Holiday apartment in Hollands Kroon: waterways, history and nature

Hollands Kroon combines tranquil waterways, maritime history and landscapes whose development is closely linked to dikes, polders and the former Zuiderzee. The Sloepennetwerk in Hollands Kroon guides boaters along quiet waterways, past picturesque villages and unique natural areas. This is where the region’s small-scale village structure meets its wide-open landscape on the water.

Water and nature

At the Waddenbelevingspunt, access from the car park at Vissershaven begins via a footpath of around 500 metres that crosses a narrow dike. The lower platform is accessible to wheelchair users and mobility scooters, while the upper platform can only be reached via a spiral staircase. The Waddenbelevingspunt is equipped with two telescopes. The site is located in one of the darkest places in the Netherlands and is particularly suitable for observing the night sky.

At Hoenderdaell Animal Park, rescued brown bears, ring-tailed lemurs, alpacas and a snow leopard are among the animals cared for. Their habitats are designed to be as close to nature as possible. Visitors can also feed colourful lorikeets there. At the animal park, Stichting SOS Dolfijn operates an educational rescue centre for marine mammals and helps stranded or at-risk harbour porpoises, dolphins and whales.

Water activities

Lutjestrand on the Amstelmeer has separate areas for kitesurfing and windsurfing, a sandy beach and a swimming pool. Boating, stand-up paddleboarding, kitesurfing and windsurfing are also possible at Lutjestrand. The different areas and activities mentioned highlight the waterside landscape as a recreational space in its own right, without limiting the water and beach to a single use.

History and culture

The WR60 is the only surviving Wieringer Skuutje from a former fleet of numerous fishing boats of this type. It was probably built around 1840 at Alkema’s shipyard in Makkum for the fisherman Jan Tijsen from Den Oever. Today, the Skuutje is used for excursion trips and as a training vessel.

The De Turfschuur Museum in Kolhorn presents the regional and local struggle against the water as well as changes in the landscape. Using a four-part model and a short video presentation, it explains 1,000 years of water management and landscape development. The museum offers three free guided village tours as audio tours throughout the year, even when the museum is closed.

The Wieringen Eilandmuseum “Jan Lont” focuses on the daily life and work of the island’s inhabitants before the Afsluitdijk was built. This includes livestock farming, eelgrass fishing, hunting and fishing. Wieringen was once an island in the Zuiderzee and was connected to the mainland when the Afsluitdijk was completed in 1924. Its maritime history dates back to prehistoric times.

Routes and landscape

The Westerland van Wieringen circular walk leads across the western tip of the former Wieringen and past old villages, elevation changes, sunken lanes and extensive meadows. The Wieringen walking route is 15.8 kilometres long and uses the Storytrails app to provide videos, images and stories along the way. For cyclists, the “Langs zilt en zoet” monument route is an approximately 30-kilometre route through nature and past historic manor houses, churches, farmhouses and locks.

The MUZ Route leads past monuments of the Zuiderzee Works and conveys Wieringen’s history from island region to mainland. “Het verhaal van Hollands Kroon West” runs across old dikes, past former harbour locations and along the region’s agricultural heritage. Along the way, “Het verhaal van Hollands Kroon Oost” tells stories about land reclamation, water management and life on the former Zuiderzee.

Black alders and downy birches grow in Robbenoordbos, which is also home to numerous fungi. The Wieringermeer, now part of Hollands Kroon, offers the opportunity to experience the history of drainage, polder formation and dike construction at close quarters. The Kromme Grouwroute follows an old peat river and a pre-war canal and partly runs along grass embankments.

The Poldertuin Anna Paulowna displays spring flowers supplied by regional flower-bulb growers and is maintained annually by volunteers. The Poldertuin is in bloom from mid-March to the end of April and is at its most beautiful then. The Tulpenexcursie offers another agricultural perspective, with a guided tour of greenhouses, cooling rooms and processing areas, which also include a modern X-ray planting robot.

More local pages in Hollands Kroon: Westerland, Wieringerwaard, Kreileroord, Winkel, Barsingerhorn, Hippolytushoef, Kolhorn.

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