With tight travel restrictions still in place at the moment of writing (late April 2021) and spring around the corner I would like to inspire people to still go out and have adventures! This blog is about my adventure to the Island of Texel almost one year ago now. The idea for this adventure came when the lockdown restrictions were eased, but with borders still being (more or less) closed to necessary travel only. Therefor I made a shortlist of 5 places I really wanted to visit during the summer of 2020, and the Waddeneilanden were definitely on it! In this trip report I will show you how I did a daytrip to a beautiful island from my hometown of Utrecht for under 50 euro (all-in). I will give some tips and share the best spots on the island.

Thank to errorfares I have traveled all over the world, visiting more than a quarter of all countries. But when someone asked me if I ever made it to the Dutch “Wadden” Islands until recently I had to say no. After sitting at home for 4 months due to Covid my first travelling adventure would have to be to one of the northern Islands of my home country. I picked the easiest to reach island, Texel, because I only had one day to visit (due to all accommodation being already sold out as this was the first week with tropical temperatures in 2020).

Texel is surprisingly easy and fast to reach. I left Utrecht at 8am and took the direct train to Den Helder, which takes just under 2hrs (or over one hour from Amsterdam). The direct intercity is comfortable with air-conditioning, I watched some Netflix and listened to a podcast and arrived at 10am. In Den Helder I rented an OV-bike at the station. OV-bikes are by far the best way to move around in The Netherlands, they are super cheap (just EUR 3.85 per 24hrs) and comfortable enough to ride for an hour or so. The only downside is that you need a Dutch bank account in order to rent one. From the train station it took me just 15min by bike to the Ferry terminal, so ample of time to make the 10.30am Ferry, arriving in Texel 20 min later. The Ferries run every 30min during the day. By foot the roundtrip price is just EUR 2.50, bringing your bike will set you back an additional EUR 2.50. Facemasks are mandatory.

Upon disembarking the boat I was welcomed by a pleasant small breeze over a sunny island. My goal for the day: to see some highlights and try local stuff, but mostly to enjoy the great weather as I biked around! Fortunately I already had a bike as there was a small queue for renting one of the EUR 12,- a day bikes in the port (note that I paid less than 4 euro for my OV bike). There is a beautiful bike path that goes around the island, so I decided to take this route. And as the south side of the island doesn’t have much beaches it runs alongside the water! So I biked from the Ferry harbour alongside the water to my first stop of the day, the fisherman village of Oudeschild. Just when you enter the village I recommend you follow the “De Ruyterstraat” instead of the main road as this path runs next to some beautiful fisherman houses. When I arrived in the city I first walked around the small harbor and then sat down for a lunch: the catch of the day at “Vispaleis van der Star”. Somehow fish always tastes better when you are at an island and eat it as fresh as it gets. Oudeschild is also THE PLACE to be for the most famous activity on the waddeneilanden: mud walking, or in Dutch: waddenlopen. The Waddenzee is famous for running dry with low tide, and thus there are tours organized that will take you through the sea bed mud to explore the nature and sealife of the Waddenzee.

Unfortunately the tides were not really good the day I went and thus there were no mud walking tours offered. So after lunch I continued along the waterside bikepath towards the north of the island. Here the bike path runs between a dyke and the sea with a lot of sheep playing in the grass, it’s a very relaxed ride with some scenic farms and windmills from time to time. Eventually you will arrive in the nature park De Schorren. The bike path will go around this nature reserve, which is protected because of specific birds. I would recommend to bike more or less 1-2km further until you get to a fence of the park and stop there for a moment to look around, it’s truly wonderful with a lot of birds, the seawater and swamp-like plants all the way into the sea water. After a rest moment I biked back and around the nature reserve.

Upon returning on the seaside bike path it didn’t take long before the next destination arose in the distance: the famous red light house on the northernmost point of Texel. This side of the island had stronger winds and the ride towards the lighthouse took me longer than expected, a few km’s before the lighthouse is a small village named De Cocksdorp. Just outside this bike path continues alongside the beach towards a small harbor with a ferry service to the next island: Vlieland. As this services doesn’t run very often (just a few times per week) I had to stay on Texel. From here I was able to actually see Vlieland. A few more minutes of biking and I arrived at the light house! Unfortunately the lighthouse itself was closed due to corona restrictions so I decided to go head to beach instead. The beach was surprisingly empty despite being very serene with white sand. So I decided to relax a bit, walk around and eventually sit down for a coffee and a local beer: Texels Schuumkoppe. These local beers are quite famous in The Netherlands, and I can say it tasted really good after the long bike ride!


Enjoying the Northernmost point of the island!

After visiting this part of the island I headed south on the north-west side of the island. As this is the other side, the shoreline here isn’t the calmer Waddenzee but the rough Northsea and thus this side has some impressive dunes behind the widespread beaches. It was substantially busier on this side of the island, the bike path goes thru the dunes, up and down and every few km there is a side road which leads towards the beach, so if you get tired and want to go for a swim, there are plenty of options! I decided to continue towards the main village De Koog and head to the beach over there. Here it wasn’t as calm with people as in the North, but still the beach is very big and there is a lot of space. After a nice swim I thought it was a good time to grab something to eat. The place Bries20 got recommended to me so I sat down over there and enjoyed a cocktail while browsing the menu. Unfortunately they didn’t serve dinner until 6pm, so I opted for a nice selection of appetizers instead. The place has some decent seafood aswell as an Asian twist. It was a pleasant place to sit down, enjoy the sun and have some food!

Afterwards I decided to bike through the main town on the island, De Koog, but this wasn’t very interesting, so I went back to another popular spot: Paal 17. Paal refers to tower/stand and the number is the amount of km’s it’s away from the southernmost point where the beach begins. There is a Paal every few km, at a Paal there mostly is a beach entrance, a beach bar and some facilities (like beach chairs). At the Paal17 beach I first wanted to stay until sunset, but when I checked the ferry schedule I saw this would not be possible. The last boat leaves around 9 with the last train back to Utrecht at 10 or 11pm, also the ferries run by the hour in the evening. So around 7 I decided to leave the beach and started my return trip. The ride to the harbour was 50min, and there were a bit more headwinds than expected, which resulted in me biking pretty fast in order to barely make the 8pm ferry. Just 25 minutes later I was in the Den Helder harbour and spotted the perfect place for a sunset cocktail. Next to ferry terminal there is a restaurant overlooking the water with a terrace to the west. As it was a beautiful day the terrace was packed, luckily enough the waitress found me a free table and I ordered a great sunset cocktail. After an hour or so and a beautiful sunset I headed back to the train station, gave back my OV bike and took the train back to Utrecht after a full but wonderful day of exploring!

Perfect sunset spot to close off a beautiful day of exploring!