Hvide Sande

Hvide Sande exists because of an engineering decision: Ringkobing Fjord behind the coastal dune strip needed a controlled outlet to the sea, and a channel with locks and sluice gates was cut here in the 1930s, around which a fishing town grew. The harbour handles a working fleet, with a fish auction, smokehouses and direct sales, and the sluice itself is watched by visitors as water and fish move through. The town sits on a strip a few hundred metres wide with the North Sea on one side and the shallow brackish fjord on the other, which makes it one of the best places in northern Europe for windsurfing and kitesurfing: flat water on the fjord for beginners, waves on the sea for the experienced.

What you actually see

• The sluice and lock - the engineering the town was built around.
• A working fish auction - the fleet landing and selling on the quay.
• Sea on one side, fjord on the other - a town on a strip of dune.
• Wind sports on both waters - flat fjord and North Sea waves.

When to go

May to September for the town and the beaches; wind sports run year round with autumn giving the strongest conditions. Half a day. July is very busy with German holidaymakers. The fish auction is a morning event.

Honest expectations

The town is functional and built for holiday lets rather than pretty. Summer crowds are heavy and prices rise. The North Sea beach has rip currents and is not always safe for swimming. Wind is relentless, which is the point but wearing.

Nearby

Ringkobing Fjord is inland; Bovbjerg lighthouse lies north up the coast.