Walking through the beautiful Schoorlse Dunes

National Park de Schoorlse Duinen is the widest dune area in the head of North Holland. Take a walk here, climb the highest dunes and blow away the cobwebs. The climbs can sometimes be quite tough, so be prepared to work up a sweat.

The changing landscape in the dunes
The village of Schoorl is the starting point for this route. From here you walk into the forests, heathlands and dunes of the Schoorlse Duinen. For a long time, drifting sand in the Netherlands was kept under control by planting trees, but in the dunes of Schoorl you can now find drifting dunes again. As a result, the landscape in this area is constantly changing. You can also find all kinds of beautiful plants in this area. For example, thousands of pine orchids bloom here in June and July and in August the green heathlands change into a sea of purple flowering heather. There is something to see here every season.

Space for nature
For a long time, the dune area near Schoorl consisted of nothing but sand. This has changed considerably in the last century. You can now find special plants there, such as the saltwort, sea beet and the rooted mushroom fungus, and all sorts of different animals, such as the pied plover and the natterjack toad. This was all possible because alternative forms of dune management with more space for nature were chosen here. Since 1997, the sand, wind and water have had free rein again in large areas in the dunes of Schoorl.