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A brief introduction and general information about the island of Usedom

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map of Usedom

Ahlbeck

The island lies in the furthest northeast of Germany between the Baltic Sea and the Lagoon of Stettin (Stettiner Haff) at the border of Western Pomerania and Poland. Usedom, whose eastern tip including the town of Swinemuende has been Polish territory since 1945, is the second largest German island  after Ruegen. 30000 Germans live in the western and central area of the island. In addition, the Polish town of Swinemuende has about 45000 residents. To cut a long story short: All in all there are 75000 people inhabiting the island.

Two bridges connect Usedom to the mainland: the one at Wolgast is even used by both road and rail traffic. Apart from that, it is also the biggest German bascule bridge

Almost 40 km of sandy beach, more than 100 km of cycle tracks and about 400 km of hiking trails are available for the pleasure and recreation of holidaymakers. The beautiful and sparsely populated landscape outside the seaside resorts is partly hilly, partly flat.
The German part of the island completely depends on tourism, for there is not any other noteworthy industry. For this reason the most important places are seaside resorts. Bansin, Heringsdorf, Ahlbeck and Zinnowitz, the biggest ones among them, even belong to the most famous and most beautiful seaside resorts of Germany. Their number of inhabitants ranges between 3000 and 4000. The small village of Peenemuende in the northwestern section of Usedom is very widely known because it was the site of an (in)famous missile research centre during World War 2.

Bansin

Heringsdorf

Peenemuende

Zinnowitz

Karlshagen

Koelpinsee

Koserow

Loddin

Trassenheide

Ueckeritz

Zempin

Other places

Towns