Germany / Lower Saxony
Duhnen Strand
Duhnen Strand is an 186 m-long sandy beach facing north-north-west, 4.9 km west of Cuxhaven (Lower Saxony, Germany). The sea averages 19.0 °C in August, its warmest month, and 3.3 °C in February; it never reaches 21 °C on average.
Average sea surface temperature by month. Current month outlined.
Month by month
October at Duhnen Strand
Beach-day index 2.2/10 · Germany median 2.3
| Measure | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sea °C | 3.8 °C | 3.3 °C | 4.7 °C | 8.0 °C | 12.2 °C | 15.9 °C | 18.2 °C | 19.0 °C | 16.4 °C | 12.7 °C | 8.8 °C | 5.5 °C |
| High °C | 4° | 4° | 6° | 11° | 15° | 18° | 20° | 20° | 18° | 13° | 8° | 5° |
| Low °C | 1° | 1° | 2° | 5° | 9° | 13° | 15° | 16° | 13° | 9° | 6° | 3° |
| Rain mm | 81 | 65 | 55 | 41 | 58 | 73 | 86 | 88 | 74 | 85 | 80 | 85 |
| Cloud % | 81 | 77 | 71 | 62 | 66 | 71 | 68 | 68 | 68 | 71 | 79 | 81 |
| Wind m/s | 7.2 | 6.7 | 6.3 | 5.5 | 5.4 | 5.4 | 5.2 | 5.2 | 5.8 | 6.4 | 6.5 | 6.9 |
| Daylight h | 7.9 | 9.8 | 11.7 | 14.0 | 15.9 | 17.1 | 16.6 | 14.9 | 12.8 | 10.7 | 8.6 | 7.5 |
| Record high/low | 11°/-10° | 11°/-11° | 15°/-8° | 21°/-1° | 25°/3° | 27°/8° | 29°/11° | 30°/10° | 26°/8° | 21°/1° | 17°/-3° | 12°/-11° |
| Beach index | 2.0 | 2.3 | 2.5 | 2.8 | 2.6 | 3.1 | 4.8 | 5.2 | 3.1 | 2.2 | 2.2 | 2.0 |
Long-term monthly averages: air from NASA POWER (2001–2020), sea from NOAA OISST (1991–2020); records are the extremes of 2001–2020. How the index works.
When to go
No month reaches 5.5 on the beach-day index; the best is August at 5.2/10, held back mainly by cool air (highs of 20 °C) and cold water (19.0 °C).
Across the year the sea averages 10.7 °C, cooler than 88% of the coastal beaches in the atlas.
August is the wettest month (88 mm) and April the driest (41 mm); the yearly total is about 870 mm.
Daylight runs from 7.5 hours in December to 17.1 hours in June; in mid-August the sun rises at 06:02 and sets at 20:58 local time.
Orientation, sun and shore
The shore faces north-north-west (345°). Open water fills about 44% of the horizon close by, which makes it an open stretch of shore.
The sun sets over the sea in March–September; in mid-June it goes down at 21:57 local time on a bearing of 314°.
Sunrise is over the sea in May–August.
Straight out to the north-north-west there is open water for more than 2,000 km, so the beach is exposed to long ocean swell.
Within 1 km, the land is 44% grassland, 19% built-up land and 18% tree cover (satellite land-cover map, 2021): a partly built-up setting. Water makes up 42% of that circle.
- Grass 44%
- Built 19%
- Tree 18%
- Wetland 12%
- Bare 4%
Land cover: ESA WorldCover 2021 (10 m). Orientation from OpenStreetMap land polygons sampled in 36 directions; depths and heights from the GEBCO 2020 grid (about 450 m cells), indicative only.
Bathing water quality
The official EU bathing-water site “Nordseestrand Duhnen Rettungsstation”, 600 m from the beach centre, was rated Excellent for the 2025 season. It was Excellent in 11 of its 11 classified seasons since 2015.
- 2015Excellent
- 2016Excellent
- 2017Excellent
- 2018Excellent
- 2019Excellent
- 2020Excellent
- 2021Excellent
- 2022Excellent
- 2023Excellent
- 2024Excellent
- 2025Excellent
Source: European Environment Agency, EU Bathing Water Directive assessments · national site profile. Classes are based on four seasons of bacteriological sampling.
Average wind speed at 10 m reaches 7.2 m/s in January, the windiest month.
OpenStreetMap marks nudism here as “yes”.
The mapped beach is tagged as charging an entry fee.
The beach is tagged as supervised.
Photos
From above
Facilities within 1 km
- 19Restaurants, cafés & bars
- 3Public toilets
- –Showers
- 98Car parks
- –Lifeguard stations
- 73Hotels & guesthouses
- 3Grocery shops
- 31Bus stops (1.5 km)
- 1Cash machines
- 1Bike rental
Food and drink mapped within 1 km: 17 restaurants, 1 bar and 1 fast-food outlet. Accommodation: 73 hotels and guesthouses.
Counted within 1 km of the beach (bus stops 1.5 km) from OpenStreetMap features and Overture Maps places, release of 2026-10. Unmapped does not mean absent.
Getting there
| Airport | Code | Distance | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sea-Airport Cuxhaven/Nordholz / Nordholz Naval Airbase Wurster Nordseeküste | FCN | 12.9 km | south |
| Bremen Airport Bremen | BRE | 93.5 km | south |
| Hamburg Helmut Schmidt Airport Hamburg | HAM | 93.7 km | east |
Straight-line distances from the beach; road distance is usually 20–40% longer.
Local transport: 31 bus stops within 1.5 km and 98 mapped car parks within 1 km.
1 town or village of 1,000+ people lie within 10 km (about 52.7K residents); within 30 km there are 11 (about 84K).
Map and nearby beaches
Loading map…
Open in OpenStreetMap · Directions in Google Maps
| Beach | Distance | Warmest sea | Length | Surface |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duhnen Strand | – | 19.0 °C | 186 m | Sand |
| Butjadingen Strand | 47.9 km SW | 18.7 °C | 196 m | Rock |
| Krautsand Strand | 52.2 km E | 19.2 °C | 2.5 km | Sand |
| Dangast Strand | 59.1 km SW | 18.7 °C | 455 m | Sand |
- Butjadingen Strand47.9 km SWCompare
- Krautsand Strand52.2 km ECompare
- Dangast Strand59.1 km SWCompare
Data on this page
- Air temperature, rain, cloud, wind, humidity: NASA POWER climatology 2001–2020, 0.5° grid.
- Sea temperature: NOAA OISST v2.1 monthly normals 1991–2020, nearest ocean cell 900 m away.
- Beach outline, surface, rules and public facilities: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), feature w293584133; restaurants, cafés, bars and lodging: Overture Maps places (CDLA-Permissive-2.0).
- Towns and time zone: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Airports: OurAirports (public domain). Sunrise and sunset: NOAA solar equations.
- Photos: Wikimedia Commons, author and licence under each image.
- Satellite view: Copernicus Sentinel-2 (ESA), scene S2B_32UME_20250612_1_L2A.
- Orientation: OpenStreetMap land polygons (ODbL). Depth and terrain: GEBCO 2020 grid.
- Bathing-water quality: European Environment Agency (site DENI_PR_TK25_2117_01).
- Settlements: GeoNames places with 1,000+ inhabitants.
- Land cover: ESA WorldCover 2021, 10 m (CC BY 4.0).
- Search popularity: about 12.1K Google searches a month for the name (KeywordTool, October 2026).
Data compiled 2026-10-13. Something wrong? Report a data error.