SYLT - MORE THAN AN ISLAND

SYLT – MORE THAN AN ISLAND

25 miles of finest sandy beaches. Rough surf on the west coast, the calm Wadden Sea with its tidal flats to the east. Unspoilt dunes and green dykes. Flowering heathlands and majestic cliffs. Daydreams and nightlife. Bustling activity and peaceful seclusion. Twelve places, all of them different and each holding its own individual charm.

SYLT...

… is the largest German island in the North Sea, occupying an area of about 38 square miles.

… extends 22.2 miles from north to south and between 383 yards and 7.8 miles from west to east.

… measures 66 miles in circumference.

… lies between 5 and 12 miles off the mainland.

… is on the same latitude as the English city of Newcastle, the Siberian city of Omsk, and the southernmost tip of Alaska.

… became an island about 8,000 years ago, when it was severed from the mainland.

… is 33% dunes, the remaining surface consisting of marshland and “geest” (low sandy hills made up of glacial deposits).

… is directly connected to the mainland via the Hindenburgdamm, a rail causeway opened on 1 June 1927.

… counts among its attractions two unique shifting sand dunes, which are up to half a mile long and 38 yards high and migrate eastward up to 4.4 yards every year.

… has 12 churches, 8 of them Protestant, 3 Catholic and 1 New Apostolic. The oldest ones, St Severin’s in Keitum and St Martin’s in Morsum, date back to the 13th century.

… averages 1,750 hours of sunshine per year – around 200 more than Hamburg.

SYLT...

… is home to about 21,500 inhabitants.

… has eleven villages and one town.

… can accommodate 50,000 visitors at a time.

… attracts more than 800,000 holidaymakers every year.

… has 12,000 second homes.

… averages less than 1% windless days a year. The wind blows mainly from the west.

… finds its highest natural elevation in the Uwe Dune in Kampen, which rises 57 yards above sea level.

… has more than 11,000 strandkörbe waiting on its beaches during the season: comfortable hooded wicker seats wide enough for two, with striped awnings to keep the wind out, pull-out foot rests, and tables for your book and drink.

… offers living space to up to 2 million organisms per square metre of Wadden Sea, e. g. about 70,000 laver spire shells. Few habitats around the globe have a similar “population density”.

… is home to approx. 300 bird species over the year, among them around 80 species of breeding birds.

… is roamed by about 3,000 free-ranging sheep.

… has its own dialect, called “Söl’ring”. It is spoken by 4% of the population and is a variant of Frisian, a West Germanic language in its own right.

… is a baker’s paradise: during the high season, far more than 200,000 bread rolls are baked every day.