Heligoland
Germany'S Only True High Seas Island: A Red Sandstone Plateau With The Lange Anna Sea Stack, Germany'S Sole Mainland Free Gannet And Kittiwake Cliff Colony, A Duty Free Regime And No Private Cars · Helgoland, Schleswig-Holstein
Heligoland is Germany's only true high-seas island, a red sandstone plateau about 50 km out in the North Sea with a sand islet, the Duene, across its harbour. It is unlike anywhere else in the country: cliffs with the Lange Anna sea stack at their northern end, a seabird colony of gannets, kittiwakes and guillemots packed onto the Lummenfelsen ledges, no private cars and no bicycles, a duty-free regime that fills the day boats with people buying spirits and cigarettes, and grey seals hauled out on the Duene's beaches. Its history is violent: bombed heavily in 1945, then blown up by the British in 1947 in one of the largest non-nuclear detonations ever set off, and used as a bombing range until the islanders were allowed home in the early 1950s. Getting here is the catch. Ferries and catamarans from Cuxhaven, Buesum, Hamburg and the islands are weather-dependent and crossings are cancelled in bad weather. A day trip gives you roughly four hours ashore; staying over is a different island.
Heligoland and its Duene islet, about 50 km off the German North Sea coast, reached by ferry or catamaran, Helgoland, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
The island is inhabited and open all year, and the cliff-top path, the harbour and the village are free and walkable at any hour. What runs to a timetable is the crossing: ferries and catamarans from Cuxhaven and Buesum operate most of the year with reduced winter service, the seasonal fast service from Hamburg and the trips from the East Frisian islands run roughly spring to autumn, and all of them cancel in strong wind or heavy swell, sometimes the same morning - confirm the day before and again on the day. The harbour boat to the Duene runs frequently in daylight in season and sparsely in winter. The lift between Unterland and Oberland, the shops and the museum keep shorter winter hours, and most duty-free shops open around the arrival of the day boats rather than early.