Driving the Coast in Noord-Holland -- South Route Haarlem to Noordwijk, the Keukenhof
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Goeree-Overflakke Driving Route - Zeeland
NOORD-HOLLAND DRIVES
Haarlem -- Zandfoort -- Vogelezang -- Noordwijk
Haarlem -- Spend Time Exploring, See the Frans Hals Museum, Drive Away
This route begins in Haarlem after spending time exlporing the Frans Hals Museum, seeing the organ in St. Bavo's Cathedral, and walking through the quaint streets. Haarlem is 20 kilometers west of Amsterdam towards the North Sea. West is Bloemendaal an Zee and Zandvoort an Zee. "An Zee" means "on the sea," so these are both beach towns.The road west out of Haarlem goes through some expensive neighborhoods before curving up and down the dune road. The scenery rapidly changes as you enter the dunes. The typical Dutch countryside and neighborhoods give way to gently rolling hills, forests, and, further on, low growing areas of dune grasses. Then as you approach Bloemendaal an Zee and get a first look at the North Sea, you are at the beach.
As you leave Haarlem, be sure to follow roads to N200 West to Bloemendaal an Zee. North of this route is Bloemendaal, which is worth a side trip to see some of the most expensive houses in the Netherlands. By staying on the main course, N200 West ends at the beach and the road turns south along the beach through Bloemendaal an Zee. Zandfoort an Zee is three kilometers south along the beach road.
Beach Towns: Bloemendaal an Zee, Zandvoort an Zee
Unless you have a taste for raw herring, bypass the roadside herring stands and continue along the wide road to Zandvoort an Zee. This road is not marked well, but the basic idea of the wide road is to allow for passing. At least this is how the locals interpret it. If you are going slow stay to the right and let through traffic pass. This area can be extremely congested with cars, RV's, bicyclists and beachgoes. Be extra careful in the busy seasonZandfoort is typical of the Noord- and Zuid-Holland towns, but is not the best, in my opinion. Because Zandvoort is accessibly by train from Amsterdam and Haarlem, I find other towns more exclusive and therefore less populated. At the end of this route we will be in Noordwijk, my favorite beach town north of the river Schie (Rotterdam, Schiedam).
You can stop in for a beer somewhere, or a coffee, some food or even a full meal. It's hard to pick a bad place. I have never been there myself, but I understand that PISA Ice Cream has a stands or store in Zandvoort. Pisa has the best Italian ice cream in Amsterdam, and the product at Zandvoort must be similar. If you can't find that, try some salted herring instead.
N201 East to N206 South to Vogelenzang: Dirt Roads, Forest Cafes, Dunes
Once you are done in Zandvoort (I just drive through) then find N201 going east toward Heemstede. There is a cutoff through some nice neighborhoods to N206, but if you miss the cutoff then take N206 South when you reach the junction.Follow N206 South a few kilometers until you see indications of Vogelenzang. Before you reach Vogelenzang, there is an intersection with a regular road to the left and an small one lane road to the right. The road to the left is towards Bennebroek, but you want to slow down, put that right turn signal on, and carefully turn right.
Now you may see the church to left in Vogelenzang, and you will get a better view soon. Furst, go to the four-way intersection with the dirt road leading to the right. Ahead and to your left are some grand estates and farms with beautiful houses. For now, turn right and follow the dirt road around the left hand curve.
To the left is a medieval looking farmhouse, though it's not that old. Drive through another right and left hand set of curves, and up the straight stretch 1km until you reach a sign on the left marking a nature preserve. To go walking in here, continue past the house on the left, past the cafe-hut on the right and into the parking lot.
To enter the nature preserve you must buy a ticket, available inside the cafe. I personally skip the food and drink stops in Zandvoort to take a coffee here before my walk. The beach is not far from here.
After you finish walking and cafe-ing, drive back out the dirt road to the four-way intersection again. Instead of turning left back the way you came, go straight ahead so the houses are now on your right. This road is beautiful and leads a short two or three kilometers to rejoin with N206 past Vogelenzang. Turn right, then follow the road through the left curve.
