Helgoland; Saturday, 25 July, 2026

I had a relatively early start to grab breakfast whilst it was quiet and so I could take in more of the island before the arrival of the day-trippers around 13:00, heading out of the hotel just after 9 to head over to the Northeastern side of the island.

This imaginatively titled Nord-Ost-Land, or Northeast Land, is one of the main flat parts of the island and runs for about half the eastern coastline. From here there are good views across the waters to Heligoland’s sister island the imaginatively titled Düne because unlike the towering cliffs of Helgoland, this island is just one giant sand dune.

The Northeast Land also leads onto the Nordstrand, or north beach, a wide almost white sand beach that stretches to the foot of the cliffs, with the deep red of the cliffs being contrasted by the golden sand of the beach. On a sunny summers day before the tourists arrived it was very pretty and almost completely deserted. I had a long wander along the beach and then headed back inland to the centre of town and caught the lift back up to the Oberland to have a wander around the top in full daylight rather than the long sunset that I’d seen it on the previous day. I also diverted off the path to walk around the top of the crater formed by the British Operation Big Bang in 1947 and from there watched the Halunder Jet arrive in from Hamburg and disgorge another 600+ tourists onto the island, which I took as my queue to head down into town, grab some lunch and then head back to my hotel room for a little while to sit out the day-trippers.

A couple of hours later with the ferries disappearing over the horizon back to the mainland I headed down to Helgoland’s Landungsbrücke, the point where the ferry that links Helgoland to Düne sets off from and headed over to the sister island.

If Helgoland is all about the cliffs, then Düne is all about the beaches, with both the North and South sides of the island being wide sandy beaches cascading down from sand dunes that dominate the centre of the island. The western side of the island is the harbour, and the eastern side is a shingle beach, but also the outer perimeter of the island’s airport.

I spent a good couple of hours just wandering around the island, including taking the opportunity to dip my toes in the North Sea on the Nordstrand, confirming that, yes, the North Sea is still cold even in late July. I ended my visit down on the South Beach watching some more of the island’s other residents – the colony of seals that were happily relaxing on the beach taking the last rays of sunset.

I headed back to the harbour and took the ferry back across to Helgoland before grabbing a quick bite to eat and then back to the hotel.