In July and August even Holland has days when it’s so warm that – as the Dutch say – “the sparrows fall from the roof.” On such days, Delft offers a possibility for refreshing the body and cooling down overheated brains: the lake in ‘Delftse Hout’, east of the city centre.
Although this lake is perfect for a quick dip, it cannot compete with the North Sea shore, which is only about twelve kilometres from Delft.
Heading due west, one arrives at Kijkduin Beach Resort, a small version of Scheveningen Beach, which is near The Hague. Kijkduin’s beach is far less crowed than Scheveningen’s heavily overcrowded strip of sand. Moreover, the trip to Kijkduin by public transport is as easy as the trip to Scheveningen. From Delft’s railway station, bus #129 takes you to Kijkduin, approximately a forty-five minute journey. Scheveningen is reached by taking either the train from Delft to The Hague Central Station and then switching to tram #1, or by simply taking tram #1 all the way from Delft.
Monster
More adventurous souls should look beyond The Hague’s beaches this summer, especially if they’d like to avoid lying side-by-side with fellow sunbathers. Except for some stretches of nudist beach (near ‘Duindorp’, tram #12 from The Hague’s Holland Spoor train station) none of The Hague’s beaches offer much privacy. Of course, this can be expected when a mere eight kilometre of coastline must accommodate the roughly seven hundred thousand inhabitants of The Hague, Rijswijk, Voorburg and Delft.
The coast of ‘Westland’, the greenhouse-region southwest of Delft, offers quieter sunbathing opportunities. These beaches mostly attract inhabitants of Naaldwijk, Monster and
‘s Gravenzande. It is, however, a bit more of a hassle to reach these beaches. The beaches between Kijkduin and Monster are served by bus #123. This bus leaves from The Hague Central Station, but may also be taken from the ‘Arnold Spoelplein’ in Loosduinen, which is reached by bus #129 from Delft. Take bus #123 in the direction of ‘s Gravenzande and get off as soon as you see the dunes, just after passing the huge water tower south of The Hague. A ten-minute walk will bring you to ‘Schelpenpad’, the quietest beach around.
Those who decide to stay on the bus will soon reach Monster (look out for the big windmill). Although this village is not as bad as its name suggests, it doesn’t offer much more than the relaxed former fishing village of Ter Heijde aan Zee.
Flood
South of Monster, the sandcastle building masses quickly disappear again. In order to reach these beaches, it’s best to take bus #128 from Delft’s railway station to the bus station ‘Naaldwijkseweg’ in ‘s Gravenzande (forty-six minutes). ‘s Gravenzande is somewhat more lively than Monster, but unfortunately it lies a bit further from the North Sea, so bring your walking shoes.
From ‘s Gravenzande’s nearest beach you may decide to walk northward to find a quieter spot. Alternatively, walking south offers increasingly impressive views of huge ships that seem to sail straight onto the beach, when, in fact, they are entering the ‘Nieuwe Waterweg’, the canal leading to Rotterdam harbour. But beware! As soon as you arrive in Hoek van Holland -literally the ‘corner of Holland’- you’ll meet the masses again. Hoek van Holland has a direct railway connection to Rotterdam, so a large share of the million sea-loving inhabitants of Holland’s largest harbour city often floods this tiny town.
For those that prefer dunes to the beach and want their day out to involve more walking than sunbathing, the coast north of Scheveningen offers some beautiful scenery. Here one finds ‘Meijendel’, a nature reserve with some lovely beach-woods and tremendous views over the dunes. In order to get there, take bus #43 from The Hague Central Station. After seventeen minutes, get off at bus stop ‘De Kieviet’, in Wassenaar. Ask a passer-by for ‘direction Meijendel’ and once inside the park, follow the signs for ‘strand’ (i.e. beach). An hour walk will get you to a beach where only pedestrians and cyclists have access.
Holes
At most Dutch beaches, you’ll realise that the Dutch are like herd animals – the majority tends to stick together. So, when you enter the beach, you’ll probably find large crowds huddled around the sea-side restaurants, whereas there’s often plenty of space only a couple of hundreds of meters further along.
Foreigners from outside Europe may be surprised by the extent of nudity on non-nudist beaches. Although the difference may be as small as a piece of string, walking around fully naked is only allowed on nudist beaches, marked by signs reading ‘naaktstrand’.
The North Sea is pretty safe for swimming, but still, there are a couple of important facts to keep in mind. The sea is very dangerous near the break-waters, so keep at least fifty meters away from these black stone structures, which you’ll find between ‘s Gravenzande and Scheveningen. Don’t swim too far, especially during low tide. The tide may be strong, so keep ground under your feet and do not use inflatable mattresses or rubber boats to float far from the beach.
If you swim or float at an unsafe distance from the beach, there’s a large good chance that you’ll be approached by people in orange speedboats. They’re not naval Dutch soccer fans but lifeguards, so follow their instructions. On windy days, take note of the lifeguards’ flags when accessing the beach. A yellow flag means dangerous swimming and a red flag means no swimming at all! However, these flags are seldom seen in summer.
So, let the tropical days come! Keep an eye out for those falling sparrows and don’t miss the chance to enjoy a couple of days on a Dutch beach. There’s no excuse for not going, and to those folks who say they came to Delft to study, not to enjoy the beach, they might like to join in on the favourite beach activity of the Dutch. The Dutch cannot stop digging holes, canals and building dikes and islands in the sand. So, if you don’t go to the beach to enjoy the sun, go there to marvel at and take part in some awesome civil engineering projects.
