Germany Guide
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
Rügen
Ever since the Romantics eulogized an island where coast and country collide RÜGEN has held a semi-sacred place in German sentiments. The great, good and fairly unsavoury of the last two centuries – Caspar David Friedrich, whose paintings did more than any poster to promote its landscapes, Brahms and Bismarck, Einstein, Hitler, Thomas Mann, a couple of Kaisers and assorted grand dukes, GDR leader Erich Honecker, not to mention millions of families – have taken their holidays on an island renowned for chalk cliffs, 56km of silver sands and spacious deciduous woodland. Notwithstanding a newfound sheen as coastal resorts reassert themselves as the fashionable bathing centres they were in the early 1900s, Rügen has an innocent, Famous Five quality. It is an island where a steam engine chuffs around resorts in the south and cobbled lanes of inland villages are shaded by ancient trees.
Those on a flying visit usually only tick off premier resort Binz, a classic Baltic resort renowned for its handsome Bäderarchitektur, and the Königstuhl at Jasmund, a chalk cliff immortalized by Friedrich in 1818. Do so and you may be forgiven for wondering what the fuss is about – both are the busiest destinations on Rügen, and can be overcrowded. With an area of 975 square kilometres, Germany's largest island has less-populated corners to discover. Places like Putbus, not so much a planned town as a Neoclassical folly writ large; smaller resorts near the rural Mönchgut peninsula; or the Jasmund National Park's chalk cliffs cloaked in spacious forest. There are curios such as Prora, Hitler's holiday camp falling into ruin behind the beach, or the lighthouses of Kap Arkona and former fishing village Vitt on Wittow, the windswept northwest. And then there are places like Hiddensee, a car-free sliver of land just off the west coast that may be the most idyllic spot in the area.
Activities on Rügen
1 Reederei Ostsee 
www.reederei-ostsee-tour.de Schedules tourist cruises from Binz and Sassnitz past the Stübenkammer to Kap Arkona several times a week (May– Sept; 4hr; €20) and once a week around the entire island (10hr; €40).
2 Dietmar Bauchs 038302/93 69 & 0170/285 62 61 Excursions from Lohme to the Königstuhl (€40 per person) and Kap Arkona (€60) by yacht. The owner can also organize two-day excursions to Hiddensee and a four-day tour around Rügen (prices on request).
3 Kitesurfschule Casa-Atlantis Sandstr. 5, Baabe 
038303/955 65 www.ruegen-action.de Kitesurf courses, from 4hr tasters to five days (from €99), plus equipment rental (4hr, €50).
4 Ostsee-Flug-Rügen Güttin 038306/12 89, www.flugplatz-ruegen.de Five choices of sightseeing flights over the island's poster-places, all in a Cessna light aircraft. Prices start at €38 for a 20min flight, minimum three people.
5 Segelschule Binz 038393/411 40 & 0176/22 78 54 32 www.segelschule-ruegen.de Sailing school that offers lessons and rents out catamarans and dinghies from bases in Prora, Thiessow on the Mönchgut peninsula and Altefähr; prices start at €20 per hour. The base in Mönchgut also has windsurfers, including funboards (from €8 per hour).
6 Segelschule Sun & Sail Am Hafen 5, Wiek 038391/43 09 51 Week-long yacht charter plus dinghy rental to access the sheltered Wieker Bodden.
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