free island in the Baltic Sea off the west coast of Rügen and one of the most charming day-trip destinations in northern Germany. About 17 kilometers long, it offers wide sandy beaches, heathland, a hilltop lighthouse an…
Coast & islands
Putgarten
Cape Arkona (Kap Arkona) near the village of Putgarten is the dramatic northern tip of Rügen, Germany's largest island, on the Baltic coast of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Chalk and clay cliffs rise up to 43 meters above the sea, crowned…
Coast & islands
Helgoland
The Lange Anna ("Long Anna") is a free-standing sea stack of red sandstone off the northwest tip of Helgoland, Germany's only high-sea island, and the island's best-known landmark. At roughly 47 meters tall, it is one of the most photograp…
Coast & islands
Norderney
When the first sea-bathing establishment on any East Frisian island opened on Norderney on 3 October 1797, the island was a poor fishing village. Two centuries later it is the best-known bathing island on the North Sea: white resort archit…
Coast & islands
Binz
Binz is the largest and best-known seaside resort on Rügen, Germany's biggest island, on the Baltic coast of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. It's famous for a fine, white sand beach about 5 kilometers long, a promenade lined with ornate whi…
Coast & islands
Kühlungsborn
Kühlungsborn is really two places. Until 1937 the resorts of Brunshaupten and Arendsee stood side by side and competed so fiercely that much was built twice, including two concert gardens and two piers. Only in 1938 were they merged into t…
Coast & islands
Hamburg
Övelgönne is a small riverside district in Hamburg-Othmarschen with a wide sandy beach, a museum harbor and captains' houses right on the water. Here you can watch huge container ships glide past, stroll along the Elbe beach and look at hi…
Coast & islands
Kampen (Sylt)
The Red Cliff (Rotes Kliff) near Kampen on the island of Sylt is the most striking cliff on Germany's North Sea coast and one of the island's best-known photo spots. Along roughly four kilometers between Kampen and Wenningstedt, rust-red g…
Coast & islands
Heringsdorf
The Heringsdorf Pier on the island of Usedom is one of the longest piers in Germany, stretching 508 meters into the Baltic Sea. It is the landmark of the "Imperial Spas," the elegant 19th-century seaside resorts of Ahlbeck, Heringsdorf and…
Coast & islands
Sellin
Sellin Pier (Seebrücke Sellin) in the seaside resort of Sellin on Rügen is one of the most photographed sights on Germany's Baltic coast. A white, turreted pier house in classic resort architecture sits on stilts above the sea, connected t…
Coast & islands
Sankt Peter-Ording
St. Peter-Ording on the Eiderstedt peninsula in Schleswig-Holstein has one of the most spectacular beaches in Germany: about 12 kilometers long and, at low tide, up to 2 kilometers wide in places. Wooden stilt houses rise from the sand, a…
Coast & islands
Sylt
Sylt is Germany's largest North Sea island and its most famous beach destination, tucked against the Danish border in Schleswig-Holstein. Think nearly 40 kilometers of sandy beach facing the open sea, the glowing Red Cliff at Kampen, shift…
Coast & islands
Rostock
Warnemünde is the seaside resort of the Hanseatic city of Rostock and one of the most popular beach towns on Germany's Baltic coast. It combines one of the widest sandy beaches in the country with a historic lighthouse, a striking 1960s se…
No, the islands are open to all. You pay for the ferry and the spa tax – on Heligoland €3.75 a day for overnight guests from April to October, on Hiddensee €2.50; under-18s are often exempt.
By ferry from Dagebüll: to Amrum in about two hours (€22.80 return) and to Föhr (€16.30 return).
Almost all in the catalogue: Amrum with the Kniepsand, St. Peter-Ording, Binz, Föhr and Heligoland with seals on the Düne.
Updated: · Opening hours and prices can change — check the attraction page before you go.