Noordhollands Duinreservaat: here you do need an access pass

The manager is N.V. PWN Waterleidingbedrijf Noord-Holland. Not Staatsbosbeheer, the Dutch state forestry service, and not Natuurmonumenten, the Dutch nature conservation society, but the provincial water company. That is straight away the difference you feel in your wallet: an access pass applies here.

Do you need a pass to be allowed in?

Yes. For the Noordhollands Duinreservaat you need a duinkaart (an annual dune access pass) or a day pass.

What such a pass costs, where you buy it, whether children go free and whether exceptions apply to certain paths, we have not been able to check at the source. Those figures are therefore not on this page. Do assume you have to arrange something before you walk into the dunes, and look the rate up at pwn.nl/noordhollands-duinreservaat. Checked on 5 September 2026.

What is the difference with the Schoorlse Duinen?

Two dune areas close together, two regimes.

The Schoorlse Duinen belong to Staatsbosbeheer. There you pay no entrance fee, only for parking. The Noordhollands Duinreservaat belongs to PWN, and there the pass requirement applies. Anyone assuming it is as free here as in Schoorl is in for a surprise.

So there is no such thing as “the arrangement for the dunes near Bergen and Schoorl”. Which area you walk into decides whether you have to buy something in advance.

Where is the area?

The point this page is pinned to, 52.5841 north and 4.64058 east, lies 3.9 kilometres from Egmond aan Zee, 8.5 kilometres from Bergen aan Zee and 10.4 kilometres from the village of Bergen. Those distances are calculated from the coordinates, in a straight line.

Coming from further afield, calculated the same way: this is the coastal strip of the province of Noord-Holland, roughly 30 kilometres north-west of the centre of Amsterdam, roughly 32 kilometres north of Schiphol airport and roughly 9 kilometres south-west of Alkmaar, the nearest city. Straight lines again, so by road it is more, and we have not measured a driving time.

That is one point in an area a good deal bigger than that point. How many hectares the reserve covers and exactly where the boundaries run, we have not verified, so those figures are not on this page.

The viewpoint at De Kerf, between Bergen aan Zee and Schoorl aan Zee, lies inside this area.

What does Habitats Directive site mean?

The area is designated under the European Habitats Directive, the rules under which habitats and species are protected at European level and which, together with the Birds Directive, forms the Natura 2000 network. The consequence is that the management is not free: what may happen to the terrain is fixed at European level.

Which habitat types and species this area is designated for exactly, and which rules for visitors follow from that, we have not looked up. That is in the designation order and the management plan, not here.

Can the dog come?

For this area we have not been able to establish that. What you know from the neighbours does not help you here: the dog regime of the Schoorlse Duinen is Staatsbosbeheer’s, and it does not apply on another manager’s ground.

For dog policy in the Noordhollands Duinreservaat, PWN is the only source that counts. Look it up before you put the dog in the car, because a wrong assumption costs you the trip here.

Where can you park?

We write nothing about that here either. We have not checked a single car park at this area against the source, so there is no rate, no car park and no walking time on this page. An amount we have not seen ourselves at the machine or on the sign does not go on the site.

Where is the official answer?

At pwn.nl/noordhollands-duinreservaat, the manager’s own page. That is where the pass types, the rates and the rules in force at that moment are listed.

In Wikidata the area has number Q1659558. Useful if you want to check whether another source is talking about this same area and not about the dunes next door.