Bergen aan Zee: parking, dogs and the beach
Bergen aan Zee is a village of 409 inhabitants with one access road, the Zeeweg. Parking costs €2.45 per hour with a daily maximum of €14.70, and the nearest car park lies about 60 metres from the beach access.
Where can you park?
There are eight parking locations by the beach. Boulevard Zuid lies about 60 metres from the beach access, Boulevard Noord at 80, Kennedyboulevard and Van der Wijckplein at 150, Parkweg at 225, Van Hasseltweg at 250, the Zeeweg at 400 and the Watertorenweg at 850 metres.
The village falls in parking zone B: €2.45 per hour, with a maximum of €14.70 per day. From March to October inclusive you pay every day from 10.00 to 19.00, public holidays included. From November to February inclusive only on Saturday and Sunday, in the same hours. On weekdays in winter you therefore park for free, at the weekend you do not.
A free alternative: the fietstransferium (bike transfer car park) on the Groeneweg in Bergen. From there it is less than five kilometres to the sea, through the woods.
Can the dog run off the lead on the beach?
Between 1 May and 1 October your dog may run off the lead on the beach before 10.00 and after 19.00. In between he may come along on a lead on the activity beaches, recognisable by the orange posts. On the sunbathing beach (yellow posts) and the naturist beach (pink posts) he is not allowed between 10.00 and 19.00, not even on a lead. From 1 October to 1 May more is allowed than in summer.
Checked on 3 September 2026 with the gemeente Bergen (Bergen municipality). It reports that new beach rules come into force on 1 January 2027.
What do you do here when it rains?
The Zee Aquarium on the Van der Wijckplein is open all year: April to September inclusive from 10.00 to 18.00, October to March inclusive from 11.00 to 17.00. Admission is €16.95 for adults and €11.95 for children aged 3 to 12 inclusive, free up to and including 2 years. Since 1998 a sperm whale skeleton has hung there.
Why does the village look so new?
Bergen aan Zee came off the drawing board in 1906, on the initiative of mayor Jacob van Reenen. Leonard Springer designed the villa park in 1907, Berlage drew the centre in 1908. For the construction of the Atlantikwall almost half of the houses disappeared during the Second World War. Of the 330 buildings with an address, exactly one dates from before 1900; the largest group, 107 buildings, comes from 1950 to 1970. The Vredeskerkje (the little peace church) on the Kerkstraat, consecrated in 1918, did survive the demolition.
Practical note: if the car park on the Uilenvangerweg is full, the municipality sends you on to Egmond aan Zee, Hargen aan Zee or Camperduin. On busy days traffic marshals are posted on the roads towards the coast. If you want to get ahead of that, leave the car at the fietstransferium and do the last kilometres by bike.
Eating and sleeping here
Eating in Bergen aan Zee
Bergen aan Zee has only a few hundred residents, so the choice is limited and concentrated. Almost everything sits on or just behind the C.F. Zeiler Boulevard, with the beach pavilions on the sand in front of it. Here you do not choose between quarters, only between places.
Sleeping in Bergen aan Zee
Bergen aan Zee has a handful of hotels and other places to stay, wedged in between the Noordhollands Duinreservaat and the sea. That limited supply means you have to book early for July and August; it also means you are within five minutes of the dunes or the beach wherever you are.
More photos
To the beach
Nature nearby
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.
0 km
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.
2.9 km
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.
3.5 km