Zandvoort's Bunkers

Anyone who knows Zandvoort well will know a little Zandvoort history.

From its early days as a fishing village to its 'glory' days as a resort favoured by Europe's aristocracy through to the darker days of occupation in WWII and then its resurgence as a modern day coastal resort capable of drawing tens of thousands of people in on a sunny day. Zandvoort has seen a lot.

Amongst the tangible remnants of its history are the bunkers (or remains of them) from WWII. Still the subject of research and study today, much has been written about Zandvoort's concrete bunkers.

We referred to the remains of one of them in a recent post called Interesting Things On The Way To The Beach.

Here is a photo of one of the Zandvoort bunkers which we took last summer.

Kitesurfing & Walking The Kite

One of the most popular pastimes in Zandvoort is kitesurfing. We started covering this topic in our Zandvoort Blog a while ago when we did our first post about kitesurfing in Zandvoort.

Classed as an 'extreme sport' it attracts many kitesurfers to the Zandvoort beach every year. We always enjoy watching them and this summer we took more photos than usual, even filming a kitesurfing teacher Okke Engel (photographed below walking his kite after a long kitesurfing session). You can watch Okke showing how it's done in our kitesurfing video.

Below is an interesting picture of a girl who was learning to kitesurf last summer - she was able to kitesurf downwind (towards the north beach) but had not yet learned how to sail into the wind and return back southwards. So every time she went as far north as she could within the kitesurfing zone, she had to come in to shore and walk her kite back up.


Kitesurfers always keep a keen eye on the weather and with Zandvoort weather you have to know what you are doing. The winds can be very strong and the weather sometimes unpredictable. Understanding the weather conditions is crucial to safe kitesurfing.

Read more about kitesurfing - check out the some kitesurfing FAQs (kindly written for us by Okke Engel).

Here is a list of kitesurfing locations around the world.

Zandvoort Kitesurfing Interview

It's not often you get to talk to an expert kitesurfer - they are usually too busy out on the water!

As mentioned in our previous Kitesurfing In Zandvoort post, one of the regular Zandvoort kitesurfers Okke Engel gave us an interview this summer. He had just finished a session kitesurfing in Zandvoort when we caught up with him over a cup of coffee and chatted about what life is like in the 'fast lane' of this extreme sport.


In the interview he describes the all important weather conditions on the day, tells us a little about his background (he started windsurfing at the age of 12) and how he is now running his own kitesurfing school.

Watch the whole kitesurfing interview with Okke exclusively made for zandvoort-holland.com

Photo: Okke with a kitesurfing student on Zandvoort beach