Texel is an island in the West Frisian Islands region

Details

Category: North Holland - places to visit

Texel is an island with four types of landscape: dunes and beaches in the west, flatland and polders in the east and hilly in the center of the island (the remains of the ice age).

Inland you find the fourth landscape - wetlands - with beautiful walking trails in the center west coast of the island, like The Slufter. Along the wadden-coast in the east there are comparably smaller Wetlands. In the dunes, valleys like The Muy are quite popular with tourists.

Both tourists and birds are abundant. The tourists visit mostly in the summer.

The islanders call their hilly area the Hoge Berg ("High Mountain"). Its highest point is about 15 meters above sea level and gives a fabulous view over the island. It's not the summit of the island. The dune Loodsmansduin in the south reaches 30 meters above sea level.

Originally, the locals spoke their own dialect, known as "Tessels". Nowadays it's dying out and is replaced by a more Standard-Dutch tongue, altough still with specific words and accents. The inhabitants have their own name for the mainland: de Overkant, litterally "the Other Side".

The official name is Texel. The x in it is normally pronounced as ss, so the name sounds like "Tessel". In Standard-Dutch, the correct pronunciation is Tessel, but a lot of Dutchmen pronounce it with an x-sound. The locals however always pronounce it as "Tessel".

The following villages are on Texel:

    De Cocksdorp.

    Den Hoorn, (South of island). Leafy village with pretty rustic cottages.

    De Koog, (West side of island, by the beach.). The town where the sun lovers go. Small place, but busy. A bit trashy, lots of night life. Two supermarkets, lots of bars/restaurants, and not much else.  edit

    Den Burg, (Centre of island.). Largest town on island, home to about half the islands inhabitants. It has the most facilities and is the best shopping destination.  

    Oudeschild (Skill, East, by the Yacht harbor). Second largest town, positioned on the East end of the island, directly next to The Waddenzee. Home to a cozy town center around the harbor (note: Not the ferry harbor).