Castricum



Castricum is a town and municipality in the province of North Holland in the Netherlands, located along the North Sea.

Understand
Castricum is first mentioned in a 10th century document, but archaeological digs have proven that the area was already settled in Roman times. Over time, smaller settlements popped up around the town of Castricum, with Castricum being the central hub for these hamlets, which would not much later be swallowed by Castricum's growth. Of these hamlets, only Bakkum, located to the north, survived. It is connected to Castricum, and has since grown into a proper town.

Castricum was a battleground of the War of the Second Coalition, between 1798 and 1802, having the British and Russians one the one, and the Dutch and French on the other side of town. The Battle of Castricum took place on October 6th, 1799, which stopped the British and Russian troops from progressing further into Dutch land.

Castricum boomed in growth in the twentieth century, when it was to dampen the growth of the Randstad. Nowadays the municipality of Castricum houses 35,300 people, and thrives mostly off of tourism, due to its seaside location.

By car
From Amsterdam, use the A8 highway to travel towards Zaandam, use the unlabelled exit after exit 3 followed by a right turn onto the N8, heading for Wormerveer, after which you take the first exit followed by another right turn onto the continuation of the N8 follow this road, which will become the N203 after crossing underneath the A9 highway. Follow the N203 through Uitgeest, and turn onto the N513 afterwards. At this point, you will find Castricum to your left. The Soomerwegh (left at the first intersection) will lead you into town.

By public transit
is located on the railway line from Amsterdam to Den Helder. The station is serviced with Intercity and Sprinter trains. The Sprinters are the slower option, so your preference should be an Intercity train when travelling from Nijmegen, Arnhem, Utrecht, Alkmaar, Den Helder or Amsterdam. Bus lines 79 (Beverwijk via Heemskerk), 164 from Egmond aan Zee and 167 to Alkmaar stop or terminate at the station.

Get around
Castricum is rather small, so its town centre can be explored on foot without much struggle. Should you wish to go to Castricum aan Zee to spend time at the beach, then you can use an OV-chipkaart to rent an OV-Fiets at the train station. These can be picked up at the bike shop just outside of the station. Bikes can be taken starting fifteen minutes before the first train, and returned up to fifteen minutes after the last train.

Do

 * Being located by the beach, Castricum is fit for activities such as Surfing. Can't surf but wanting to learn how to? There's a surfing school as well as a kite-surfing school in Castricum aan Zee:
 * The dunes located between the North Sea coast and Castricum are some wide, making them a great area to have a hike through nature. Your hike can be perfectly combined with a drink at one of the Strandpaviljoens along the coastline.
 * The dunes located between the North Sea coast and Castricum are some wide, making them a great area to have a hike through nature. Your hike can be perfectly combined with a drink at one of the Strandpaviljoens along the coastline.
 * The dunes located between the North Sea coast and Castricum are some wide, making them a great area to have a hike through nature. Your hike can be perfectly combined with a drink at one of the Strandpaviljoens along the coastline.

Go next

 * Travel up or down the North Sea coast. Heading north you will find Egmond aan Zee, Bergen aan Zee, Putten, Callantsoog and Den Helder. To the south you will find Zandvoort, Katwijk, Wassenaar and Scheveningen, Hook of Holland] and [[Zeeland with the Delta Works.
 * Explore the North Holland Peninsula with the historical city of Alkmaar, the Hoorn-Medemblik Heritage tramway and the colourful bollenvelden around Schagen.