A couple of quick questions:
I'm going to be in Hamburg in June next year, and thought I might spend a night on Helgoland.
At the moment I can't only find limited accomodation available - certainly less than shows on maps and the Tourist Office website. Am I just too early?
Also, am I right in thinking that the ferry will cost twice as much as a day return?
I used booking.com to check June 16-17. Near the top of the page it says "71% of places to stay are unavailable for your dates on our site." I'd expect high demand in the summer.
The summer school vacations in Germany start end of June / begin of July 2026, some later - depending on state. So, normally the people who are not depending on school vacations windows travel before and after these windows. Therefore the whole German North and Baltic Sea shores have top season and high demand. normally from begin of June until end of September - with annually growing window.
June 21 has the longest daytime, so a lot of usable time, also in the evening when on sunny days rest light here in the North does not disappear before 10.30 p. m.. These days play a role in the North, starting in Germany and more up to Scandinavia. In Sweden the second most important fest after Christmas is Midsummer.
Without knowing it I guess that Helgoland accommodations save capacities for spontaneous guests which pay a lot of money for the stay. I recommend to book a flex tariff which you can cancel to a certain date if better opportunity occurs.
As likely 80-90% of Helgoland visitors are German guests it might make more sense to lookup capacities by a German hotel engine such as hrs.de.
The ferry costs you can just look up.
Btw: Helgoland is the place where Hoffmann von Fallersleben had written the text of Weimar Republic and today's German anthem, known as "Das Lied der Deutschen" (link to a little story about it in German). Only the third verse is used today (link to text and music). At this time Helgoland was British property, the melody of orientation was Haydn's Austrian emperor anthem and in 1841 the Germany as we know it today was not even existing.
So, have a good journey.
If you want to see gravesite of Hoffmann von Fallersleben, the author of those words in a poem in the Romantic of German literature, it's in the little town of Hoexter / Westfalen located on the premises of the Schloss. I saw it when visiting the Schloss as a day trip from Soest/Westfalen.
A lot of places don't do one night only accommodations. So if you see anything at all for one night, snap it up now.
Yes, it's more expensive that way I think. But cheaper if you go on a ship other than the catamaran from Hamburg (the ship from Büsum).
You'll love Helgoland. My tip: upon arrival, do the bunker tour, even if it isn't available in English. Most of the local guides and other tourists will help with at least the big ideas, and it is WELL worth it. Then walk down to the beach. As the tourists start filtering toward the ferries to depart, head into town to explore the village and find a place for dinner. Then at sunset walk around the top of the island at sunset. Alternatively, do this first thing in the morning. Then when the day trippers arrive the next day at lunch, head over to the other island (Düne) and do a lap, looking at the seals. That will fill the time pretty effectively, and you will have seen most of what there is.
