Saturday, after the so needed morning coffee (coffee addict, remember?), when the caffeine finally hit hard, I packed a few things and headed to the north of Nederland. More specifically, we are gonna spend a week in Julianadorp aan Zee, a village located 4 km south of Den Helder, which is the northernmost Dutch city. We booked accommodation in a holiday park called Strandslag, located right at the foot of the sand dunes that meander along the North Sea. It is an ideal holiday park if you have children with you, with a large playground, a mini-golf course, a wonderful lake having a floating bridge, and, very romantically for the couple goals, if you know what I mean;), a fireplace in almost every bungalow. We were lucky to have had a very blue blue sky is bluer. No wonder there are so many Dutch painters who painted blue skies with fluffy clouds!
Den Helder is a small, chic, picturesque town with typical Dutch houses and 41,000 inhabitants. Due to its strategic location, several fortifications were built in the area. In the past, the area was called Helledore (Hells door) because of the water, between Den Helder and Texel the water current was so strong that many strong ships disappeared sailing in this area. The most important Dutch naval base is located in Den Helder. Den Helder has been an important naval base since the 18th century. Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte visited the city in 1811 and, impressed by the strategic location of the city, ordered the construction of a fort (Kijkduin) and a dock (Willemsoord). From Den Helder, you can reach the island of Texel by the TESO ferry. Texel is the largest island in the Wadden Islands. You can visit the island for the beautiful beaches with sand dunes, for the different sports (cycling, skydiving) or visit Ecomare, a nature reserve where you can see seals.
Den Helder and its surroundings offer many places and activities to keep your trip busy: Kijkduin Fort, Navy Museum, Lange Jaap Lighthouse in Huisduinen, Sprokjeswonderland, a children’s theme park, Bakery Museum, Holebolebom (swimming pool and playground). You have to visit the various cafes and bars on the Koningstraat in Den Helder, and if you are in the Willemsoord area, don’t miss the Kade 60 restaurant.
The first place we headed to was Fort Kijkduin. The fort is located in the old part (Huisduinen) of Den Helder. Built in 1811, by the request of Napoleon Bonaparte, the complex is divided into three areas: the building itself, an aquarium, and a museum. The aquarium has been open since 1996 and has many different types of fish from the North Sea. On the ground floor, you will see a whale skeleton. The museum is a passage through the history of different places and contains much evidence from World War II. I found in the exhibition a page from the local newspaper from Den Helder dated June 28, 1940, in which there is an article about Romania which had received an ultimatum from the Soviet Union to cede Bessarabia. The museum and aquarium are open daily from 10 a.m. (11 a.m. in winter) until 5 p.m. . The ticket for adults is 8 euro, and for children up to 12 years, it is 6 euro. For children up to 3 years old the entrance is free. For more details, you can check here.
To the north of Kijduin, in Huisduinen, you will find the Lange Jaap lighthouse. With a height of 63.45 meters, Lange Jaap was the tallest lighthouse in the Netherlands (now the tallest is the lighthouse on Maasvlakte) and is the tallest cast-iron tower in Europe. Construction of the tower began in 1877, and the light was first turned on on April 1, 1878. The tower is built entirely of cast iron plates with high edges, which are screwed together so that the lighthouse is very heavy (506 100 kg of cast iron). Long before the Lange Jaap, in the same area, there was a tower with light generated by wood and coal. The first lens system was implemented in the Lange Jaap lighthouse in 1903. It initially had a flashing light, with two light signals in ten seconds, visible from a distance of 36 kilometers. Currently, the lighthouse is visible from 54 kilometers.
The next place on the list was Sprokjeswonderland. We got dressed well, got in the car, and left early in the morning for Enkhuizen. The fairytale land, 59 kilometers from Den Helder, about an hour by car. Sprookjeswonderland is a park with small fairytale houses, with beloved characters from childhood stories, with Pinocchio, Guliver, Snow White, the Goat with all its kids, Sleeping Beauty, etc. I had a whimsical day, with rain showers interspersed with the sun, with lovely childhood memories and with Miss J. who thinks Prince-Charming was a little late with the kiss of Sleeping Beauty who stinks anyway because she sleeps so much and miss her showers! 🙂 We spent the whole day here. The park is worth a visit but keep in mind that is only open from April to November. The ticket is 9.95 euro, both for children over 2 years and for adults. More details can be found on the park’s website, here.
After Sprojeswonderland, we spent the third day walking on the beach, looking for shells, looking at the beautiful horses riding along the beach and drawing hearts in the sand. We gathered our energy for the last three days when we set out to visit the Bakery Museum, the Toy Museum, which was unfortunately closed, Holebolebom (the name is so funny) and the last on the list, Landgoed Hoenderdaell, a park with many animals and plants.
The Bakery Museum (Bakerijmuseum “De Oude Bakerij”) is located in Medemblik, 38 kilometers from Den Helder, about a 40-minute drive. From the door, you will be guided by the cookies delicious aroma. The museum has on display all kinds of crockery and kitchen appliances from the past. Here you can make your own chocolate or biscuits. Miss J. was so excited to decorate cookies, and she found it very hard to eat her own work at the end:) The museum regularly organizes various workshops where you can learn how to make various kinds of chocolate or cookies. The price of a ticket for adults is 6.5 euro, and for children between 3 and 12 years old, 4.5 euro. You can plan a visit or check out what workshops they offer here. We returned to the holiday park with our chocolate cravings satisfied, and we planned for the next day just to relax by the indoor swimming pool. 29 kilometers from Den Helder, in Tuitjenhorn, you will find Hollebolleboom, a fun aqua park with an indoor pool. In the summer outdoor is open a lovely playground as well. The entry is based on your fingerprint. Thus, you can have access to any of the areas of the park, regardless of the number of entrances and exits during a day. You can find information about Hollebolleboom here.
Last place visited: Landgoed Hoenderdaell, a 64-hectare natural complex located in Anna Paulowna, 18 kilometers from Den Helder. Nature lovers can take a walk through this park full of flowers and plants. Deer, emu and Highland cattle live freely in this reservation. You can discover routes of foxes and bird nests, and in the water banks, you can see different species of rodents. For nature lovers, this is a real paradise. On the way to the animal park, you can see the Hoenderdaell property, located between the Ewijcksvaart and Veer Oude waterways. This area was once part of the Wadden Sea, but has become a beautiful nature reserve since 1992. Since 2007, the Kruijff family has lived in the houses on this estate. The park has animals and birds from all continents. You can see Ara parrots, Capuchin and Tamarind monkeys, flamingo birds, Honduran turkeys, pelicans, cougars, red ibis birds, Bengal tigers, deer, lions, and more. The entrance ticket costs 10 euro, for adults and children over 4 years.
That’s what we have done in a week in and around Den Helder. You can find many other activities, but we still focus a lot on children’s activities, as Miss J. is 5 😉