Darss West Beach: Western Pomerania’s wild Hamptons
Dhis dream beach doesn’t need coconut trees. Instead, between the dunes and the sea, crooked pines line the western beach of Darß near Prerow on the Fischland-Darß-Zingst peninsula in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
At sunset over the sea you simply tie your hammock between the trees. You then look to the left, to the right and all you see as far as the horizon is beach, dunes and sea, dried out driftwood, a few tufts of grass. 14 kilometers of nature, Hamptons feeling, but wild, lonely and very romantic.
The west beach itself is one of the whitest and finest sandy beaches in Germany, neither heaped up nor raked, but ground up by the tides and modeled by the wind. The sea slopes gently for bathing. Actually, all the conditions are met that should lead to things happening here like in the overcrowded Hamptons on Long Island in the US state of New York.
Source: Infographic WORLD
But the west beach is spared from the crowds. Because the coastal strip cannot be reached by car, but only on foot or by bike through the Darss primeval forest, a good four and a half kilometers from the seaside resort of Prerow. That deters too many visitors, as does the fact that there are no kiosks, chip shops, beach chairs or lounger rentals here in the middle of the nature reserve.
So day visitors bring everything with them: the picnic basket, the beach shell and the hammock for a relaxing bathing day on the west beach. Incidentally, many of them do without swimming trunks: the beach has been open to nude bathing for generations.
At sunset you can hang out in the dunes on the west beach between gnarled pines
Quelle: Jörg Modrow/laif
At dusk, however, when the visitors have packed their bags and rolled up their hammocks, wild animals from the nearby jungle take over the beach: a fox mouses in the dunes, wild boars trot along the beach.
Overnight stays are forbidden here, but the nearby seaside resort of Prerow offers the civilized extension of the west beach: the no less fine sandy north beach, five kilometers long and a good 100 meters wide. There you can even camp in the dunes, which is unique in Germany, even with a caravan. The north beach offers entertainment for everyone, and there are also bucket palms in front of the beach bars. Kira Hanser
Sopot: Sophisticated seaside resort in Poland
The Polish Baltic Sea coast is lined with beautiful, fine sandy beaches, but their star is undoubtedly that of Zoppot (Sopot). Already a hundred years ago, the fashionable seaside resort, which was still part of the Free City of Danzig at the time, attracted visitors from all over the world – above all as an exclusive playground for the rich and famous.
The path to the “Monte Carlo of the North” began in 1823, when the former fishing village still belonged to Prussia: The doctor Johann Georg Haffner built a bathing establishment with spa facilities in Sopot, which developed into a beach resort with international flair by the 1920s.
From the pier in Sopot the view falls on the grand hotel “Sofitel Grand Sopot”
Source: pa/KUNZ/Augenklick
Villas in the spa style characterize Sopot to this day. World stars such as Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo and Josephine Baker, later Prince and Shakira, enjoyed themselves in the palatial grand hotel – extensively renovated and in operation as “Sofitel Grand Sopot”.
You can gamble in the casino or stroll across Europe’s longest wooden pier. The pier, built in 1927, measures 511.5 meters and also serves as a concert stage and departure point for excursion boats. It offers wonderful views of the sea – and of Sopot’s real star, the beach. It is sandy, clean and gently sloping, which makes it popular with families. On top of that, the water in the sheltered Gdańsk Bay is calmer and warmer than anywhere else on the Baltic Sea.
In Sopot, you can stroll along Europe’s longest wooden pier
Source: pa/DUMONT picture archive/Peter Hirth
Sopot is correspondingly well attended in July and August. Then there are school holidays all over Poland, and then there are the international holidaymakers. The seaside resort is also known for its lively culture and nightlife. People meet at beach parties in bars by the sea, at concerts in the forest opera, in pubs, cafés and restaurants, some of which are hip and others dignified.
If you like it less turbulent, come in June or from the end of August. Or you can go to the quieter stretches of beach in the direction of Gdansk or Gdynia. With the rental bike it is only 15 minutes to the beach of the old seaside resort of Brosen, which is now called Brzezno and is a district of Gdansk.
Gdansk’s picturesque center is also easily accessible by bike or tram. A trip that is worthwhile – even if the temptation to just stay on the beach is great. Mike Grunwald
Nidden: A piece of the Sahara in Lithuania
The saying of the sand at the sea could have been invented here. The old East Prussian fishing village of Nidden, today Nida and Lithuania’s most famous beach resort, is located on the Parnidis Dune, the largest shifting dune on the Baltic Sea, which measures up to 60 meters depending on the wind and weather.
