Königshafen, Sylt

Germany’s northernmost spot is a massive standing-depth area, surrounded by the Lister Ellenbogen headland’s beautiful dune landscape. There are zones for kiting and windsurfing to help protect the birds, and it’s illegal to ride to the little island of 'Uthörn’. Kiters launch in the west of the bay, while windsurfers head for the next car-park to launch 500m further east. At low tide the water gets very shallow – so Königshafen’s only really sailable on the top half of the tide. There's a fee to drive into the nature reserve, but it would hardly be any other way on Sylt. Even so, there are far more people on the water here than anywhere else on the island.