Schoorlse Duinen: the highest dune in the Netherlands, 55.4 metres

Staatsbosbeheer, the Dutch state forestry service, manages around 1,875 hectares here; the stricter Natura 2000 boundary counts 1,737. The area is also a designated quiet area.

Where is the highest dune in the Netherlands?

The Catrijper Nok, 55.4 metres. That figure has only existed since 29 August 2014. Forest ranger Jeroen Pater doubted the dune that had counted as the highest until then and had it measured, together with engineer Bert Kuipers of Hogeschool Inholland.

There are 249 steps to the top, thirteen storeys. In 2021 the staircase was set to be scrapped over the maintenance costs; a crowdfunding campaign raised the 38,000 euros in three days.

Better known is the Klimduin, 51 metres, in the middle of the village. Locally it takes the article het, so het Klimduin, not de.

Where can you park?

At the Buitencentrum (visitor centre) on Oorsprongweg 1, two car parks 143 metres apart. Parking costs 2.45 euros an hour. In zone A that rises after an hour and a half to 4.90 euros an hour with no daily maximum; in zone B it stays 2.45 with a maximum of 14.70 euros a day.

Paid parking applies from 1 March to 1 November, daily from 10.00 to 19.00. From 1 November to 1 March it applies on Saturday and Sunday only, so on weekdays you park free.

Can the dog run free?

Not in the dunes between 1 March and 1 September, the breeding season. The rest of the year off the lead, under voice control, except in the grazing areas. You can recognise those by the signs.

On the beach it is different. From 1 May to 1 October the dog may run free before 10.00 and after 19.00. On the activity beaches (orange) it may always be there on a lead. On the sunbathing beaches (yellow) and the naturist beach (pink) it may not, between 10.00 and 19.00. New beach rules come into force on 1 January 2027, contents not yet known.

How do you get to the beach?

Not by car. According to the municipality of Bergen, the North Sea beach at Schoorl aan Zee can only be reached by bicycle. By car you go to Hargen aan Zee (1,600 spaces) or Camperduin instead. At the pavilion there you can borrow the beach wheelchair de Jutter free of charge, for two hours, booking recommended.

What grows and breeds there?

The east and south is pine forest, some 950 hectares of Austrian pine, planted from 1863 onwards against the drifting sand and extended in the nineteen thirties as a job creation scheme. That is where the largest population of dennenorchis (coralroot orchid) in the Netherlands stands. It is the last breeding ground of the nightjar in the Dutch dunes, and until late in the summer you can hear its churring song.

Roaming off the paths is allowed in five places only: Jan Bas z’n tuintje, Speelkuil, Wulpendal, Hargerplas and Groeter Zandgat.

Before 10.00 and after 19.00 parking is free all year round. But the Buitencentrum closes at 17.00, so anyone aiming for those free evening hours finds a locked door and no toilet.