Germany (Lonely Planet, 6th Edition) - Andrea Schulte-Peevers [639]
SYLT
04651 / pop 21,000
The anchor-shaped island of Sylt is attached to the mainland by a narrow causeway. On its west coast, the North Sea’s fierce surf and strong winds gnaw mercilessly at the shoreline. By contrast, Sylt’s eastern Wadden Sea shore is tranquil and serene. At low tide, the retreating shallows expose vast mudflats.
Sylt’s candy-striped lighthouses rise above wide expanses of shifting dunes, fields of gleaming yellow-gold rape flower and expanses of heath. Dotted along its beaches, the island also has several saunas, where the idea is to heat up and then run naked into the chilly North Sea!
Despite its glut of upmarket restaurants and designer boutiques, it’s easy enough to lose the glamour and crowds on the beaches, in the dunes or on a hiking or bike trail.
Return to beginning of chapter
Orientation
Sylt is 38.5km long and measures only 700m at its narrowest point. The largest town, commercial hub and train terminus is Westerland on the island’s central west coast. Keitum is on the central east coast. North of Westerland is Wenningstedt, while Kampen is north again, and List still further north. Rantum is south of Westerland; Hörnum is at the narrow southern tip.
Return to beginning of chapter
Information
All communities on Sylt charge visitors a Kurtaxe (resort tax) of €3.50 per day. In return you receive a Kurkarte (resort card), which you need to get onto the beach; it also entitles you to small discounts at museums. If you’re staying overnight, your hotel will automatically obtain a pass for you, adding the Kurtaxe to the room rate. Day-trippers will need to buy a Tageskarte (day pass) from tourist offices or the kiosks at entrances to the beach.
The Kampen tourist office ( 469 80; www.kampen.de, in German; Hauptstrasse 12; 10am-5pm Mon-Fri, 10am-1pm Sat & Sun, reduced hours in winter) produces a quirky illustrated map of the ‘in’ restaurants, bars and clubs. Information is also available from the Keitum tourist office ( 337 74; www.sylt-ost.de; Am Tipkenhoog 5; 9am-4.30pm Mon-Fri, 10am-1pm Sat), the Wenningstedt tourist office ( 4470; www.wenningstedt.de, in German; Strandstrasse 25; 8.30am-4pm Mon-Fri, 9am-4pm Sat) and Westerland’s three tourist offices ( 9980; www.westerland.de):
Main tourist office (Strandstrasse 35; 9am-6pm Mon-Fri May-Oct, 9am-5pm Mon-Fri Nov-Apr) Has internet terminals.
Tourist information booth (Friedrichstrasse 44; 9am-5pm Mon-Thu, to 2pm Fri) On Westerland’s main pedestrianised shopping and restaurant strip. Hours can fluctuate.
Tourist information desk (Bahnhof; 9am-1pm & 2-6pm daily year-round) Inside the train station’s Reisezentrum (travel centre).
Return to beginning of chapter
Sights & Activities
WESTERLAND
People have been complaining about the overdevelopment of Westerland ever since it became Sylt’s first resort in the mid-19th century. Their protestations seem to have gone unheeded: the island’s largest town (with 8927 permanent residents) is now a forest of concrete towers, often blocking sea views. It has a laidback holiday atmosphere, though, and makes a convenient base. The pedestrianised Friedrichstrasse is awash with shops and restaurants; and if you want to go anywhere else on the island, this is the easiest place to start from.
Windsurfing off Sylt is known as the most radical on the World Cup tour, when the final tour takes place here each September, with wild winds and waves. Yet even beginners shouldn’t be deterred. The island has numerous water-sports schools, including Westerland’s Surf Schule Westerland Sunset Beach ( 271 72; www.sunsetbeach.de; Brandenburger Strasse 15), which offer lessons and also rent out equipment for windsurfing as well as kitesurfing, regular surfing and catamaran sailing.
Indoors, get wet on water slides or in the swimming pools – or steamy in the saunas – at the Sylter Welle ( 0180-500 9980; Strandstrasse 32; admission with/without sauna €16.50/9.50; 10am-9pm Mon, 10am-10pm Tue-Sun).
KEITUM
Historic reed-thatched houses strangled with ivy, lush gardens of colourful blooms,