No Cars on the Island
✓ No cars ✓ Horse carriages ✓ By bike ✓ On foot → Experience pure relaxation during your holiday on Juist!
Learn more
Find all of this on here:
All info about Juist
Small island big: The Töwerland Juist is a 17 km long, at most 900 m wide North Sea island in the north-west of Lower Saxony, surrounded by Borkum in the west and Norderney in the east. Juist is located about 13 km from the mainland - and yet this is a completely different vacation world for you!
Juist's history goes back over 625 years. In 1398, the island was mentioned in a document for the first time. The name is still based on the East Frisian word for "barren", although our island is by no means "barren" today. Once the area of today's Juist also belonged to the large island of Burchana, as Borkum and Norderney used to, as well.
Now a couple of facts about Juist you simply have to know. Ready? Here we go:
- Juist is also called "Töwerland" - "magic land" - probably because of an old sea shanty.
- At the end of 2021, just 1,515 people lived on Juist.
- The "Loog" (East Frisian for "village") is located about 2 km from the village.
- There were a total of seven churches on Juist over the centuries, but only two of them still stand today.
- Juist broke into two parts - the Hammsersee still bears witness of that fact nowadays.
The history of Juist
Time travel through hundreds of years of island history
People have been living with us on Juist for a long, long, long time. If you've always wondered how the deer came to Juist or how the small forest on Töwerland came into being, you've come to the right place.
At this point we just want to give you a little taste of the interesting, multi-faceted history of the island of Juist. You will find a complete chronology of the island's history when you visit the Inselmuseum in Loog.
- 1398: Juist is mentioned in a document for the first time.
- 1530: Juist records wild horses for the first time officially.
- 1717: Juist is hit hard by a storm tide: The "Christmas tide" destroys the Billdorf - 26 people died.
- 1807: Juist is given to the French under the Peace of Tilsit and thus belongs to the Kingdom of Holland.
- 1841: Juist expands steadily to the east and "swallows up" the island of Buise between today's Norderney and Juist.
- 1861: Juist establishes a station of the "Verein zur Rettung Schiffsbrüchiger in Ostfriesland" - a predecessor of today's sea rescue organisations.
- 1884: Juist counts 700 spa guests.
Experience the deep connection with an island
Unique, natural, magical
Why is Juist so fascinating? That is, of course, completely different for everyone. Perhaps you have decades of memories of Juist and have known the island since childhood. Maybe you are fascinated by the incomparable nature. Maybe it's the distance from everyday life that fascinates you about Juist. Your answer is different from that of any other guest. Here are a few of the often mentioned reasons why Juist triggers such an emotional response:
- Juist is car-free. So you can enjoy peace, rest and relaxation with us.
- Juist is a horse island. Even the garbage is picked up here by a horse-drawn carriage. The clatter of hooves is omnipresent.
- When you walk on the beach, you have the feeling of an endless, unspoiled expanse in front of you.
- Almost everything here follows the rhythm of the tides. Juist is closely connected and integrated with its nature.
- Just 13 km and yet light years away from the mainland, Juist literally offers you distance from your everyday problems and worries.
Töwerland Juist
Simply enchanting.
"Töwerland" - Magic Land. Actually, this epithet comes from an old sea shanty that described each of the seven East Frisian islands, but even today Juist is often referred to as "Töwerland". Anyone who has ever seen an incredibly beautiful sunrise over the Wadden Sea, when the dawn is reflected in the water, knows without a doubt that the island enchants you. Anyone who has ever walked through the little forest when fog hangs like cotton candy between the branches of the trees (which you can experience much better live than in a photo), knows how magically beautiful this island is. Anyone who has ever stood alone at the water's edge and simply breathed in the fresh air will come back to this special spot on earth, our very own Töwerland!
Juist lives from and with nature. Juist enchants with its beautiful corners. Juist enchants with the atmosphere and the bond that these 17 km create in you!
Still today we do our best to live up to this idea of Töwerland. We keep East Frisian traditions alive: Together with you we celebrate a real East Frisian Teetied, we crown a May Queen, we bathe in the sea and so much more. On Juist, old rituals always remain in the heart: Just watch our traditional dance group perform or listen to islanders speak among themselves in "Ostfriesenplatt" - East Frisian (not a dialect of German, though, but an own language!).
Maybe that is what makes Töwerland so special. The island co-exists in the middle of the National Park Wadden Sea, in a reservoir with this wonderful nature, the special construction of the houses, the customs and the atmosphere.
An indescribable atmosphere
Guests about the friendship for life
Juist, that is the second home. You've been coming to the island for generations, you learned to walk and ride a bike here, you swam in the sea for the first time, you remember days in the sun with a smile on your face, building huge sandcastles, old friends you met here and with whom you are still in contact. You want to pass this paradise, this oasis, Juist on to your children or your loved ones, you want to share with them this very special feeling that only Töwerland Juist triggers in you.
We have an incredible number of regular guests who spend a considerable part of their lives, their free time, here with us. We are proud and grateful to be able to stand up for this island, which is so dear to you and many others. We are your friendship for life, your second home.
The Faces of Juist
People who have shaped the island
Numerous well-known names have left their mark on Töwerland. Much of what you take for granted on Juist today would not have been possible without the influences of these people. Mroe info and exciting stories are waiting to be discovered by you in the Inselmuseum.
Dr. Otto Leege:
The Father of the Island of Memmert
A true multi-talent: Dr. Otto Leege came to Juist as a teacher in 1882. Since he only had eight students to teach, he devoted himself to the effort of bringing a telegraph service to Juist, playing the organ in the church and implementing natural history studies, in addition to his work as a teacher. Only seven years after his arrival on Juist, Otto Leege published his first scientific papers. At the same time, he explored the present-day bird sanctuary island of Memmert and planted beach grass there, among other things - for this he rightly bears the nickname "Father of Memmert" today.
Pastor Janus:
The father of the seaside resort on Juist
Janus was pastor on Juist from 1772 to 1789. Early on he was already concerned about the economic situation of the island, so from 1783 he argued before his sovereign, the King of Prussia, that Juist should be developed as a seaside resort. This letter is the oldest surviving document of German seaside resort history. Even though Juist was not designated a seaside resort until later, it is thanks to Janus' efforts that the North Sea island can still look back on a long history as a seaside resort today.
Martin Luserke:
The founder of the school by the sea
Juist fans are certainly familiar with the "Schule am Meer". Its founder, Martin Luserke, came to the island in 1925 and established a very special school with a national reputation as a reform educational institution with a focus on theater and music. Until its closure in 1934, the school performed plays written by the students themselves and by Shakespeare in its own theater - a pure rarity during these times.
Fritz Hafner:
The gifted island painter
Fritz Hafer came to Juist together with Martin Luserke as a teacher and art educator. During his time on the island, he also devoted himself to painting, preferably depicting plants in watercolor technique. In addition, he established the local museum in 1934, which he directed until 1953. After his death he was buried in the Juist dune cemetery.
