Bloemendaal aan Zee

The winds

Where you can kitesurf at Bloemendaal aan Zee

Bloemendaal aan Zee is the beach of the municipality of Bloemendaal, west of Haarlem. You reach it on the Zeeweg, a road through the dunes of the Zuid-Kennemerland National Park. Its beach pavilions stand in a row along the southern kilometre of the beach, with the car parks and the bus stop behind them.

Beach posts count the coast in kilometres, and kites are allowed only between posts 61 and 61.75. The kite zone starts just north of the last pavilion in the row and ends about 300 metres short of the Parnassia beach entrance, on a quieter part of the beach.

The whole beach is about 4.3 kilometres long. In the south it starts between the last pavilion of Zandvoort and the first of Bloemendaal, at about beach post 62.75, and Zandvoort's northernmost kite zone begins about 350 metres beyond that line. In the north it ends at the border with Velsen, at about post 58.4, some 500 metres past the Duin en Kruidberg beach entrance. From post 59.5 to that border the bylaw sets the beach aside for naturists, apart from 100 metres either side of the Duin en Kruidberg entrance. Beyond the border lies IJmuiden aan Zee, where Velsen's zoning sets its own kite zones.

Which wind directions work at Bloemendaal aan Zee

Facing the sea here, you look west-north-west, so south-west and north are the two cross-shore directions: south-west from the left, north from the right. Between them, a westerly and a north-westerly blow onshore at an angle, and a west-north-westerly blows straight in. A south-south-westerly and a north-north-easterly run along the beach.

Anything from north-east round to south blows off the land, over the dunes and out to sea. A southerly runs along the beach but slightly off it, so it belongs in the same group. Do not ride in any of these: a rider who falls or loses the kite drifts away from the shore.

KNMI's station at IJmuiden, by the harbour about 6 kilometres north of the zone, keeps hourly records that show when this beach works. From 2016 to 2025, about four in ten daytime hours in winter and in summer brought 12 knots or more from a direction between south-south-west and north-north-east. In spring it was about one in three, because the wind is lighter then and more often easterly. The mean wind was strongest in January and February, at about 16 knots, and weakest in May, at about 12.5 knots. The station stands at the harbour, not on the beach, so use these figures for direction and season more than for strength.

The kite zone and Bloemendaal's beach rules

Bloemendaal's general bylaw, the APV, bans flying a kite on the beach that can be steered with two or more lines, or a single-line kite flown in a dangerous way, except between beach posts 61.000 and 61.750. The current version has been in force since 17 June 2026 and uses the same wording as the 2011 version. It names no season, so the zone applies all year. We found no separate water-sports zoning decision for Bloemendaal.

The same bylaw bans any game or sport on the beach, or in the sea along it, that puts people at risk, bothers them or could damage property. It also bans riding a sailboard or surfboard in a way that causes danger. In summer that matters most off the pavilions, where most people swim. Launch and land in the zone, and give the busy stretch a wide berth on the water.

Dogs are banned from 1 May to 1 October on the beach between the Zandvoort border and a line 50 metres north of the Parnassia entrance, which takes in the kite zone. For the rest of the year they may run off the lead there, and north of Parnassia they may run off the lead all year. Outside summer, expect dogs near your lines when you launch and land.

Lifeguards, rip currents and the tidal stream

The Vrijwillige Bloemendaalse Reddingsbrigade, a volunteer lifeguard club founded in 1923, watches the beach between Zandvoort and IJmuiden from early May to the end of September. Its post stands among the pavilions at the end of the Zeeweg, about 700 metres south of the kite zone. The crews patrol on foot and by car, and in boats off the beach.

The lifeguards count up to four rows of sandbanks off this coast. Where a bank is broken, the gap is deeper and the waves do not break there, and water flowing back out to sea forms a rip current. They say rips run hardest on the falling tide, are more marked after a long spell of easterly wind, and can move from one day to the next. In August 2020 a lifeguard on a surfboard pulled two boys out of a rip here after they could no longer swim back.

The tidal stream runs along the beach, north around high water and south on the falling tide, according to the lifeguards. A lost board drifts with it, so search along the beach as well as out to sea.

The KNRM, the Dutch lifeboat service, says it goes out about 200 times a year for kitesurfers, windsurfers and wave surfers, and that in more than half of those cases the rider is already ashore. Put your phone number on your kite and board. If you lose either, report it to the Coastguard centre on +31 88 958 4000. In an emergency, call 112 or the Coastguard on 0900 0111.

Tide, waves and water temperature

At Rijkswaterstaat's measuring post in the outer harbour at IJmuiden, about 5 kilometres north, high and low water were on average about 1.6 metres apart in September and October 2026, and close to 2 metres at spring tides. Around high water the beach is narrower, and onshore wind brings shorebreak.

The waves break on the sandbanks, so on a windy day you cross more than one line of white water on the way out. Surf schools use this beach too, and on warm days the water off the pavilions is busy.

Rijkswaterstaat also measures the sea temperature at IJmuiden. From 2019 to 2025 it averaged about 7 °C in February and about 21 °C in August. Wear a 5/4 with boots, gloves and a hood in winter, a 4/3 in spring and autumn, and a 3/2 on warm summer days.

Getting to Bloemendaal aan Zee

By car, Bloemendaal aan Zee is about 30 kilometres from central Amsterdam, around 40 minutes in light traffic, and about 15 minutes from Haarlem. You arrive on the Zeeweg (N200) from Overveen, or along the boulevard from Zandvoort. On sunny summer weekends the Zeeweg is known for its queues to the beach. In summer 2026 the province turned one lane into a weekend bus lane as a trial, and the results are due in mid-December.

The municipality runs two paid car parks at the end of the Zeeweg. In 2026 they cost €4.95 an hour, up to €34.65 a day, from 1 March to 1 November between 08.00 and 22.00, and €1.90 an hour, up to €15.20 a day, between 10.00 and 18.00 in the other months. From there it is 600 to 800 metres along the beach to the south end of the kite zone. A smaller paid car park by the Parnassia entrance lies about 200 metres from its north end.

By public transport, take the train to Haarlem and bus 81 from the station to the Strand Bloemendaal stop. It runs twice an hour by day. In summer, extra buses numbered 84 double the service; in 2026 they ran from 23 May to the end of September. From the stop it is about a kilometre north along the beach to the zone.

Reading the live wind at Bloemendaal aan Zee

Check the direction first. Anything from north-east round to south blows offshore, which means a day on the beach. South-south-west round to north-north-east works in the zone.

Then compare the strength with the forecast for Bloemendaal aan Zee, and look at the gap between average and gust. A small gap usually means a steady wind off the sea. A large one usually means the wind has crossed land first, or that a front is passing.

None of the stations in the widget stands on Bloemendaal's beach, so use them for the direction and the trend more than for the exact strength in the zone. The zone is only 750 metres long, so on a windy summer weekend come early and rig where you do not block the way to the water.

The widget above shows the latest readings from the stations around the spot.

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