Soon N206 gets out of the curves and becomes like a freeway through some great landscape. You are seeing more of the forests near the beach.
Side Route to Keukenhof
After just a few kilometers you will take the Langevelderslag exit. Langevelder is one of the famous tulip growing areas. The tour continues west towards the tulip growing areas and the beach. after exiting N206, if you turn left towards Lisse you will eventually get to the Keukenhof. This is the premiere flower show in all of the Netherlands, but the Keukenhof is only open during the springtime. See their website for more details. See Bohannon's pictures on trackandtrain.com.A hof is a garden, and a keuken is a kitchen. The Keukenhof was the kitchen garden for a rich woman before the grounds were turned over to the state. Although the spring show only lasts from late March to May, the Keukenhof recently began running a show called the Zommerhof, or "the summer garden." Again, refer to their website for details.
Langevelderslag, Dunes, Beach, Cafe, Bar, Indian Restaurant, Camping
Back to the tour. Again, after exiting N206, turn right at the end of the off-ramp towards Langevelderslag. You will soon be in tulip-land, and you can either take the next left towards an Indian restaurant and camping, or follow the road foward, past driveways and a street into a sharp left hand curve. If you are here in April or May you will be treated by glowing fields of multi-colored tulips and other flowers in their bloom. This is the reason people come to the Netherlands in April and May.After the sharp left the dunes are directly on the right to the west. Continue another 1-2 km and turn right onto Langevelderslag. You are in Langevelder, and a slag is a side road that dead-ends. So this Langevelder-slag is the road that dead-ends at the beach.
The road is an excellent example of how rapidly the landscape changes between the mainland and the ocean. On the right, just up Langevelderslag 100 yards, is a typical Dutch scene: a corral, hopefully with the horse residents at home. This is typical, flat Holland. Next, the road rises uphill into the grass and trees of the dunes. On the left is a stand of pine trees that a friend called the "Dutch National Pine Forest." Then as you top the rise, the trees disappear and you are once again treated to the Dutch dune-scape.
At the end of the road is a large parking area that costs two guilder when I last saw if in January 2001. It may be more expensive in the summer, but in the winter it's possible to continue past the paid parking into the turnaround area. There are a few spaces there -- make sure you don't park in a handicapped spot. A short walk towards the beach are a few buildings. There will be at least a bar/cafe open at most times.
Past the buildings is a rise that leads over to the beach. This is a nice beach for walking, but if the weather is not perfect, wear warm clothes. Once you finish walking here you can drive back out the Langevelderslag and turn right to continue toward Noordwijk.
After driving a few more kilometers south past camping areas and some parking areas on the left, there are a few pullouts to the right and one more parking area to the right before you turn sharply left and right again past De Gouden Spaar and De Witte Raaf.
Noordwijk an Zee
Just before you enter Noordwijk there is a small pullout to the right with a map and tourist information for Noordwijk. Get you bearings straight and follow any through road to the west until you drive through some neighborhoods and towards the north end of town to Noordwijk an Zee.Eventually, if you have a good map and don't get lost, you will arrive on the one-way promenade-street of Noordwijk an Zee. There is a multitude of hotels, restaurants, cafes, snack bars, and other stores to choose from, but I like the quiet south side of town. Continie along the southern one-way beachfront road until it curves left and comes to ta t-intersection. Turn right and drive up the hill, turning right on Koning Astrid Boulevard. As you drive up Koning Astrid Boulevard there is a huge resort complex to the right.
As K.A Blvd. comes out at the beach again, follow it all the way up and look for the Hotel Edelman on the left. The hotel is informally known as the Fawlty Towers, but is an upscale friendly place. There can be a
Across the beach here is also a good restaurant or two on the right, depending on the season. In summertime there are more temporary restaurants and bars setup on the beach, and they serve fine food as well. One time I found a place that had a all-you-can-eat fish dinner. The fish was fresh but still on the bone, so I was glad for all I could scrape off.
Noordwijk is an upscale beach town -- not on the scale of Scheveningen (near The Hague), but nonetheless you should dress well if you are going for dinner. If you just came from the beach, you might be better off staying on the beach and eating at one of the summertime stands.