Hondvriendelijke stranden in Zandvoort

The wide North Sea beach below the Zandvoort boulevard is the town's main strand, reached directly from the seafront and the railway station. From 1 October to 15 April dogs are welcome across the whole beach day and night and may run off the lead when under control. From 15 April to 1 October dogs are banned here between 09:00 and 19:00 and allowed only in the evening and early morning, when it becomes a fine off-lead walk with fresh salt air and room to throw a ball.

Just over the municipal border to the north, the stretch of beach at Parnassia is the nearest place where dogs may run off the lead in the daytime all year, including the summer months when Zandvoort's own beach is closed to them by day. It is a broad, breezy, less crowded strand backed by dunes, with the year-round Parnassia aan Zee pavilion at the top of the path. A genuinely dog-first beach and the go-to summer alternative for Zandvoort visitors.

Directly behind the northern beach, the Noordduinen and Wurmenveld nature reserve is the local dog dunes, an area where dogs may run free all year round. Sandy paths wind through low coastal dunes with sea views and easy links down to the beach, making it the reliable off-lead option in summer when the daytime beach itself is closed to dogs. Watch for rabbits and ground-nesting birds and keep your dog from disturbing wildlife.