In July and August even Holland has days when it’s so warm that – as the Dutch say – “the sparrows fall from the roof.” On such days, Delft offers a possibility for refreshing the body and cooling down overheated brains: the lake in ‘Delftse Hout’, east of the city centre. Although this lake is perfect for a quick dip, it cannot compete with the North Sea shore, which is only about twelve kilometres from Delft.
Heading due west, one arrives at Kijkduin Beach Resort, a small version of Scheveningen Beach, which is near The Hague. Kijkduin’s beach is far less crowed than Scheveningen’s heavily overcrowded strip of sand. Moreover, the trip to Kijkduin by public transport is as easy as the trip to Scheveningen. From Delft’s railway station, bus #129 takes you to Kijkduin, approximately a forty-five minute journey. Scheveningen is reached by taking either the train from Delft to The Hague Central Station and then switching to tram #1, or by simply taking tram #1 all the way from Delft.
Monster
More adventurous souls should look beyond The Hague’s beaches this summer, especially if they’d like to avoid lying side-by-side with fellow sunbathers. Except for some stretches of nudist beach (near ‘Duindorp’, tram #12 from The Hague’s Holland Spoor train station) none of The Hague’s beaches offer much privacy. Of course, this can be expected when a mere eight kilometre of coastline must accommodate the roughly seven hundred thousand inhabitants of The Hague, Rijswijk, Voorburg and Delft.
The coast of ‘Westland’, the greenhouse-region southwest of Delft, offers quieter sunbathing opportunities. These beaches mostly attract inhabitants of Naaldwijk, Monster and
‘s Gravenzande. It is, however, a bit more of a hassle to reach these beaches. The beaches between Kijkduin and Monster are served by bus #123. This bus leaves from The Hague Central Station, but may also be taken from the ‘Arnold Spoelplein’ in Loosduinen, which is reached by bus #129 from Delft. Take bus #123 in the direction of ‘s Gravenzande and get off as soon as you see the dunes, just after passing the huge water tower south of The Hague. A ten-minute walk will bring you to ‘Schelpenpad’, the quietest beach around.
Those who decide to stay on the bus will soon reach Monster (look out for the big windmill). Although this village is not as bad as its name suggests, it doesn’t offer much more than the relaxed former fishing village of Ter Heijde aan Zee.
Flood
South of Monster, the sandcastle building masses quickly disappear again. In order to reach these beaches, it’s best to take bus #128 from Delft’s railway station to the bus station ‘Naaldwijkseweg’ in ‘s Gravenzande (forty-six minutes). ‘s Gravenzande is somewhat more lively than Monster, but unfortunately it lies a bit further from the North Sea, so bring your walking shoes.
From ‘s Gravenzande’s nearest beach you may decide to walk northward to find a quieter spot. Alternatively, walking south offers increasingly impressive views of huge ships that seem to sail straight onto the beach, when, in fact, they are entering the ‘Nieuwe Waterweg’, the canal leading to Rotterdam harbour. But beware! As soon as you arrive in Hoek van Holland -literally the ‘corner of Holland’- you’ll meet the masses again. Hoek van Holland has a direct railway connection to Rotterdam, so a large share of the million sea-loving inhabitants of Holland’s largest harbour city often floods this tiny town.
For those that prefer dunes to the beach and want their day out to involve more walking than sunbathing, the coast north of Scheveningen offers some beautiful scenery. Here one finds ‘Meijendel’, a nature reserve with some lovely beach-woods and tremendous views over the dunes. In order to get there, take bus #43 from The Hague Central Station. After seventeen minutes, get off at bus stop ‘De Kieviet’, in Wassenaar. Ask a passer-by for ‘direction Meijendel’ and once inside the park, follow the signs for ‘strand’ (i.e. beach). An hour walk will get you to a beach where only pedestrians and cyclists have access.
Holes
At most Dutch beaches, you’ll realise that the Dutch are like herd animals – the majority tends to stick together. So, when you enter the beach, you’ll probably find large crowds huddled around the sea-side restaurants, whereas there’s often plenty of space only a couple of hundreds of meters further along.
Foreigners from outside Europe may be surprised by the extent of nudity on non-nudist beaches. Although the difference may be as small as a piece of string, walking around fully naked is only allowed on nudist beaches, marked by signs reading ‘naaktstrand’.
The North Sea is pretty safe for swimming, but still, there are a couple of important facts to keep in mind. The sea is very dangerous near the break-waters, so keep at least fifty meters away from these black stone structures, which you’ll find between ‘s Gravenzande and Scheveningen. Don’t swim too far, especially during low tide. The tide may be strong, so keep ground under your feet and do not use inflatable mattresses or rubber boats to float far from the beach.
If you swim or float at an unsafe distance from the beach, there’s a large good chance that you’ll be approached by people in orange speedboats. They’re not naval Dutch soccer fans but lifeguards, so follow their instructions. On windy days, take note of the lifeguards’ flags when accessing the beach. A yellow flag means dangerous swimming and a red flag means no swimming at all! However, these flags are seldom seen in summer.
So, let the tropical days come! Keep an eye out for those falling sparrows and don’t miss the chance to enjoy a couple of days on a Dutch beach. There’s no excuse for not going, and to those folks who say they came to Delft to study, not to enjoy the beach, they might like to join in on the favourite beach activity of the Dutch. The Dutch cannot stop digging holes, canals and building dikes and islands in the sand. So, if you don’t go to the beach to enjoy the sun, go there to marvel at and take part in some awesome civil engineering projects.
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