Otsi hotelle saarel Sylt (Saksamaa)

With 40 km of sand dunes lining its western shore, Sylt is Germany’s most northerly island. Despite its exposed North Sea position, it benefits from lots of sunshine and more moderate weather than the mainland.

Sheltered on its north-eastern shore is List. Ferries depart from its harbour for the Danish island of Rømø. The dunes and heaths to the south are home to lots of wildlife including water birds and some of the island’s 600 species of butterfly. Seals can also be seen in the surrounding waters, and the waves provide good conditions for windsurfing.

Kampen is a celebrity favourite, while Wenningstedt just south is more family orientated and has a good selection of apartments, holiday homes and hotels available on Booking.com.

However, the largest concentration of Sylt hotels is found in the biggest town Westerland, including a spa health resort and aquarium. Just inland, Tinnum is home to one of the 5-star Sylt hotels and has a grassy mound where a 1st-century BC fortress once stood. A train runs through here and Sylt-Ost then over a causeway on its way to the mainland.

On Sylt’s thinner, southern spur is Rantum, the town that’s had most battles with the dunes, while right at the tip is Hörnum, home to a lighthouse and a long promenade.