Hiddensee Island Vitte, Germany
Frequently Asked Questions
In one of the island's three villages: Neuendorf in the south, Vitte in the middle and largest, or Kloster in the north. Ferries run from Stralsund or Schaprode on Rügen. From the landing stage onward, low thatched houses set the tone.
None. You move on foot, by bicycle or by horse-drawn cart, on tracks that smell of sea buckthorn and cut hay. Bicycles can be rented everywhere and remain the best way to cover the island during a port call.
Seventeen kilometres long, and in places only a few hundred metres wide. Distances between villages are counted in minutes of cycling, never hours, and the main track runs flat between meadows and reeds.
Rent a bike to link the villages, walk up to the Dornbusch lighthouse, visit Gerhart Hauptmann's house in Kloster and finish on the west coast beach. That makes a comfortable half day.
Twenty-five minutes on foot from the Kloster landing stage, along gently rising paths through the wooded Dornbusch heights. The lighthouse dates from 1888, white with a red band, standing above grassy cliffs.
After 102 steps, a full circle over the whole island, the Bodden lagoons, Rügen and, in clear weather, the white cliffs of the Danish island of Møn. Few Baltic viewpoints give so much for so little effort.
Yes. In Vitte the streets lead straight to a wide pale beach, and the west coast unrolls kilometres of almost empty sand backed by dunes. Swimming is possible in summer, when the Baltic allows.
The euro. On a small car-free island, bike rentals, cafés and harbour kiosks often work in cash only. Bring notes: ATMs are scarce.
Because generations of writers and painters came here looking for light, wind and time. Gerhart Hauptmann, Nobel laureate in literature, had a house here that is now a museum, and he rests in the cemetery beside the island church.
Sea buckthorn, the tart orange berry that grows in the dunes: juice, jam, liqueur and cake carry its flavour in every café. Smoked herring bought at the harbour and a slice of sea buckthorn cake make a thoroughly local picnic.
