Germany (Lonely Planet, 6th Edition) - Andrea Schulte-Peevers [637]
Ask at the tourist office for a map highlighting other stops along the town’s ‘cultural trail’. Many also focus on Theodor Storm, right down to the fountain in the Markt, which shows Tine, a young Frisian woman who figures in a Storm novella. Even the Marienkirche (1829) featured in a couple of his novellas. The church tower is supposed to symbolise a lighthouse.
Kids – and kids at heart – will be enchanted by the puppets on display at the Poppenspäler Museum ( 632 42; www.pole-poppenspaeler.de, in German; Erichsenweg 23; adult/child/family €2/1/5; 2-5pm Sun-Fri Apr-Dec, 2-5pm Mon, Wed & Fri Jan-Mar). In summer, it presents a series of outdoor shows from its century-old ‘puppet wagon’ – check with the museum for annual schedules.
THE HALLIGEN
Is it an island? Is it a sandbank? No, it’s a Hallig, one of about 10 tiny wafer-flat ‘islets’ scattered across the Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea National Park (Nationalpark Schleswig-Holsteinisches Wattenmeer) and home to seal colonies. In the Middle Ages some 50 Halligen existed, but the sea has swallowed up most of them. Up to 60 times a year, floods drown the beaches and meadows, leaving the few reed-thatched farms stranded on the artificial knolls, or ‘wharves’, that they’re built on. An aerial shot of such stranded farms is a favourite postcard image.
Most people visit the islets on day excursions. The prettiest destination is Hallig Hooge, which once sheltered a Danish king from a storm in the handsome Königshaus, with its blue and white tiles and baroque ceiling fresco. Other popular Halligen include Langeness and Gröde.
Between April and October, boat trips run by Adler Schiffe ( 04842-900 00; www.adler-schiffe.de, in German) sail from Nordstrand to Hallig Hooge (€19.50 return). See opposite for bus connections from Husum to Nordstrand, as well as boat trips from Nordstrand to the North Frisian Islands.
Some Halligen can also be reached directly from the North Frisian Islands (Click here).
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Sleeping & Eating
The tourist office can help book private rooms and holiday apartments.
DJH hostel ( 2714; www.jugendherberge.de/jh/husum; Schobüller Strasse 34; dm under/over 26yr €18.20/21.20 incl linen & breakfast; closed late Dec-early Jan; ) Husum’s hostel is set in a typical and very atmospheric Frisian building with wood-beamed ceilings. It’s a 35-minute walk northwest of the city centre, or take the Schobüll bus from the central bus station to the Westerkamp stop.
Hotel Hinrichsen ( 890 70; www.hotel-hinrichsen.de, in German; Süderstrasse 35; s €49.50-52, d €68-98 incl breakfast; ) A hop, skip and a jump from the Bahnhof (less than five minutes’ walk), this flower-bedecked, white-painted hotel has clean, modern rooms. Bathrooms are largely moulded-plastic constructions, but the friendly welcome makes up for it.
Hotel am Schlosspark ( 2022; www.hotel-am-schlosspark-husum.de; Hinter der Neustadt 76-86; s €59-65, d €89-99 incl breakfast; ) Laid out like a sprawling motel, this smart hotel one block from the Schlosspark has stylish, contemporary decor in pistachio and chocolate tones, and offers pampering beauty and fitness treatments.
Hotel Altes Gymnasium ( 8330; www.altes-gymnasium.de; Süderstrasse 6; s €105-145, d €160-235; ) This five-star hotel is a splendidly historic former high school, with Persian carpets, flagstones, tapestries and chandeliers in the entrance hall, an exalted gourmet restaurant (five-course menu €77, dinner Wednesday to Sunday), cheaper winter-garden restaurant and a cocktail bar. Rooms are as luxurious as you’d expect, but definitely request one in the atmospheric older building rather