Texel

Texel is the largest of the string of islands at the north of the Netherlands. Known for its brewery and beaches, it is a popular holiday resort for both dutch and visitors from over the border. It has to be one of the most dog friendly areas in a busy holiday location that you can wish for. It is a large and diverse island offering some extensive forest areas and, of course, lots and lots of beach. However, it is still within a reasonable distance from North Holland towns to make a day trip.

Texel is about a 20 minute boat trip from Den Helder and TESO ferries leave every half an hour in peak times, every hour when it is quieter. Check the TESO website for the latest departure times – they have been known to adjust last minute depending on how busy they are! We advise anyone making this trip to buy a return ferry ticket online and in advance.

The other thing we would recommend is to buy a Texelvignet parking ticket. It has a fixed daily cost that allows you to park anywhere on the island for the whole day. If you plan to be longer than 4 hours on the island and/or want to drive around and park in different spots during the day, then the parking vignette is not only more convenient, it also works out a little cheaper. Buy it online in advance or on the day you travel.

In addition to the lovely nature on Texel there are also some towns that are worth seeing. De Koog has a nice little high street with many dog friendly cafes and restaurants, and some fun souvenir and home decoration shops. Den Burg is larger and busier, with more of a proper town feeling but an equally interesting array of shops and cafes. With your Texel Vignette, you can also park in any of the shopping area car parks and walk into the town centres.

There are many parking areas to choose from. De Koog is at the Northern part of the park and you can walk easily to the forest from there, Pal 17 is pretty large, it is further south and close to the forest and the also beach. We parked in De Vogelzang, a pretty large car park with only a short street walk to Den Burg town centre, plus there is a pretty neat dog treat shop there! There are smaller car parks dotted around the middle the forest, for example the one on Monnikenweg, but there are only spaces for about 10 or so cars there. You can give it a try or just play it safe in one of the larger parking areas.

There is so much to write about for dog friendly walks in Texel that we have separated it into two posts, one for Beaches and one for Forests.

This is probably the clearest map of the dog areas on Texel we have found. In addition to this, pretty much all restaurants and cafes are dog friendly.