Originally Posted by
SwissBritMiss
Rügen in northern Germany is gorgeous in summer and with interesting history too. It has infrastructure for tourism, but almost completely unheard of outside of the country (in fact, many of my southern German friends also were unaware)!
I chanced upon it when, like you, I was out for a European island trip and this was the closest to where my dart landed on the map...
Absolutely, the Pomeranian region on both the German and Polish sides is lovely and dotted with forested islands with endless sandy beaches, very much off the beaten path for foreign tourists, but still with enough small towns and villages to keep busy. They can get busy in summer, and the beaches
near the villages are often packed, but it's usually enough to walk along the coast 5-10 minutes and you'll probably have the whole beach to yourself.
Local *A airports are Szczecin, Heringsdorf (seasonal), or Berlin Tegel if you don't mind the distance.
Or head for the Danish island of Bornholm in the middle of the Baltic!