Kampenⓘ (Söl'ring: Kaamp) is a municipality and seaside resort on the island Sylt, in the district of Nordfriesland, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.

The village is considered to have been founded quite late, possibly as a result of people moving there from an earlier settlement destroyed by a storm.

[3] In 1767, the local Landvogt and some inhabitants bought land to the north of the village and established the Kampener Vogelkoje, a decoy.

The church and school were shared due to the low number of citizens in the respective villages – so they could only be supported through a common effort.

An ordinance from 1912, which is still effective today, requires that all houses in the village be built in the traditional style, i.e. brick buildings with thatched roofs.

In 1908, the Nordseebad Kampen auf Sylt GmbH (founded in 1904) built a large two-storied octagonal wooden pavilion on the northern heath, around 400 metres from the Kurhaus (it was demolished in 1922).

[3] Beginning in 1921, writer Thomas Mann was a guest of Siegfried Jacobsohn and later often stayed at Haus Kliffende, north of the village.

These included Max Frisch, Emil Nolde, Carl Zuckmayer, Heinrich Vogeler and Lovis Corinth.

[3] Prior to – and during – World War II camps to accommodate troops were established in Kampen by the Wehrmacht.

In the immediate post-war years, Kampen had 370 inhabitants and they were joined by 1,927 refugees from Germany's former eastern territories housed in the former military installations.

Despite early plannings from the 1920s, the western heath of Kampen was not covered with buildings though and today is a nature reserve.

[2]: 184 The so-called Rotes Kliff (red cliff) west of the village rises up to 30 metres from the North Sea and is highly endangered by erosion and storm surges.

The Uwe Düne (dune) reaches a height of 52.5 m above sea level, making it the island's highest point.

[5]: 47  It is named after Uwe Jens Lornsen [de] (1793–1838), a freedom fighter for a united Schleswig-Holstein who hailed from Keitum.

East of Kampen the Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea National Park extends, in summer the municipality offers guided mudflat hiking trips there.

Like all municipalities on Sylt, Kampen is highly specialised on the tourism business, so that an economical monostructure can be found there.

[citation needed] Together with Wenningstedt, Kampen operates the Norddörfer Schule, an elementary school located south of the village proper.