Nationalpark Vorpommersche Boddenlandschaft
The city lies on the sound of Strelasund, a strait of the Baltic Sea. Its geographic proximity to the island of Rügen, whose only fixed link to the mainland, the Strelasund Crossing, runs between Stralsund and the village of Altefähr, has given Stralsund the sobriquet "Gateway to the Island of Rügen" ("Tor zur Insel Rügen"). Stralsund is located close to the Western Pomerania Lagoon Area National Park.