Zandvoort

The winds

Where you can kitesurf at Zandvoort

Zandvoort is a seaside town west of Haarlem, on the North Holland coast. Its beach runs for about 9 kilometres, from the border with Bloemendaal in the north to the border with Noordwijk in the south. I amsterdam, the city's tourist board, counts it as part of Amsterdam Beach, and the municipality describes it as the beach of the Amsterdam metropolitan region.

Kitesurfing is concentrated in six kite zones spread along the beach, which the municipality calls water-sports zones. They are defined by beach-post numbers, which count the coast in kilometres, and the blue beach-information boards show where they are. Two zones lie on the quieter north beach, one at the northern end of the busy central beach, and three on the south side of town.

Zandvoort's beach ends in the north at about beach post 62.75, just past the last beach pavilion. Beyond it lies Bloemendaal's beach, where Bloemendaal's own rules apply. South of beach post 70 lies Noordvoort, a beach nature reserve where the bylaw bans swimming and all water sports.

Which wind directions work at Zandvoort

The beach faces west-north-west. A south-westerly blows cross-shore from the left as you face the sea, a westerly comes in cross-onshore from the left, and a west-north-westerly blows straight onshore. A north-westerly comes in cross-onshore from the right, and a northerly blows cross-shore from the right. A south-south-westerly and a north-north-easterly both run along the beach.

Everything from north-east round to south blows off the land. Do not ride in it: a rider who falls or loses the kite drifts away from the beach, and swimming back against an offshore wind is very hard.

KNMI's hourly records from IJmond, a measuring post at sea off the harbour entrance at IJmuiden, about 10 kilometres north of the town, show how the wind changes through the year. From 2016 to 2025 the mean wind was strongest from December to February, at about 16 knots, and weakest from May to July, at about 12 knots. It blew at 12 knots or more in just over half of all hours. In those hours the wind came most often from the south-west, then the west. About seven in ten of them had a direction that works at Zandvoort, and in summer eight in ten. By day, the wind in spring came most often from the north, and in summer about equally from the south-west, the north and the west. The post stands in open water, where the wind is usually stronger than on the beach, so use these figures for direction and season more than for strength.

The six kite zones and the rules from 15 April to 1 October

Zandvoort's bylaw, as amended in December 2020, bans flying a kite with two or more lines on the beach and the dunes next to it, except in water-sports zones designated by the municipal executive. The executive's zoning decision has been in force since 11 February 2021 and was still current in November 2026. It names six zones, by beach post:

Zone 1 runs from 63.10 to 63.30 and zone 2 from 64.20 to 64.40, both on the north beach by the beach-hut camps. Zone 3, from 64.85 to 65.00, lies at the northern end of the central beach, in front of a water-sports pavilion, about 800 metres north of the station. Zone 4, from 66.90 to 67.10, is by the water-sports club at the southern end of the town. Zone 5, from 67.50 to 67.80, was added in 2021 as a trial to take pressure off zone 4. Zone 6, from 68.20 to 68.40, is on the southern beach, which is also the naturist beach.

The zoning applies from 15 April to 1 October. In that period the rest of the beach is a swimming zone. Kitesurfers, windsurfers and foilers may not start or land there, and they must stay at least 150 metres from the waterline. Beyond 150 metres they may ride along the whole coast all year.

Outside the summer period, the zoning decision allows non-motorised water sports anywhere on the beach and at sea. The bylaw's kite ban, however, names no season. Until the two documents agree, the safest choice is to start and land in a zone all year.

The zones are corridors for starting and landing, and they are shared. The municipality's order of priority puts swimmers first, then wave surfers and paddleboarders, windsurfers, kitesurfers, foilers, catamarans and motorboats, and each group gives way to those above it. A person appointed by the municipality may depart from the zoning for safety reasons, and a local tourism site says zones can close on hot, busy days with little wind. Check the signs and flags before you rig.

Swimmers, lifeguards and safety

The central beach, from the pavilions north of the station to the water-sports club in the south, is the busiest stretch and stays a swimming zone all summer. The municipality calls sunny days with wind and a narrow beach at high water its risk days. It names inexperienced kitesurfers, and kitesurfers on downwinders too close to the shore, among the causes of dangerous situations.

The Zandvoortse Reddingsbrigade, the lifeguard service, watches the beach in summer from posts in the north and the south of the town. The bylaw keeps the beach in front of those posts clear, so do not rig, launch or leave a kite there. It also bans everyone from the sea during a thunderstorm and where the lifeguards mark the water as dangerous with a red flag. When the lifeguards' flags call people out of the water, that includes kitesurfers.

In June 2020, strong wind threw a 35-year-old kitesurfer onto the beach while he was launching. People from a nearby surf school and other surfers revived him with a defibrillator before a trauma helicopter took him to hospital. Afterwards, an instructor who helped him advised riders to stay in the kite zones, within sight of others.

The KNRM, the Dutch lifeboat service, has a station on Zandvoort's boulevard. It says it goes out about 200 times a year across the country to search for kitesurfers, windsurfers and wave surfers, and that in more than half of those cases the rider is already safe on land. Put a sticker with 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

The tide is moderate on this coast. At Rijkswaterstaat's measuring post in the outer harbour at IJmuiden, 10 kilometres north, high and low water were on average about 1.6 metres apart in September and October 2026, and close to 2 metres on spring tides. Zandvoort's beach is 50 to 100 metres wide on average. Around high water it narrows and onshore wind brings shorebreak, and the municipality says most clashes between swimmers and riders happen at high water on busy days.

Zandvoort is also a wave-surfing beach. Wave surfers and paddleboarders count as slow water sports and may use the swimming zones as guests, so expect them on both sides of a zone.

Rijkswaterstaat also measures the sea temperature in the outer harbour at IJmuiden. From 2019 to 2025 it averaged about 7 °C in February, the coldest month, and about 21 °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 Zandvoort from Amsterdam and Haarlem

Direct trains run from Amsterdam Centraal to Zandvoort aan Zee in about half an hour. From the station it is about 800 metres north along the boulevard to zone 3, and about 1.4 kilometres south to zone 4.

By car, Zandvoort is about 30 kilometres from central Amsterdam, around 40 minutes in light traffic, and 15 to 20 minutes from Haarlem. Parking along the boulevards is paid, both at the car parks on Boulevard Barnaart behind the north beach and at De Zuid by the south beach. The zones on the south side of town are the closest to De Zuid.

Reading the live wind at Zandvoort

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 zones.

Then compare the strength with the forecast for Zandvoort, 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 Zandvoort's beach, so use them for the direction and the trend more than for the exact strength in the zones. Read them next to the tide table, and allow for crowds: a warm summer afternoon at high water is when the zones are at their busiest.

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

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