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Wadden Sea island on the German North Sea coast
Europe > Central Europe > Germany > Lower Saxony > Elbe-Weser Triangle > Neuwerk

Neuwerk is a 3-km² tidal island in the Wadden Sea off the coast of Germany. You can walk around it in an hour. Salt marshes (the "Outland"), lie outside the dikes and provide a hatchery for birds such as oystercatchers, common terns, sandwich terns, black-headed gull, and herring gulls.

Understand

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The lighthouse of Neuwerk, built 1310

The population in 2023 was 21.

A 7 m (23 ft) high dike surrounds the settled parts and is the highest point on the island (apart from buildings, that is). During the summer farmers may pasture cows and horses on the northern Outland.

While Neuwerk is administratively part of Hamburg, this is of little importance to most visitors, as it is both closer to and more easily reachable from Lower Saxony.

Get in

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Neuwerk sits 13 km northwest of Cuxhaven, between the Weser and Elbe estuaries. The distance to the centre of Hamburg is about 120 km.

By boat

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There is regular ferry service to/from Cuxhaven (~1½ hours one way). Booking in advance is very advisable. Neuwerk also has a small harbor that can accommodate small boats, but you should be familiar with National Park regulations as some parts of the Wadden Sea are off limits even to boats.

On foot

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As this island is close to the mainland and the seafloor is exposed during every low tide you can walk there to or from the mainland (~3 hours one way). This is only possible in guided hikes, due to safety and environmental concerns. There are no steep climbs (go figure), but the mud can slow you down and it can get quite windy. Outside of a few summer months fog is a major concern.

By horse-drawn carriage

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There are horse-drawn carriages, called Wattwagen in German, that regularly make the trip to and from the island. This is the most scenic and probably also the most comfortable way of reaching the island. As cars are not allowed on the island and environmental protection laws are strict, Wattwagen are probably here to stay, even though they might remind you of a bygone "simpler" era.

Get around

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Map
Map of Neuwerk

As the island is small and (as common on German North Sea islands) has no cars, getting around is mostly done on foot. Unless you are mobility impaired this should be no problem as the island is small and relatively flat.

  • 1 Lighthouse. Doubles as a small hotel. You can climb up to a small lookout atop the lighthouse, even if you don't stay there, and enjoy the view of the island and the sea around it. As it was built from 1300 to 1310, the lighthouse is the oldest building in Hamburg (because Neuwerk is administratively part of the city), as no older building remains in mainland Hamburg, due to a fire in the 19th century and the devastation of World War II. Great Tower Neuwerk (Q1821443) on Wikidata Great Tower Neuwerk on Wikipedia 

Cash is the name of the game. Even some hotels don't accept credit or debit cards.

Drink

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Water is usually potable and brought from the mainland (originally via tanker now through a pipeline)

Sleep

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There is a special tourism tax that is levied on top of the going rate per person per night. The tax is €1 for every €50 the room costs. Below €10, no tax is levied and below €25 the tax is €0.50.

Connect

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Go next

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This city travel guide to Neuwerk is a usable article. It has information on how to get there and on restaurants and hotels. An adventurous person could use this article, but please feel free to improve it by editing the page.
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