Wijk aan Zee

The winds

Where you can kitesurf at Wijk aan Zee

Wijk aan Zee is a seaside village in the municipality of Beverwijk, on the North Holland coast west of Amsterdam. Its own beach is about 1.2 kilometres long, with the Zwaanstraat as the main way down and the Zuiderbad and Noorderbad beaches on either side. Nearly three kilometres to the south, the Noordpier reaches out to sea. It is the northern arm of the harbour entrance at IJmuiden, through which ships sail to the North Sea Canal and Amsterdam.

The beach between the village and the pier belongs to Velsen-Noord, in the municipality of Velsen, and most kitesurfing happens there. Riders reach it from the Reyndersweg, a road that runs behind the dunes from the village to the pier, with car parks along the way. From one of them, a sandy track called the Kitesurfpad leads onto the beach. The land behind the road is the Tata Steel steelworks.

Riders and spot lists call this whole stretch Wijk aan Zee, even though the kite zone itself lies in Velsen. The village's own beach, in Beverwijk, allows wind and water sports only on a designated activity beach.

Which wind directions work at Wijk aan Zee

The beach faces west-north-west. A south-westerly blows cross-shore from the left as you face the sea, and a westerly comes in cross-onshore from the same side. A north-westerly blows straight onshore, and a northerly comes in cross-onshore from the right. A south-south-westerly and a north-north-easterly both blow along the beach. Everything from north-east round to south-east blows off the land.

A southerly blows along the beach and slightly off it. One kite guide rates it the cleanest wind for the waves by the pier, and adds that a southerly session needs more wind. A rider who gets into trouble in a southerly drifts away from the shore, so it is for experienced riders only.

KNMI's hourly records from its station at IJmuiden, by the harbour entrance less than three kilometres south-west of the kite zone, show how the wind changes through the year. From 2016 to 2025 the mean wind was strongest in January and February, at about 16 knots, and weakest in May, at 12.5 knots. It blew at 12 knots or more in about half of all hours, most often from the south-west, then from the west and the south. In spring the daytime wind came from the north almost as often as from the south-west. In summer it came mostly from the south-west, west and north. The station stands at the harbour, not on the beach, so use these figures for direction and season more than for strength.

The Noordpier, its waves and the tide

The Noordpier is a breakwater of stone blocks, lengthened in the 1960s, and from the car park at its foot it is about a two-kilometre walk to the end. Surf guides count the waves along its north side among the best in the Netherlands. One kite guide says southerly winds wrap the waves around the pier, and that they build quickly towards high water.

The stretch of beach next to the pier, with its beach pavilions, is not for kites. Velsen keeps it for swimmers, wave surfers and paddleboarders, and the kite zone starts a few hundred metres further north. Ride the waves that reach the zone, and stay well away from the pier itself: a fall there can put you on the rocks.

Beyond the pier is the harbour entrance, used by sea-going ships, so keep your kite out of it. In winds of force 6 or more from the west or north-west, waves break over the pier and it is closed to walkers.

The tide is smaller here than in Zeeland. At Rijkswaterstaat's measuring post in the outer harbour, 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. Around high water the beach is narrower, and onshore winds bring shorebreak.

Kite zone rules in Velsen-Noord and Wijk aan Zee

Velsen's beach-zoning decision of February 2020, still in force in November 2026, splits the Velsen-Noord beach into three zones. Zone 1, next to the pier, is for swimmers, wave surfers, paddleboarders and kayaks. Zone 2, the middle stretch, is where you may fly kites with two or more lines and take non-motorised craft onto the water, so that is the kite zone. Zone 3, up to the border with Beverwijk, has no such exception. On the map attached to the decision, zone 2 starts a few hundred metres north of the pier and ends a little beyond the Kitesurfpad.

The same decision lets boats launch and land through corridors marked with buoys and flags in zones 2 and 3 from April to October, so keep clear of them. Zone 2 is also an off-leash area for dogs all year, so watch your lines when you launch and land.

North of the border, the village beach belongs to Beverwijk. Its bylaw bans wind and water sports, kitesurfing included, on the beach and at sea except on an activity beach that the council designates. Beverwijk's beach policy for 2019–2023 placed that activity beach south of the Zwaanstraat entrance, for organised wind and water sports, and kept the rest for families and sunbathers. We found no newer designation, so check the signs before you rig there.

Offshore wind and rip currents

The KNRM, the Dutch lifeboat service, has a station in Wijk aan Zee. In May 2020 its crew picked up two kitesurfers after the wind suddenly turned offshore. One had lost his kite and board and could not swim back. The other still had his kite but could not get back to the beach against the wind, and was exhausted. Neither was hurt.

Rip currents form along this beach too. In July 2020, lifeguards at Zuiderbad pulled four swimmers out of a rip in two rescues, and raised the yellow flag along the whole beach of Wijk aan Zee because several rips were running.

The KNRM says it goes out about 200 times a year for kitesurfers, and in more than half of those cases the rider is already safe on land. It asks riders to put a sticker with their name and phone number on their board and kite, and to wear bright colours. If you lose a kite or board, report it to the Coastguard centre on +31 88 958 4000. In an emergency, call 112 or the Coastguard on 0900 0111.

Water temperature, wetsuits and getting there

Rijkswaterstaat 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.

Wijk aan Zee is about 35 kilometres from central Amsterdam, around 40 minutes by car in light traffic, and about 20 minutes from Haarlem. The car parks along the Reyndersweg are free: Velsen's list of paid parking places for 2026 does not include the road. On hot summer days they fill up. By public transport, take the train to Beverwijk and a bus to Wijk aan Zee, then walk about two kilometres to the Kitesurfpad. One spot guide warns of thefts from parked cars, so leave nothing of value in sight.

Reading the live wind at Wijk aan Zee

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

Then compare the strength with the forecast for Wijk 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 the beach, so use them for the direction and the trend more than for the exact strength in the zone. Read them next to the tide table, because the waves by the pier build towards high water, when the beach is at its narrowest.

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

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