ravelling with kids is always a conundrum, and oftentimes parents sacrificed their enjoyment to focus on kid-friendly travel. I’m not one of those parents and I’ve never been a fan of vacation parks with their enormous indoor pools with water slides and children’s theaters. Parent or not, my preferred travel destination involves huge, open spaces, with little interaction with kids and other human beings as much as possible. There’s really not many of these places in the Netherlands. But then, you have Texel.

Texel is the biggest of the five Dutch Wadden Islands, that includes Vlieland, Terschelling, Schiermonnikog and Ameland. It’s also the most popular, especially among Germans and Belgians. You wouldn’t want to come here in the summer, particularly during the school vacation. With only 463.16 sq km welcoming at least one million tourists each year, it is suffocating.

But between the first week  of spring until the end of April, Texel is the most ideal place for a long weekend getaway, for grown-ups and kids alike. We’ve been here several times, as a couple and after our daughter was born.

Texel offers a diverse landscape unique in Europe. Whether you are a solo traveller, couple, and couples with kids, big families, or picky parents like us, there are loads to do on the island.

Here are my Top 10 things to do on Texel:

nder the shadow of the massive Dome Cathedral, Le Dome fish restaurant is easy to miss. In stark contrast with the well-lit and bigger restaurants around Dome Square, its modest facade betrays the culinary magic happening in its kitchen.

he Baltic is not the first place to come to mind when planning a culinary trip. But on a recent trip to Riga, I discovered that Latvian chefs are serving up gastronomic feast, making their city become popular among food lovers in the coming years.

n the 4th day of our holiday, we decided to stretch our muscles and set out to hike the Burgau Coastal Walk. This 10-kilometre trail runs along the cliffs between the towns of Luz and Salema, and is popular among English tourists and Algarvians alike. We started from a secluded beach in Salema following a paved hiking path. The trail soon changed into sandy footpaths almost hidden by shrubs and tall grasses, and sometimes we went off the trail to inspect low, abandoned houses which were left to the elements in this part of region. The view here was breathtaking – blue-sea dotted with occasional sail boats, cloudless sky and the famous limestone cliffs of West Algarve on the horizon, unobstructed by trees and extending as far as the eyes can see.

Stravaig: A Scottish word meaning to wander around, often for pleasure and frequently with no particular destination or aim in mind. This lovely definition taken from this blog.

I came across this word during an unforgettable dinner in a restaurant of the same name in Glasgow. I have not forgotten it since then nor have I forgotten haggis. Stravaig has become one of my favourite words while travelling, in the same way that Elizabeth Gilbert attached a great meaning to the Italian word attraversiamo.