From the top you have a wonderful view of the sea and the Curonian Lagoon. Because the giant dune is, like Nidden, on the Curonian Spit, a nearly 100-kilometer-long tongue of land, the northern half of which is Lithuanian, the south is part of the Kaliningrad region.
View of the Baltic Sea and pine forest: vacationers on Nidden’s shifting dunes
Those: De Agostini via Getty Images
Thomas Mann, who had just been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, was so enthusiastic about the landscape that he had a holiday home built here. He spent three summers from 1930 to 1932 with his family in Nidden. He was particularly impressed by the dunes: “You think you are in the Sahara. Again and again I get the impression of the elemental, which is otherwise only evoked by the high mountains and the desert.”
Today Mann’s domicile is a museum, perfectly renovated, like all of Nidden. Wooden houses still characterize the picture, and there are also fishermen who serve fresh smoked fish in their bars.
You can spend unforgettable weeks here from spring to autumn. Just like Thomas Mann’s daughter Monika, who raved about the holidays in Nidden: “We roamed through the fine, white sandy dunes, through the endless pine forests, where the salt wind rustled. And we let the sun and wind tan and invigorate us, letting day after day pass carefree.” Sonke Krueger
Marielyst: A surfer’s paradise in Denmark
What do kitesurfers have in common with Franz Kafka? Her soft spot for the seaside resort of Marielyst on Falster, Denmark’s southernmost island. Where the writer had his picture taken by a beach photographer on vacation in 1914, today the kiters film themselves doing spectacular maneuvers when they take off from the sea.
The bathing resort is known as a surfing spot, and if you don’t know it yet, you can learn it here. For example at Surfcenter Falster, one of Denmark’s oldest water sports schools. It offers courses for beginners and experts, including windsurfing for children from the age of six and kiteboarding from the age of twelve.
The beach at Marielyst is ideal for kiting – but also for lazing around
Quelle: Getty Images/ Image Source
That’s fitting, because Marielyst is also known as a destination for families. The ten-kilometre-long, child-friendly beach has been voted Denmark’s best bathing beach for several years in a row by the readers of a Danish newspaper. The sand is light and soft, the water is shallow. Some cottages are just 100 meters from the waves, and there are cafes and restaurants in the old town centre.
In the nearby Bøtø Forest, wild horses graze between meadows and swamps. Adjacent is the bird sanctuary Bøtø Nor, where you can see white-tailed eagles or the bearded vulture, one of Europe’s largest birds of prey. When the weather is nice, anyone who climbs up one of the bird towers can see as far as Gedser, the ferry port where the car ferry from Rostock docks after 100 minutes at sea.
You can also take a walk along the sea to Gedser Odde, around ten kilometers from Marielyst on the right. There, on the cliffs, lies the southernmost point of Denmark and all of Scandinavia. Stefan Weissenborn
Falsterbo: Sweden’s most beautiful rest area
Where the Baltic Sea meets the Öresund, Falsterbo juts out like a finger into the sea, which makes the peninsula interesting for those seeking relaxation, but also for migratory birds – hundreds of millions migrate south from all over Scandinavia every year and use Sweden’s southwestern tip as a resting place. The local ornithological station is the most important in the country.
Fortunately, the number of holidaymakers is not quite as high, but since the beaches are white and clean, Falsterbo is not an insider tip, especially in summer. Fortunately, it never gets narrow like in many places on the German Baltic Sea coast, because the beaches measure around nine kilometers in total and, conveniently, there are them on both sides of the peninsula. In between: plenty of flat land, making Falsterbo ideal for cyclists (unless there is a headwind), and for those who enjoy golf, there are three of the country’s best greens here.
It is cozy in the colorful bathing huts that line the beaches of Falsterbos
Quelle: Photononstop/Getty Images
In the hinterland there are two pretty little towns: Skanör and Falsterbo (the name of the peninsula). Both were founded in the Middle Ages, both owed their rise to become the most important market town in Scandinavia at the time to the rich herring deposits – in some years around 300,000 barrels of herring were sold all over Europe. Unfortunately, people were too greedy, the herring stocks dwindled rapidly in the 16th century, the market was closed, the two towns were merged and descended into a provincial backwater.
Luckily, at the end of the 19th century, a new boom followed with the advent of seaside tourism. The Falsterbo brought an attraction that is unique in Sweden: around 1000 brightly painted Badhytter – cute wooden bathing huts that are lined up along the beaches like pearls on a necklace. Sonke Krueger