Overview
Katwijk is a small Dutch seaside town on the North Sea coast where day-trippers from Leiden and The Hague come for the beach. The municipality merges five districts — Katwijk aan Zee (the beachfront fisherman's town), Katwijk aan den Rijn (the agricultural inland side), Valkenburg, Rijnsburg, and Katwijk-Noord — into one community of roughly 65,000 people.
Beach · Budget Travel · Day Trips · Museums · Nature
Before you go
Accommodation
Hotels and B&Bs cluster along the beachfront Boulevard in Katwijk aan Zee, with doubles ranging roughly €58-101 per night. Budget travelers should book B&Bs inland for lower rates.
Food
Beach-facing strandpaviljoens line the Boulevard Zeezijde; inland, Voorstraat and Princestraat have casual cafés, Greek restaurants, and pancake houses.
Transport
Katwijk has no train station; the nearest is Leiden Centraal, 8 km away, with direct trains to Amsterdam (35 min), The Hague (20 min), and Rotterdam (30 min). Local buses connect Katwijk to Leiden and Noordwijk.