texels – Loslopen.net

For a general overview of Texel and how to get there you can go here. This post is only covering the beach areas, if you want to know more about the forest and dune areas, then check out the page on Texel – Forests.

There are a number of all year round dog beaches on Texel where you can let your pup spend whatever energy he has. Technically you can walk your dog from the lighthouse at the north, all the way down to the south of the island to around Paal 9. It’s probably about a 25km walk in total and you can make your way back to the starting point using the Texelhopper bus service. Well behaved and leashed dogs are allowed on the busses. Note, you have to reserve the Texelhopper bus in a similar way that you would use an Uber, click here for more information.

FYI, the term “Paal” is not the locals being friendly and neither does it refer to a physical pole that Google translate suggests, it is an entrance to the beach. So Paal 9, Paal 17 etc, are referring to the number of a specific beach entrance. In Texel they start numbering from Paal 6 at the south up to Paal 33 at the northern tip of the island.

Our favourite spot is right at the north near the lighthouse (Paal 31). This is a vast beach, the tide goes out to a point that you can barely see it and half the beach is often covered in edible kelp which makes it interesting to sniff both for pups and people. It has so much space to play frisbee and run around and just get a fantastic feeling of open space and fresh air – enough to blow out the hardiest cobwebs from your head.

The other spot that we tend to visit is the beach next to Pal 17, another wide and sandy beach right next to a large car park, but it is also just a slight detour on the dunes walks so you can slip onto the beach for a coffee and a quick beach stroll before walking further into the dunes or forests, great if it is a hot day and you think your pup needs to be cooled off with a quick dunk in the sea.

Both of these areas have large car parks and a good beach cafe, both of which are very popular in the usual lunchtime or early evening slots so grab a coffee and a snack outside these hours and you will be able to find yourself a lovely cosy terrace spot.

Check out the official map of the dog areas on Texel for the dog beach areas. The sandy coloured beach zones are off leash areas for dogs. The blue spots are leash-only areas in summer but after 1 September and up to 1 March, you can let your pup run free in these areas too. Red is a no-go area.

Pros:

An extensive all year round range of dog friendly beaches
Easy parking everywhere, especially with the Texel Vignette
Excellent dog friendly beach cafes

Cons:

Pick your beach, the blue zones can be busy in summer

Location:

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.

Pros: