Sylt
Germany's northernmost island, with surf on the west, the Wadden Sea on the east, thatched roofs over two-Key hotels, and a jet stand ten minutes from Westerland.
- Arrival
- Sylt Airport · GWT
- On the island
- About 10 minutes from the GAT to Westerland
- Private jets
- GAT on Apron 2, handled by Sylt Air
- Best time
- July to August
The city
Dunes to the sea, mud flats to the mainland.
The island is a long strip of sand: open North Sea along the west shore, where Rantum alone has seven kilometres of beach, and the tidal Wadden Sea along the east. Keitum, the old captains' village, keeps its Frisian farmhouses on that eastern side, and at Morsum the land ends in a protected cliff above the flats.
Summer is short and seldom hot. July and August are the bathing months, with afternoons near twenty degrees and the sea at seventeen or eighteen; beach chairs are out from April to October. Söl'ring Hof, on its dune above Rantum, cooks with two MICHELIN stars.
Arriving
An airfield in the middle of the island.
Sylt Airport lies at Tinnum, in the centre of the island, so every village is a short drive away. Trains from Hamburg and car trains to the mainland are the other way across.
- London 1 h 15
- Munich 1 h 20
- Kuwait City 5 h 50
- New York 8 h 00 long-range jet
- Bangkok 11 h 50 long-range jet
When to go
July to August.
The North Sea keeps summers cool and winters mild: afternoons reach about 20 °C in July and August and the sea warms to 17 or 18 °C. Autumn is the wet season, with October and November the rainiest months, and the weather changes quickly at any time of year.
- 3° J 66 4°
- 3° F 41 3°
- 5° M 48 4°
- 10° A 43 7°
- 15° M 48 11°
- 19° J 61 15°
- 20° J 71 17°
- 20° A 84 18°
- 17° S 86 16°
- 13° O 94 13°
- 8° N 94 8°
- 4° D 76 5°
What to see and do
Days in and around Sylt.
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Landmark
Rantum beach
Seven kilometres of fine sand on the west coast, below the dune where Söl'ring Hof stands.
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Landmark
Keitum
The captains' village on the Wadden Sea shore, its Frisian farmhouses still under thatch.
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Landmark
Morsum Kliff
A nature reserve at the eastern tip, with banded sands and a wide view over the tidal flats.
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Wildlife
Adler-Schiffe seal trips
From List harbour, the cutters Gret Palucca and Rosa Paluka sail for about 90 minutes to the seal banks, lowering a trawl net to show North Sea life.
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Culture
Erlebniszentrum Naturgewalten Sylt
Exhibits on Hafenstrasse cover storm floods, rising seas, Germany's largest shifting dune, seals and whales across more than 1,500 square metres.
Official site -
Food & wine
Dittmeyer's Austern-Compagnie
Sylter Royal oysters have been farmed on tables in Blidsel Bay since 1986, and the company's oyster bar in List serves them beside the seawater pools.
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Nature
Listland shifting dunes
Dunes up to 30 metres high move as much as 10 metres a year in this reserve, protected since 1923 and seen from a viewing dune off Mövenbergstrasse.
Official site -
Golf
Golf-Club Sylt
Between Wenningstedt and Kampen, the club has an 18 hole and a 9 hole course, described as Germany's northernmost greens.
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Golf
Marine Golf Club Sylt
Opened in 2006, this 18 hole links course runs through dune and heath on 80 hectares at Tinnum, with deep pot bunkers and steady wind.
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Nature
Uwe-Düne
At about 52 metres this dune in Kampen is the highest point on Sylt, and an easy 9 km walk continues to the Braderuper Heide reserve.
Where to stay
Under thatch, on the dune, beside the links.
Shown for information. We have no arrangement with any of these hotels.
- Söl'ring Hof A thatched house on the dune, many of its rooms with a fireplace or terrace, and two MICHELIN stars in the dining room.
- BUDERSAND Hotel – Golf & Spa Seventy-seven rooms at the southern tip, every one with a balcony over the golf links or the sea.
- Landhaus Stricker Thirty-eight colourful rooms behind a traditional front, laid out by the chef Holger Bodendorf, whose starred restaurant is downstairs.
- Severin's Resort & Spa Ninety-five rooms facing the Wadden Sea under one of the largest thatched roofs in Europe, about 5,000 square metres.
- Hof Galerie Twenty rooms that double as a gallery for island artists, with breakfast under old lime trees by a fountain.
- Landhaus Severin*s Morsum Kliff Thirteen rooms in a thatched house inside the Morsum Kliff reserve, its terrace turned to the tidal flats.
Where to dine
A dune with two stars, three houses with one.
From the MICHELIN Guide 2026, shown for information. We have no arrangement with any of these restaurants.
- Söl'ring Hof Two Michelin stars Modern, creative €€€€ Rantum
- BODENDORF'S One Michelin star Modern French €€€€ Landhaus Stricker, Tinnum
- Tipken's by Nils Henkel One Michelin star Modern €€€€ Severin's, Keitum
- KAI3 One Michelin star Modern, creative €€€€ Budersand, Hörnum
Elsewhere in Germany
More reasons to come.
- Berlin The Brandenburg Gate, Museum Island and a capital still remaking itself.
- Munich The opera, the beer halls, and the Alps an hour to the south.
- Hamburg The port, the Elbphilharmonie and the Alster lakes.
- Frankfurt The banking capital, with one of the busiest airports in Europe.
- Baden-Baden A spa town on the edge of the Black Forest, with its casino and festival hall.
- Garmisch-Partenkirchen Under the Zugspitze, the highest mountain in Germany.
Flying to Sylt?
Choose how you arrive.
A Business or First Class seat on a scheduled airline, or an aircraft of your own. Tell us the date and how many are travelling, and we reply with one final price, our margin included.