Nature

Schoorlse Duinen

The Schoorlse Duinen (Schoorl dunes) hold the highest dune in the Netherlands: the Catrijper Nok, 55.4 metres, with a staircase of 249 steps to the top. The area belongs to Staatsbosbeheer, is open all year round and has more than 60 kilometres of walking paths.

55.4 m

Klimduin

The Klimduin is a dune 51 metres high and roughly 110 metres long, in the middle of the village of Schoorl on the edge of the Schoorlse Duinen (Schoorl dunes). There is no entrance fee, and since May 2025 a bronze statue of Teun de Jager has stood at its foot.

51 m

Zee Aquarium Bergen aan Zee

The Zee Aquarium stands on the Van der Wijckplein in Bergen aan Zee, and one of the eight parking locations of the village lies on that same square, about 150 metres from the beach access. A sperm whale skeleton has hung there since 1998.

Buitencentrum Schoorlse Duinen

The Buitencentrum Schoorlse Duinen is the visitor centre of Staatsbosbeheer at Oorsprongweg 1 in Schoorl, on the edge of the dune area. There are two car parks 143 metres apart and parking costs 2.45 euros per hour.

Hondsbossche Zeewering

The Hondsbossche Zeewering is a 5.5 kilometre dyke between Camperduin and Petten, raised to delta height in 1981: 11.5 metres above NAP. Since the reinforcement of 2013-2015 the basalt dyke lies entirely under the sand, with a beach and dune area 300 metres wide in front of it.

11.5 m

Museum Kranenburgh

Museum Kranenburgh is the museum for modern art in Bergen NH and is tied to the Bergense School. Opening times, admission, the address and what is on the wall right now we have not been able to check at the source, so they are not here.

J.C.J. van Speijk Lighthouse

The lighthouse of Egmond aan Zee is called J.C.J. van Speijk and stands in the village. The year it was built, its height and whether you can go inside we have not been able to get from a source we could check, so they are not here.

Catrijper Nok

At 55.4 metres the Catrijper Nok is the highest dune in the Netherlands and the highest point in the province of Noord-Holland, taller than the better-known Klimduin at 51 metres. It stands in the Schoorlse Duinen (the Schoorl dunes), managed by Staatsbosbeheer, with a stairway of 249 steps to the top.

55.4 m

De Kerf

De Kerf is a viewpoint above a cut dug through the zeereep, the front dune ridge, roughly 2.9 kilometres north of Bergen aan Zee as the crow flies. Through that gap sea water can run into the area behind the first row of dunes instead of being held back. The site is registered to PWN.

Noordhollands Duinreservaat

The Noordhollands Duinreservaat is managed by N.V. PWN Waterleidingbedrijf Noord-Holland, the provincial water company, and is a designated Habitats Directive site. Unlike the Schoorlse Duinen of Staatsbosbeheer next door, you do need an access pass here: a duinkaart (an annual dune pass) or a day pass.

Palendorp

The Palendorp is an artwork of 160 poles between six and twelve metres tall, set in the shape of ten houses and a church, on the beach west of Petten. Who made it and when it appeared is not in any source we have been able to check.

Torensduin

The Torensduin is a viewpoint in the middle of Egmond aan Zee, on the spot where the Zuidertoren lighthouse stood until 1915. A stairway of 101 steps runs up, to about 28 metres above NAP, the Dutch ordnance datum. No guide names that height, we looked it up ourselves in the elevation dataset of Rijkswaterstaat.

28 m

De Bleek Viewpoint

De Bleek Viewpoint is a lookout dune south-east of Egmond aan Zee, in the Noordhollands Duinreservaat of PWN. From the age of 18 you need a dune pass, from 2.00 euros for a day, but the car park at the foot is free. The sources disagree about the height: OpenStreetMap holds to 33 metres, Geologie van Nederland writes as much as 35 metres.

Wreck of HMS Prince George

The wreck of HMS Prince George lies under the beach north of Camperduin. The British battleship ran aground on 28 December 1921 on groyne 24 of the Hondsbossche Zeewering, the sea defence there, and at the end of July 2014 disappeared under the sand pumped ashore for the coastal reinforcement. A line of poles on the beach marks the spot.

Zwanenwater

The Zwanenwater is a 600 hectare dune area belonging to Natuurmonumenten, the Dutch nature conservation society, a good two kilometres south of Callantsoog. It holds two dune lakes, the Eerste Water and the Tweede Water. Entry costs 3.50 euros per person, and members and children under 12 go in free.

Verwey Woods

The Verwey Woods are two small wooded plots on the eastern edge of Schoorl, managed by Landschap Noord-Holland, with a colony of grey herons in the old beeches. They are named after the biologist Jan Verwey, who bought part of the wood with a villa here in 1950, not after his father, the poet Albert Verwey.

De Fuik

De Fuik is a viewpoint dune in the Noordhollands Duinreservaat, the North Holland dune reserve, 1.7 kilometres west of the village of Bergen as the crow flies. A stairway runs to the top, which according to the AHN, the national elevation model, sits just over 21 metres above NAP. The site belongs to PWN, so from the age of 18 you carry a dune pass here.

20.5 m

Het Oude Hof

Het Oude Hof is a country estate from 1643 on the Eeuwigelaan in Bergen, owned by the municipality of Bergen and protected as a rijksmonument, a national listed monument. The park with its moats, avenues and artificial viewing mounds is free to enter, and the main building is not a museum.

Panoramaduin

The Panoramaduin is a viewpoint on the seaward side at Petten, roughly 590 metres as the crow flies north-west of the village centre and a good 800 metres from the Palendorp. It is listed as a viewpoint in OpenStreetMap and has its own Wikidata item, Q124326971. How high it is appears in no source we could check.

Ruins of Kasteel Egmond

The ruins of Kasteel Egmond lie at 52.62188 / 4.65427, by Egmond aan den Hoef and therefore not in Egmond aan Zee itself. OpenStreetMap records the place as an archaeological site. Opening hours, admission and who manages it we have not been able to establish.

Kasteel Nuwendoorn

Kasteel Nuwendoorn is a castle ruin near Krabbendam in the municipality of Schagen, four kilometres as the crow flies from Schoorl. The site is free to visit every day from April up to and including the autumn half term of 2026, and dogs are not allowed.

Zwarte Blink

The Zwarte Blink is a viewpoint in the Schoorlse Duinen (the Schoorl dunes), managed by Staatsbosbeheer, with a bench and a picnic table on the top. In the national elevation model AHN4 we measure 32.3 metres above NAP; OpenStreetMap and the tourist sites hold to 31 metres. You can only get there on foot or by bike.

32.3 m

Schoorlse Nok

The Schoorlse Nok is a viewpoint with a bench in the south-east of the Schoorlse Duinen (the Schoorl dunes), managed by Staatsbosbeheer. In the elevation model AHN4 we measure 48.85 metres above NAP on the top; OpenStreetMap and the tourist sites hold to 48 metres. The highest dune of Schoorl it is not: the Catrijper Nok is 55.4 metres and the Klimduin 51.

48.9 m