From beautiful sandy beaches to vast stretches of coastline: the Dutch dunes offer countless places to get some fresh air, but there’s only one where untamed nature, centuries-old history, and a hidden freshwater oasis come together.
Just a forty-minute drive from Amsterdam lies Zuid-Kennemerland National Park, an impressive 3,800-hectare nature reserve that stretches around the medieval ruins of Brederode.
But the real surprise lies hidden among the golden-yellow dunes: ‘t Wed, a crystal-clear dune lake 8 meters deep where you can swim in the midst of rugged nature at a site with a very special past.
The hidden past behind ‘t Wed
Anyone standing along the shores of ‘t Wed for the first time would probably assume it’s a purely natural dune lake. Yet we owe this water oasis—spanning over 15,000 square meters —to human intervention. In the 1950s, the area was excavated on a large scale to extract sand. That sand was desperately needed for the expansion and land reclamation of the Schalkwijk neighborhood in Haarlem.
After the excavation work, the deep sand pit filled with clear groundwater, creating a body of water approximately 8 meters deep. In the decades that followed, nature took over. Thus, an industrial sand extraction pit gradually transformed into the most beloved natural swimming cove in the Zuid-Kennemerland National Park.
Swimming in the Netherlands’ most biodiverse dune park
Anyone wishing to visit the natural lake can easily reach the area via the Koevlak entrance, near the De Kennemerduinen Visitor Center. The park is open from sunrise to sunset. To protect the unique biodiversity and tranquility of the dune area, dogs, open fires, and barbecues are not permitted on the beach.
