Vlieland

The winds

Where you can kitesurf on Vlieland

Vlieland lies between Texel and Terschelling, the second Dutch Wadden island from the west, in the province of Friesland. Oost-Vlieland, its only village, stands at the island's eastern end on the Wadden side, next to the ferry harbour. From the village the Badweg runs north through the dunes to the North Sea beach. Riders and the kite school start on the beach either side of the entrance at the end of that road, about 2 kilometres from the ferry.

The beach runs along the island's whole north-west side. North-east of the Badweg it passes the Stortemelk campsite and ends at the island's tip, by the Stortemelk channel. To the south-west it runs for about 9 kilometres to the edge of the Vliehors, a sand plain of some 20 square kilometres that the air force uses as a range. Groynes cross the beach every 200 metres or so west of the Badweg, and further apart towards the north-east.

The other side of the island, facing the Waddenzee, is closed to kitesurfing. Vlieland's bylaw bans it there all year, and the Natura 2000 management plan for the Waddenzee allows kitesurfing only at a few designated places, to protect birds that rest and feed on the tidal flats.

Which wind directions work on Vlieland

At the Badweg the beach faces north-north-west. A westerly comes in cross-onshore from the left as you face the sea, a north-westerly blows almost straight onshore, a northerly comes in onshore from the right and a north-easterly cross-onshore from the right. A west-south-westerly and an east-north-easterly both run along the beach. East of the Badweg the shore bends to face north, so near the Stortemelk campsite a westerly already blows along it.

Everything from east through south to south-west blows off the land. That includes the south-westerly, the most common direction for a strong wind on Vlieland, which comes slightly off the beach at the Badweg. Do not ride in any of these winds: a rider who falls or loses the kite drifts away from the island.

KNMI's hourly records from its station on the Vliehors, 11 kilometres south-west of the Badweg, show how the wind changes through the year. From 2016 to 2025 the mean wind was strongest in January, at 17 knots, and weakest from May to August, at about 13 knots. It blew at 12 knots or more in more than half of all hours, but in about half of those hours it came from a direction that blows offshore at the Badweg. Counting only daytime hours with 12 knots or more from a direction that works there, the share was between one in four and one in three in every season, and highest in May and January. The station stands on an open sand plain, not on the village beach, so use these figures for direction and season more than for strength.

Vlieland's kite rules: guarded beaches and the Wadden side

Vlieland's general bylaw, the APV, has a section on the beach. The current version has been in force since 1 January 2024 and was still current in November 2026, and its beach rules read the same as in 2011. It defines two guarded beaches: the stretch between beach posts 50.41 and 50.77 at the Badweg entrance, and the stretch between posts 52.89 and 53.29 in front of the Stortemelk campsite. Beach posts count the coast in kilometres, so the stretches are about 360 and 400 metres long.

From 1 May to 1 October, between 08:00 and 22:00, you may not fly a kite with two or more lines on those two stretches, and windsurfing, wave surfing and kitesurfing are banned there in the same hours. Outside these stretches and hours, the bylaw does not ban kitesurfing on the North Sea side. Vlieland's Natura 2000 management plan of 2016 describes the same pattern: surf sports, kitesurfing included, all year except on the guarded beaches in high season.

The bylaw bans kitesurfing all year on a map that covers the whole Wadden shore, the water around the harbour and the island's eastern tip, and the south side of the Vliehors. It also bans any water sport that puts other people on the beach or at sea at risk, or bothers them. In summer, launch and land outside the guarded stretches and give swimmers a wide berth on the water.

The Vliehors and the military range

The Vliehors takes up the island's south-western end, and most of it is the Vliehors Range, where Dutch and allied aircraft and helicopters practise bombing and firing at ground targets. A Defence regulation of 2008, still in force in November 2026, bans flights over the range on Fridays after 16:00, on Saturdays and Sundays, and on public holidays.

During exercises the range is closed to the public: red flags fly, and warning signs mark its edge. Route and travel guides say the Vliehors is open at weekends once the flags are down. Never enter it while they are up.

Even on an open weekend, the Vliehors is no place for a first session. Its edge is about 9 kilometres from the Badweg, and there are no lifeguards. A map of beach uses drawn up for Natura 2000 in 2010 marks kitesurfing along the Vliehors as allowed only outside defence activities. Seals often rest at the far end of the plain, and Defence works with Staatsbosbeheer, the state forest service, to protect colonies of beach-nesting birds there. Keep your distance from both.

Groynes, currents and rescue

An ANWB route guide counts 69 groynes along Vlieland's beach, built to stop the coast from washing away, and advises swimmers to stay clear of them because of unpredictable currents. Near the Badweg they stand about 180 metres apart. Launch and land midway between two of them, and in an onshore wind keep clear of the groyne downwind of you.

At the north-east end the beach runs out at the Stortemelk, the tidal channel between Vlieland and Terschelling. An ANWB route about the island's lifeboat history calls it treacherous. The bylaw already bans kitesurfing around the tip, but westerly and south-westerly winds push a drifting rider that way, so turn back well before the end of the beach.

The KNRM, the Dutch lifeboat service, has a station in Vlieland's marina, and the same route says its crew is called out about 50 times a year. 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 Vlieland's harbour, high and low water were on average about 1.7 metres apart in September and October 2026, and just over 2 metres on spring tides. The beach is wide, and one spot guide says low tide leaves shallow pools on it while high tide brings bigger waves.

Rijkswaterstaat measures the sea temperature at a wave buoy in the Eierlandse Gat, the channel between Texel and Vlieland, about 26 kilometres west of the Badweg. From 2019 to 2025 the water averaged about 7 °C in February, the coldest month, and just under 20 °C in August, the warmest. That means 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 Vlieland with your kite gear

Rederij Doeksen runs a ferry and a faster passenger boat from Harlingen to Vlieland. Travel sites give under an hour for the fast boat and about an hour and a half for the ferry. Visitors may not take a car or motorbike onto the island, so park in Harlingen, where a shuttle bus runs from the car parks to the boat. Harlingen is about 110 kilometres from central Amsterdam, around an hour and a half by car in light traffic, and about half an hour from Leeuwarden, whose trains run through to Harlingen Haven by the harbour.

Doeksen's luggage rules let each passenger take sports items up to 140 × 60 × 50 centimetres as free hold luggage, so check your board's length against that limit. A larger board needs a luggage ticket, €19.62 on the operator's fare page in November 2026. Boards longer than 3 metres travel only on the ferry, not on the fast boat.

From the harbour you can take the bus, a taxi or a rental bike to the Badweg. There are no luggage trolleys on Vlieland, and local companies carry luggage from the boat to your accommodation.

Reading the live wind on Vlieland

Check the direction first. Anything from east through south to south-west blows offshore at the Badweg, which means a day on the beach, however strong the south-westerly. West round to north-east works.

Then compare the strength with the forecast for Vlieland, 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 the beach at the Badweg, so use them for the direction and the trend more than for the exact strength there. In summer, check the clock too: until 22:00 the guarded stretches stay closed to kites.

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

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