In June 2019 we rented a mountain cabin in Norway for our summer holiday. Unlike our French trip the year before, we decided to go car-less because we wanted to save money and remove the pressure of having to see so many tourist places when you have a car. Our modest accommodation is located four kilometres away from the nearest supermarket, and our two year old daughter was just getting the hang of walking.

Geilo is the capital of Hol, in Viken county. Smacked between Bergen and Oslo, it’s a popular winter destination among Norwegians based on the number of privately-owned winter cabins in this area. Geilo is less busy in the summer and has a relatively cooler temperature compared to summer destinations in Europe. But what do you do in the mountains for 10 days when you don’t have a car?

On the evening of March 13, when the Dutch government imposed a lock down due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we were offline enjoying the swimming pool at Hotel Sterrenberg. Our planned activities were cancelled, including a visit to the zoo and museum. Fast forward to July 2020, against wisdom and the government’s advice, we booked a weekend getaway back to Gelderland as a make-up trip. Gelderland is becoming our favourite Dutch province, escaping to the nature of the Veluwe whenever possible. Armed with face masks and two bottles of alcohol gel, we drove to Wolfheze on Thursday morning.

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.