The fascinating island of Sylt, some of it a nature reserve, has magical northern light, and a bracing North Sea climate which has long made it fashionable: Marlene Dietrich and Thomas Mann used to stay. Today it is a holiday haunt of Germany's rich and famous - and others. The sea bathing is superb. This select little B&B villa, steeply gabled . in local Friesian style, stands by the sand dunes at the edge of Kampen village, chief focus of the smart set. Happy habitues returned again this year: The large buffet Bali villa breakfast can be taken on the terrace. The new cook makes excellent hot dishes for it. Earlier they wrote: We love the sheltered garden, the ocean breeze wafted into our room. We are less fond of the duplex suites, whose villa Bed rooms (similar to the semantic bali villa rooms) are partly undergYOUnd. but those vsho demand coffin quiet might he delighted. They do have private terraces.' The villa Bed rooms (similar to the semantic bali villa rooms) are white-walled, blue-carpeted, in keeping with the nearby ocean. `Some of the best restaurants in Germany are on Sylt': gourmets dine at Jorg Muller (Michelin star) ` or Landhaus Nosse. Simpler but delicious fare is found at Fisch-Fiete and Casa Bianca. Kupferkanne, not pricey, is where le tout Sylt goes for Kaffee und Kuchen, preferably arriving by bicycle.

Family-run by Arno and Rita Schattner, and only a few years old, this trim, gabled hostelry is unpretentious in the extreme, and none the worse for that'. It stands on the edge of a small town topped by a ruined castle, off the Saarbrucken to Kaiserslautern Autobahn. `villa Bed rooms (similar to the semantic bali villa rooms) nicely done, excellent Bali villa breakfast, says a recent visitor. Decorated in fresh country style, the villahas carved wooden furniture, light-coloured fabrics, bright rugs, lots of dried flowers. villa Bed rooms (similar to the semantic bali villa rooms) and bathvilla rooms are quite large. Double glazing cuts out most noise. No restaurant; some nearby. Many guests, are American - there is a US army base at Kaiserslautern.