List is the northernmost municipality in Germany, a small harbour village at the top of the island with a working fishing fleet, a car-ferry to the Danish island of Rømø, and an emphatic feeling of being at the edge. The harbour is lined with weather-boarded fish smokehouses — Gosch is the famous one — that grill mackerel and serve smoked salmon to passing tourists, and the dunes behind the town stretch all the way to the Ellenbogen peninsula.
The mood here is less polished than Kampen and less touristy than Westerland — more about wind, sea, and fish straight off the boats. It is the natural base for seal-watching trips, mudflat hikes from the north of the island, and a day-trip to Rømø.