Texel

Texel is an island in the West Frisian Islands region of the Netherlands. Tourists and birds are abundant. The tourists visit mostly in the summer.

Texel is an island with four types of landscape: dunes and beaches in the west, flatland and polders in the east and hilly in the center of the island (the remains of the ice age). Inland you find the fourth landscape - wetlands - with beautiful walking trails in the centre west coast of the island, like The Slufter. Along the wadden-coast in the east there are comparably smaller Wetlands. In the dunes, valleys like The Muy are quite popular with tourists.

Understand
The islanders call their hilly area the Hoge Berg ("High Mountain"). Its highest point is about 15 m above sea level and gives a fabulous view over the island. It's not the summit of the island. The dune Loodsmansduin in the south reaches 30 m above sea level.

The locals used to speak their own dialect, known as "Tessels". It is dying out and is being replaced by a more Standard-Dutch tongue, although still with specific words and accents. The inhabitants have their own name for the mainland: de Overkant, literally "the Other Side".

The official name is Texel. The x in it is normally pronounced as ss, so the name sounds like "Tessel". In Standard-Dutch, the correct pronunciation is Tessel, but a lot of Dutch people pronounce it with an x-sound. The locals however always pronounce it as "Tessel".

The following villages are on Texel:



The information center is located in Den Burg:

Get in
As Texel is an island, the only realistic way to get to it is by ferry. Teso operates a 30-min ferry trip from Den Helder to Texel. Ferries depart from 06:30 until 21:30, every hour, with less departures on Sunday. In summer and on busy days, two boats are deployed. Ferries dock at 't Horntje along the southern end of the island. From there, buses bring you to the larger villages.

Den Helder can be reached by train. The ride to Den Helder station takes 1 hour and 15 minutes from Amsterdam and 2 hours from Rotterdam. At the station, bus 33 takes you to the ferry pier, or you can walk the bit through town.

Getting there by car is also an option. From the south (Amsterdam), take the A9 to Alkmaar. The A9 stops at the traffic lights in Alkmaar. From there, take a left at the roundabout as the road changes into the N9. Keep following the N9 till you arrive at Den Helder. From the east (Friesland/Groningen/Germany) you can take the A7 motorway across the Afsluitdijk dam to Den Oever, and then N99 expressway to Den Helder. Cars can be taken on the ferry to Texel. On busy days (e.g., the Easter weekend) there can be traffic jams for the ferry.

By bike
The island is best experienced by bicycle, especially in summer. There are many place to rent bikes on the island.

By bus
Public transport busses run each hour to each village and connect to the hourly ferry services (but not to any additional sailings). You can buy tickets at the driver; a map of bus lines is available at the Connexxion website.

By car
For parking at paid parking lots or parking zones you can either pay individually (€2.50 per hour in 2014), but in case you stay for longer than over the weekend, purchasing a yearly parking vignette might be a good idea (€15 in 2014). Add the vignette to the collection of dozens of other vignettes on your front screen and you can park in designated areas without additional charges. There are however some time limitations at some of the parking lots, which are explained in the brochure that comes with the vignette and the signs at the parking lots. The stickers can be purchased for example in the VVV information centre in Den Burg or in supermarkets.

See
The whole western coast consists of the Duinen van Texel National Park, a protected nature reserve. It is a varied dunescape with heath, salt fens and grassland, and is the best attraction Texel has to offer. Some areas are protected as bird breeding grounds.



Some other attractions include:



Do

 * There are many activities you can do on the isle of Texel, including swimming, sunbathing, kitesurfing, golfing and go-karting. Cycling and hiking through the nature reserve are particularly popular. You can rent bicycles at the ferry pier 't Horntje and in the other villages.
 * Cycling: English-language cycle routes on Texel are the South Route and the North Route, which can be combined into one long trip around the island.

Buy
Den Burg has the largest facilities for shopping.

Eat
Additionally, there are supermarkets on the island, there is one, albeit small, in nearly every village on Texel.

Drink
As most travellers stay in De Koog, this is where the island's nightlife takes place. There are many bars and cafes, and it even feels a bit seedy at night.

Sleep
A lot of hotels and campsites are found on Texel.

Connect
There is a post office in the centre of Den Burg, at the corner of the Burgwal and Parkstraat.

Go next
During the summer a special touristic boat service to the neighboring island of Vlieland, is available. This boat leaves near De Cocksdorp. The Wadden Sea sealife is also seen on this trip. From the village of Oudeschild, which has a harbour that is mainly used for fishing, a boat called Texel 44 can take you to the island of Terschelling. You can go back to Den Helder by boat and explore the rest of the Netherlands from there.