Eiderstedt is a peninsula in the district of Nordfriesland in the German federal state of Schleswig-Holstein. It is approximately 30 km in length and 15 km in width and has been created through diking (polders) from three islands: Eiderstedt around Tönning, Utholm around Tating, and Evershop around Garding. The diking started around the year 1000 AD. Since these three islands were administrative districts of their own, the area was originally called Dreilande – “Three Lands”.
Alluvial soil won from the North Sea makes the area well-suited for agriculture. At present, tourism dominates, particularly in the city of Sankt Peter-Ording on the peninsula’s western tip. The Westerhever lighthouse is the peninsula’s main emblem and the most prominent lighthouse in Germany. The Wadden Sea, the Eider Barrage on the Eider River and the Katinger Watt, marshlands won from the sea in the process of the construction of the Eidersperrwerk, are other tourist attractions on the peninsula. The peninsula represents also a same named Amt, with the administrative seat in the town of Garding. The only town of the peninsula not part of the Amt is Tönning.
Sankt Peter-Ording is a very popular German seaside spa and a municipality in the district of Nordfriesland, in Schleswig-Holstein. It is the only German seaside resort that has a sulphur spring and thus terms itself “North Sea healing spa and sulphur spring”. By overnight stays, St. Peter-Ording is the largest German seaside spa in Germany, and it has the most overnight stays in Schleswig-Holstein.
St. Peter-Ording is situated on the North Sea coast, on the western tip of the Eiderstedt peninsula, approx. 45 km southwest of Husum. Part of the municipality lies in the Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea National Park. Its characteristics include a beach that is approximately 12 kilometers long and up to one kilometre wide, the dunes, the salt meadows and the cultivated forested areas, atypical for this region. The salt meadows are of special ecological importance, since they belong to the few salt meadows that remain in their natural state.
Tönning is a town in the district of Nordfriesland in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. It lies on the Eider river near its mouth at the North Sea. Tönning has a population of approximately 5,000. Tönning’s pitoresk harbour has a rich history. Today it’s importance as trade and shrimp boat harbour isn’t given any longer. Tourism became a important part of the local economy. The adminstration of the Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea National Park is located here, as well as the Multimar Wadden Forum (aquarium) as part of the Expo 2000 in Germany.
