Katwijk aan Zee

Katwijk sits where the Oude Rijn reaches the sea - the original mouth of the Rhine, which silted in the Middle Ages and was reopened by a sluice in 1807 that still discharges the river. It was a herring fishing village and kept a Reformed character, and the fishing history is in the museum and the old streets behind the boulevard. Its recent engineering is worth noting: the sea defence here was too weak, and rather than build a higher dyke in front of the town the solution adopted in 2013-2015 was a dyke-in-dune, a reinforced structure buried inside a widened dune with a six-hundred-car park constructed inside it, so the town got flood protection and parking without losing its sea view - a neat piece of Dutch problem-solving. The beach is wide, the lighthouse is white, and the dunes run north to Noordwijk.

History

The name probably comes from the Chatti, a Germanic tribe, with wijk, "area". In Roman times Katwijk stood at the empire's northern border at the mouth of the Rhine, a busy river route and a starting point for voyages to Britain, and a settlement called Lugudunum was built here under Emperor Claudius (41-54) (Wikipedia, Katwijk aan Zee).

What to look for

• The old Rhine mouth - the river discharging through an 1807 sluice.
• A car park inside a dyke - the 2013-2015 dune reinforcement with parking built into it.
• A white lighthouse - on the boulevard above the beach.
• A fishing village behind - the old streets and the Reformed character inland of the front.

When to go

April to September. A day.

Before you go

The North Sea is cold with rip currents - swim between the flags. Sunday observance affects opening in parts of the town. Very busy on hot days. The boulevard is modern.

Nearby

Noordwijk is north; Leiden is inland; Wassenaar is south.