Sculpture route

Art in Zandvoort is all around us. In streets, parks, and squares, artworks are freely accessible to everyone. Together, they form one large open-air museum, right in the heart of the municipality. Placing art in public spaces has a long tradition in Zandvoort. Over the years, this has resulted in a unique and diverse collection of outdoor artworks. You’ll find sculptures by Kees Verkade and Nel Klaassen, among others, as well as work by Marlène Sjerps and Kitty Warnawa. The artworks not only tell their own story but are also inextricably linked to Zandvoort’s history and image as the premier seaside resort of the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area. This outdoor sculpture route is therefore a valuable part of our shared cultural heritage. On this website, you’ll find a map with explanations of the artworks. This way, you’ll discover Zandvoort at its most beautiful—a walk past art, nature, and history.

Walk through woods and dunes to the beach and the sea and back

In the past there were estates of wealthy business people from Amsterdam. There you can still find remnants of it, such as an ice cellar and romantic tree avenues. Again and again we are surprised by beautiful views. The vegetation of forest is slowly changing into a dune landscape. The inner dune changes to middle dunes and outdoor dunes. The Zeereep is still in its original state here.

Directions:
From the parking lot we follow the blue arrows next to the bike path. We follow the Brederodepad and then the Jachtweg. Then we walk a bit over the cycle path to finally take a hiking trail to the sea. From the sea we turn left on a gravel road and walk through the Hubertusvallei. We keep on keeping left and arrive at a birdwatching hut. We continue our way and still keeping left until we reach the bike path. There we go right and arrive at a water tap. We turn left here and then automatically return to the parking lot.

Along the way we walk through various forests, such as a beech forest, a coniferous forest, a thicket (a thicket is a vegetation of bushes from 1 to 5 meters high). We see lichen steppe and finally, after the helmet, an empty beach with a tuft of weeds. We see different birds such as the gull and the woodpecker and at the birdwatching hut several water birds. Sometimes we can meet the natterjack toad and see the parnassia bloom.

Fietsen langs het landgoed Huis te Manpad

Fietsroute door het zuidelijk deel van Kennemerland, langs landgoederen, buitenplaatsen en andere villa’s. We komen langs de landgoederen Leiduin en Woestduin. De rechte lange lanen kenmerken de parken rondom deze buitenplaatsen, maar zijn later vermengt met de gebogen Engelse landschapstijl. Op het 18e-eeuwse landgoed Huis te Manpad woonde jarenlang de familie Van Lennep. Het huis is gratis te bezichtigen, maar alleen op afspraak. (www.huistemanpad.nl). Er is een 240 meter lange slangenmuur, een orangerie en een menagerie. We fietsen door het wandelbos Groenendaal met zijn speel tuin en kinderboerderij. Daarna voeren we door de Haarlemse Hout, een eeuwenoud stadsbos van Haarlem om tenslotte bij een van de mooiste landgoederen van Nederland te komen: Landgoed Elswout. Zijn prachtige park met heuvels, bruggen, priëlen en waterpartijen geven het een Zwitsers uiterlijk.

Walking from the Zeereep to the inner dune edge and back again

The Kennemer dunes are very rich in natural beauty and are part of the European Natura 2000 network. There are many surprising vistas, quiet dune lakes, humid lows, dusty dunes, impenetrable thickets, erratic shaped coniferous and deciduous trees.

Directions:

At the parking lot we walk past the pavilion Parnassia north along the bike path. We arrive at a beach exit, but shortly before we turn right. We now walk through a hilly and open dune area. Soon we are on an earth monument: De Bruid van Haarlem (The Bride of Haarlem). It is a sand back in half moon shape. To awaken the Bride back to life, the dune has been covered to the sand. That means that all plants, roots and black soil has been excavated. Meanwhile, there are already real wet dune valley plants such as eyebright, centaury and dune are growing here. Via the playground Snoekebos we go towards the entrance to Bleek and Berg.

The route then continues to the Oosterplas, an idyllic dune lake that is very popular for its tranquility and beautiful scenery. We can also swim or bathe (at your own risk!). Via the higher path around the lake we walk into the dune and to the viewpoint the Starreberg. From here we have a beautiful panoramic view over the dunes. The transitions of the inner dune edge in the east, the dune struts in the middle and the Zeereep (dyke of sand) in the west are clearly visible from this point.

We follow the path further and pass the Vogelmeer where we can view many species of birds. In the winter we see, among other things, the teal, wigeon, tufted duck and the pochard. And in the summer we might see grebes with youngsters, an egret or a kingfisher. Something from the route is an observation hut where you can always take a look. Via the boot path – marked with white poles – you can again walk a bit over the Bride of Haarlem. In case of high water, this road is closed and you have to walk through the bike path. Via the bike path we reach the parking lot. When we have started at Bleek and Berg, we go right behind the Parnassia pavilion and follow the cycle path northwards.

