Norderney: Tradition-steeped coastal resort

Germany’s thalasso island Norderney is one of the seven East Frisian Islands on the North Sea coast and lies amidst the UNESCO World Nature Heritage Site of the Wadden Sea. The island has qualities that no amount of money could pay for. Those who visit feel the pulse of the tides, become part of the element game, feel freedom, humbleness and closeness to the island – and often to oneself again. Those who leave, know that they will return.

Norderney offers its guests a unique combination of majestic nature, inspiring vastness, of creative concepts for health, fitness and balance, an open and relaxed coexistence, as well as cultural diversity and modern lifestyle. Each person who decides to visit Norderney, which looks back on a glamorous 219-year-old history of imperial coastal resort culture, will surely feel this exceptional ensemble.

Even older – as old as the ocean – is thalasso (which means ocean in ancient Greek). Knowledge on thalasso is almost as old as humans, but thalasso is not merely a science. It describes scents, sounds, the surf, water, salt, minerals, vitamins, sand and mud. It is the ocean’s present to us humans, it is at home on Norderney and is lived everywhere on the island.
On the beach, one can feel the healing powers of the ocean. Here, the conditions for open air inhalation and heliotherapy are ideal and that is why five of the island’s ten thalasso hiking paths integrate the beach. Five shorter trails take visitors through the city, along the esplanade and past various sights. The starting point of these five paths is the bade:haus norderney – the home of thalasso.

© Nele Martensen

Thalasso has a home – bade:haus norderney

The interplay of water and fire, of dancing lights and shadows; the force of the ocean, diversely staged and ennobled – this is the bade:haus norderney. On the other hand, the calm and elemental world of hundreds of blues, the mystically shimmering green, the golden amber and the solid granite reflect Norderney’s character and its elements. The bade:haus knows how to respectfully use the ocean’s bounties, as well as to share them mindfully.

The bade:haus’s thalasso and wellness offer range is based on three tiers. The first tier is the element of seawater in all its diversity from refreshing to hot, from gently dripping to surging and blustering, as waterfall, rivulet, fog or saline bath with a brine concentration just like in the Dead Sea. The second level celebrates the element of fire through saunas, steam baths, a roof sauna, a washing bath with hot stones, sea water sprinkling, a samarium, mud and tranquillity, comforting warmth and through an inviting lounge area with an open fire. Additionally, the bade:haus norderney unites comprehensive offers for health, balance, as well as anti-aging under one roof. Individual treatments, such as massages, sea water baths, mud poultices in the floating lounge chair and beauty treatments are complemented with group offers, such as aqua fitness or aqua jogging courses. Opened in 2005, the bade:haus norderney, which is unique in its form in Germany and perhaps in whole Europe, offers pleasure and adventure under one roof. The innovative, natural and, above all, child-oriented concept goes well beyond the classical bathing fun in a warm seawater pool.

The bade:haus norderney. © Nicolas Chibac

Whether one seeks to enjoy the majestic nature on one’s own, spend the day relaxing on the beach, go jogging in the dunes, shop, dream or simply stroll through the city centre, Norderney offers irresistible opportunities. Each year the island additionally hosts over 1,200 events. Starting with the traditional first dip into the North Sea on New Year’s Day, a programme with many facets unfolds across the rest of the year. For example, the White Sands Festival on the Pentecost weekend is probably the most famous event on Norderney with its windsurfing World Cup and the beach volleyball tournament. But the Summertime@NORDERNEY, which is an event with a great sport, comedy and music programme held directly at the northern beach, offers entertainment of the highest quality. While Tim Bendzko, Nena, Culcha Candela and Adel Tawil have played summer night concerts while the sun went down in the past years, CRO, Johannes Oerding, der GRAF and Unheilig will make lasting impressions in 2016.

Also unique at the North Sea is Norderney’s classical music summer with Warsaw’s Symphony Orchestra and with many symphony concerts in exceptional locations. Additionally, a pure culinary and lifestyle delight is the ‘Island Party Norderney’ which is held in the middle of September. Many more events enchant and enrich the vacation on the island. Whether cabaret in the Kurtheater, the International Film Festival, music evenings, Holi Beach, the ‘Winterzauber’ or much more: there are many good and always new reasons to visit Norderney.

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