Laboe

Laboe's popularity is no great surprise. Its setting is spectacular enough, as huge cruise liners and ferries power past the Marine War Memorial and 'U-995’ submarine museum. There's the city's proximity, of course. And last but not least, a superb flat-water venue – the first 200-400m is standing-depth so generally good for beginners, although it's sometimes very shallow with the occasional mussel-bed. Bow-waves from passing ships break over a sandbank on the edge of the deep-water channel. But don’t just keep an eye on the traffic from Germany’s busiest ferry port; in high season, countless swimmers and beachgoers make rules inevitable. White buoys mark the swimming zone, while kiting is only allowed between the stone breakwater and nature reserve to the east. Apart from 'Bülk', Laboe is the only spot around Kiel that works in south-westerlies – although as water is blown out of Kieler Fjord, it can be too shallow for windsurfing at times.