Walks · Schiermonnikoog · Netherlands
Schiermonnikoog for the day, with the motorhome at Lauwersoog
three quarters of an hour by ferry across the Wadden Sea to the car-free island, the village, the red lighthouse, the dunes and one of the widest beaches in Europe, by bicycle or by bus
Schiermonnikoog is a Frisian island in the Wadden Sea, some fifteen kilometres long, with a single village, and almost all of it has been a national park since 1989. Visitors' cars do not go there: the motorhome stays on the dyke at Lauwersoog, the last village in the province of Groningen, and the ferry crosses in three quarters of an hour the Wadden Sea, a World Heritage Site since 2009, the flats of sand and mud that the tide uncovers and covers again twice a day. From the pier the bus takes you to the village, four kilometres further on, or to the North Sea beach, which the tourist office calls the widest in Europe. Between the two there are the dunes, the woods, the Westerplas lake and the red lighthouse of 1853. You get around by bicycle, for hire in winter too, or on foot; in winter it is the island of birds and of seals on the sandbanks.
Getting there
- The motorhome stays at Lauwersoog: a car or a motorhome can board for the island only with a permit from the municipality, and caravans do not go there at all
- The right car park is P2, on the Kustweg, which has no height limit and is five minutes on foot from the ticket office. P1, the covered car park attached to the terminal, is 2.25 metres high and a motorhome will not fit
- Parking costs 8 euros for each calendar day, without booking; you pay with the QR code or at the pay machine, and on the way out the barrier reads the number plate. Whether a motorhome pays more the page does not say
- Set the satnav to the Wagenborg terminal, Zeedijk 9; along the N361 the signs show which car parks are full
- From the island pier to the village it is four kilometres: the bus always waits for the ferry, even when it arrives late
Practical information
The ferry is booked in advance, choosing the departure time, which can be changed online up to an hour before departure. The ticket is always a return.
Duration a full day, with the 9:35 departure and the 16:45 return, or the 13:45 one if the weather turns. Those who want to stay longer find the tourist office in the village
Price the return ferry 18.24 euros in winter, from 4 to 11 years 10.30; parking 8 euros a day
When to go all year
Suitable for everyone; small children go by bus to the village and the beach, cyclists have an island made for them, some fifteen kilometres by four. Dogs on a lead all over the island, and on the ferry they pay 7.96 euros return
Booking compulsory for the ferry, on the Wagenborg website or at the Lauwersoog ticket office; in winter the hire bicycle is booked too
Contacts
Where it is
Schiermonnikoog · Frisia
Notes
- The ferry in 2026, every day of the year: from Lauwersoog Monday to Saturday at 6:30, 9:35, 12:35, 15:35 and 18:35, on Sundays and public holidays from the 9:35 sailing; from the island Monday to Saturday at 7:30, 10:45, 13:45, 16:45 and 19:45, on Sundays and public holidays from the 10:45 sailing. Wagenborg calls it the minimum timetable: on peak days it adds sailings. The 2026 timetable is valid until 4 January 2027, and the 2027 one can be booked from mid November
- The fast ferry carries only passengers, no bicycles, in 20 minutes, with a supplement: a fast return costs 37.28 euros in winter. From 1 April to 30 September the normal ferry costs 21.42 euros, and 11.88 for children
- Taking your bicycle costs 11.14 euros return. On the island the Soepboer hire, with a branch on the pier, has bicycles from 7 euros a day, children's ones from 7 and electric ones from 20; from November to March bicycles at the pier are available only if booked on the hire company's website. In the village there are four hire shops open all year
- The island bus is electric: line 2 goes from the pier to the village, line 1 to the beach at the Badweg, next to the Strandhotel. You pay by credit card or phone, not in cash; the fare is not published
- The national park, since 1989, is managed by Natuurmonumenten: beach, dunes, woodland, salt marshes, the mudflats, the polder and the Westerplas lake, with more than three hundred species of birds
- The red lighthouse, the Noordertoren, is one of the two lighthouses that William III had built in 1853: 37 metres tall, it is still in operation and watched day and night. The other, white, near the village, was a water tower and today carries antennas. Whether you can visit inside the sources do not say
- The Het Baken visitor centre, on the Reeweg, with the tourist office inside, is open Monday to Saturday from 9:00 to 17:00 and on Sundays and public holidays from 10:00 to 14:00; on 31 December only in the morning, closed on 25 December and 1 January. Inside, an exhibition on the park and the Wadden, with the fake seal for photographs and a drawing corner
- In winter you watch the tides: at low tide the birds feed on the mudflats, at high tide they gather at the tips of the island and at the Westerplas. Seals rest on the sandbanks and sometimes on the beach: keep your distance, with the dog on a lead and binoculars. The boat trip to see the seals runs only in summer
- Throughout November there is the walking month, with guided hikes held only in that month; the island's classical music festival has a spring edition, from 12 to 18 March 2027
- On the dyke at Lauwersoog, in the village, there is the harbour of the Wadden shrimp fishermen, who moved here from Zoutkamp when the Lauwerszee was closed off in 1969
Photo: Gouwenaar, Wikimedia Commons, CC0
Photo: Baykedevries, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Femmark, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 nl
Photo: Gouwenaar, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Holder, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: dewittehaas.nl, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
