Heilooërbos, Heiloo

There are two parts to the walking areas in Heiloo that we tend to visit. Heilooërbos, which is a lovely forest north of the Belieslaan, and the other area is Noorderneg and this does have an off leash area but is more of a maintained park. They are connected by pathways and although it is not exactly a short hop from each other, you can walk easily between both areas if you want to.

Heilooërbos is a fairly large forest area just off the Alkmaar south ring road and has a decently sized, all year round off leash zone in the middle of the forest.

Park at the free parking area off Stetlaan which is just a few minutes of leashed walking before getting to the off leash area.

Right at the exit of the car park is a board showing you a map of some walking routes. On this board, you want to aim for the right hand side of the railway track, this is where the off leash area starts and is marked on this map in a green dotted line – which are actually cycle paths, so it’s easy to orientate yourself.

You will need to cross the railway which is an unmanned crossing. A bell rings if a train is coming so keep your dog on a short leash here just in case he is startled by sudden clangs!

You can go anywhere inside the leash free zone, zig-zag along all the pathways and you will easily walk for an hour in this area alone. If you want to extend your walk to include the surrounding areas then you can do that but it is a leash only area.

The forest itself is a little labyrinth of naturally trodden pathways – no paved areas or artificial surfaces and is a fantastic snuffle route. There is a decent forest canopy in summer to keep cool on a hot day or to give some shelter if it rains. If you decide to follow an official pathway then these are fairly clearly marked, but we generally just followed our nose because the official routes are for hikers and take you into the leash only areas.

The nice thing about this area is that dog walkers are limited to a maximum of 3 dogs, so large pack dog walkers are forbidden. Also a lot of the pathways are wide enough so that, even if you did meet a walker with 3 dogs, you have enough space to avoid them, but mostly during the day you will encounter people just walking their solo dog.

In this forest area there is no water at all. If it is so hot that you want to dunk your dog then either walk or drive to the watery areas in Noorderneg.

It is a popular place, a large dog park in a highly residential area means there is no chance you will have the park to yourself, so if you want to limit the amount of people you will meet, avoid the prime walking times – mornings, lunchtimes and weekends.

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