Kabouterpad Schoorl: 1 kilometre from the Buitencentrum

Staatsbosbeheer, the Dutch state forestry service, puts the Kabouterpad (the gnome trail) at 1 kilometre and reckons an hour for it. Your child walks with a pointed hat on and a fold-out card in hand, and along the way kabouterpaaltjes, little gnome posts, show the route. It costs 6.50 euros per child, adults walk along free.

Where does the Kabouterpad start?

At the Buitencentrum Schoorlse Duinen, the visitor centre for the Schoorl dunes, at Oorsprongweg 1 in Schoorl. Navigate to Heereweg 62, because the Oorsprongweg begins directly opposite that address and you will otherwise drive straight past it. According to OpenStreetMap, Oorsprongweg 1 lies a good 600 metres north of the Klimduin in the village, not deep in the dunes.

You collect the pointed hat and the fold-out card inside. The building is open daily from 10.00 to 17.00, so outside those hours you do not start. On 11 June, 25 December and 1 January it is closed.

How long is the Kabouterpad?

1 kilometre. That figure is on Staatsbosbeheer’s own page, and Staatsbosbeheer manages the area, so that is the number to go by. If you come across 1.5 kilometres online, that is about the Duinkabouterpad. That is a different route.

Staatsbosbeheer reckons an hour for that kilometre. That sounds slow, and it is. There are tasks along the way, and a four-year-old does not get through it in twelve minutes.

What does it cost and what age is it for?

6.50 euros per child. Adults may come along free. The route was made for children aged 3 to 7.

Whether you have to book or can simply walk in, and at what times you may start, we could not establish on 6 September 2026. For the Duinkabouterpad, Staatsbosbeheer does name a rolling start between 10.00 and 15.00, but for the Kabouterpad nothing is said about it. Whether the trail is there all year round is not stated either. Ring the Buitencentrum on 072 509 33 52 (+31 72 509 33 52 from outside the Netherlands) if you are driving out especially for it.

How hard is the walking?

Short but soft underfoot. Staatsbosbeheer names loose sandy paths on the route and advises sturdy shoes or boots. For that same reason the manager does not call the trail accessible to people with a physical disability. Count on a pushchair being no option in that sand.

How much climbing you do is nowhere stated, so we do not give that figure. What is certain: this is the flat one of the two. Anyone who wants to climb the highest dune in the Netherlands needs the Duinkabouterpad.

Is this the same as the Duinkabouterpad?

No, and that is the confusion that arises here most often. Two gnome routes lie side by side at the Buitencentrum:

• Kabouterpad: 1 kilometre, an hour, ages 3 to 7.
• Duinkabouterpad: 1.5 kilometres, an hour and a half, ages 4 to 8, and you climb the Catrijper Nok, at 55.4 metres the highest dune in the Netherlands.

Both 6.50 euros per child. If you search on the length, you will easily end up at the wrong one.

Can the dog come along?

No. Dogs are not allowed in the Speelbos, the play forest, and that belongs to this activity. On the Duinkabouterpad they may not come at all.

That differs from the rest of the Schoorlse Duinen (the Schoorl dunes), where the dog is welcome all year round: from 1 March to 1 September on a lead because of birds that nest on the ground, outside that period off the lead as long as he comes when called. At the Kabouterpad that is no help to you. Leave him at home, or go with two of you and take turns.

Where do you park?

At P2 by the Buitencentrum, the car park Staatsbosbeheer names with this route. Parking costs 2.45 euros per hour, the 2026 rate of the municipality of Bergen.

From 1 March to 1 November you pay daily from 10.00 to 19.00. From 1 November to 1 March on Saturday and Sunday only. On winter weekdays you park free, and before 10.00 and after 19.00 all year round.

Watch the difference between the zones. In zone B it stays 2.45 euros per hour with a daily maximum of 14.70 euros. In zone A the rate rises after an hour and a half to 4.90 euros per hour, with no daily maximum. Which zone P2 falls under, we have not been able to establish. For an hour of gnome-hunting that makes no difference, for a whole afternoon it does. How many metres it is from P2 to the start is nowhere stated.

What do you come across along the way?

Kabouterpaaltjes, the little gnome posts, to begin with. They show the route, and without those posts you lose the trail: there is no sign with kilometres or arrows to a loop. Each post goes with a piece of the story on the fold-out card and a task your child carries out outdoors.

At the end your child makes a nature painting to take home. The Speelbos is part of the site, but where exactly it lies on the route and whether you walk through it, we have not been able to establish.