Noordwijk

Noordwijk has thirteen kilometres of wide North Sea beach and has been a bathing resort since the nineteenth century, developing into the more expensive end of the Dutch coast - hotels along the boulevard, beach clubs on the sand, a conference trade, and a quieter feel than Scheveningen or Zandvoort. It has two distinct parts: Noordwijk aan Zee on the coast, and Noordwijk-Binnen inland, an older village with a church and a centre. The dunes behind hold the Coepelduynen reserve and the bulb country begins immediately inland, so from late March to mid-May the fields around are striped with tulips, hyacinths and daffodils and Keukenhof is a few kilometres away - the flower parade passes through Noordwijk in April. ESTEC and Space Expo are on the southern edge. The Netherlands' offshore wind farms are visible from the beach.

What you actually see

• Thirteen kilometres of beach - wide North Sea sand with clubs along it.
• Bulb fields inland - striped with colour from late March to mid-May.
• Two villages - the coastal resort and the older inland centre.
• The space agency behind - ESTEC and Space Expo on the southern edge.

When to go

April for the bulb fields; April to September for the beach. A day.

Honest expectations

The North Sea is cold with rip currents - swim between the flags. The resort is at the expensive end and parking is charged and fills. Bulb fields are private working farmland; do not walk into them.

Nearby

Keukenhof and the bulb fields are inland; Katwijk is south.