On the way we have to climb and descend a lot. The open dune train surprises us with many views. A hundred species of (migratory) birds breed. There are dune lizards, bats, roe deer, foxes, fallow deer.  It is easy to see that the dunes are increasingly covered with forest, how further away they are from the sea. Although man has had a considerable influence on the dune landscape, vegetation has developed here that has a high degree of naturalness. If you walk from the beach to the inner dune edge you can see the succession of vegetation that is characteristic of the natural succession in the dune.

Walk from Parnassia to Koevlak

Walk through one of the most beautiful nature reserves in the Netherlands. Enjoy the young limestone dunes and the beautiful inner dune forests. Here the small Parnassia plant blooms in the wet dune valleys and the rare plants Eyebright and Centaury. The dunes are wet because they stopped water extraction in 2002.

Directions:

To the south of the parking lot at the Parnassia pavilion is an information panel. We follow the blue poles at the beginning of the walk. First we follow the bike path a bit. On the left is the playground Hazenwei. We are now about a feather grid. We can meet Scottish Highlanders, Koniks horses and Shetland ponies here. The animals are not dangerous if you keep a distance. Do not pet or feed! We going left reach the Vogelmeer. This lake is the domain of the (breeding) birds. We now head for Koevlak and pass another viewpoint along the way. We also pass a war memorial. 92 Resistance fighters lay here, who were found in May 1945. At the Koevlak, about 1000 years ago huge amounts of sand from the sea and the beach landed in the country. The sand piled up and spread westward until the sea front was reached. We call this landscape the young dunes. We now head for Koevlak. Here is the visitor center, where there is an interesting exhibition about the dune landscape and everything that lives there. We go back past the lake ‘t Wed. Here you can swim. We walk along the banks of the lake and at a certain moment we turn right to the viewpoint ‘De Konijnenberg’. We now continue and arrive at a bird-viewing point at the Spartelmeer. Here we follow the bike path and arrive at the parking lot.

The vegetation that you will encounter in this area is largely the result of planting in the first half of the last century. They wanted to keep the dune sands from drifting away, for the benefit of agriculture. The dunes have grown thick with marram grass, pine forests on the dune tops and shrubs such as buckthorn, hawthorn, cardinal smelling and creeping willow. This is countered by the use of large grazers such as Scottish Highlanders (cows) who eat away the grasses and shrubs and with their hooves the bottom open.On this way there is room for a more varied vegetation. In recent years more flowers, herbs and mosses have appeared in the dune valleys than before.

Along dunes that have been grazed for centuries

Open dune walk between fallow deer and old parcels

The Amsterdam Waterleidingduinen is one of the largest dune areas in the Netherlands. It consists of alternating dune landscape, coniferous and deciduous forests, quiet lakes, drift sand areas, swampy valleys and canals. You can fully enjoy peace and quiet and you can deviate from the paths to stroll through the dunes. The dune is 3400 ha (5 km wide and 10 km long). The drinking water for Amsterdam is being cleaned up here.

Directions

At the De Zilk entrance we follow the black poles. We pass through small oak groves, where coppice used to be collected and pass through the glider fields and through open plains (Roggepan). We continue our way and walk through a field where there used to be a farm. We can still see the ditches here. We pass romantic dune lakes and birch trees. We continue our way and through a forest we reach the highest point of the hike, the Haasvelder Kijkberg. We continue our way over the Vogelenvelderweg and cross the Oosterkanaal. Now it will not be long before we arrive at our starting point (about 1/2 hours).

Alternating walk through a reserve for European Bison

The Kraansvlak is one of the most important nature reserves in the Kennemerduinen and offers various lakes and pristine dunes. The walk through the Kraansvlak also shows the traces of the past, such as dune beds where formerly the dune potatoes were grown. On days when the circuit is used, you hear the race cars make their laps. The path is closed from 1 March to 1 September i.v. the breeding season.

Directions:

We start the walk in Zandvoort-Noord. We follow the cycle path Duinpieperpad at the end of the buildings near the railway. The Dune Pieper Path is named after the fields where the dune potatoes are grown. We do not go under the bicycle tunnel but walk along the track. Soon the bicycle path curves to the left. After 25 meters we turn right and follow the yellow poles from here. We now come to a fence that is under power. Do not touch the gate, but climb safely over the fence via the ladder. We are now on the Kraansvlak. This is the area of ​​the wisents. Keep a distance and do not feed the animals. After a varied trip through dune valleys and lakes, we reach another fence, which we climb over. We continue to follow the yellow posts and cross the bike path on the way to the boulevard. On the boulevard we turn left along the circuit. There will soon be a viewpoint, where you have a nice view over the circuit and the Noordduinen. We can now walk a bit over the beach to the NH hotel. At the NH-hotel we walk down the Burgemeester van Alphenstraat along the BMW Driving Experience and hit the walking path towards the bungalow park. At the entrance of the bungalow park we turn left and follow the path. We now pass a viewpoint that offers us a view over the dunes, the sports fields and the village. We continue our way past the football fields and take the first path to the right, past the pigeon sport club. We take the first path to the left next to the hockey fields, then the first way to the right towards the village. Now we take the first  walking path left behind the flats, cross a road and continue our path along allotments. You now get to the Duinpieper cycle path again and you follow this right to the starting point of our walk.