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:

otterdam has this not-so-little secret spot for families, hidden in one of its swanky neighbourhood, Hillegersberg. While I have frequented this area to dine out, I only discovered Plaswicjkpark of late. Because why else would one go here if one doesn’t have an offspring?

It’s been four months since I gave birth. The weather was slowly getting warmer and the promise of a lovely spring made my husband book a weekend getaway as a present for me.

Or how to love a Van Gogh.

Among the things I am grateful about living in the Netherlands is my proximity to the presence of art greatness. The most beautiful works of masters like Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Picasso, Breugel, among others, are just one bus or train away.

I’ve gone back to Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo. But this time especially for Vincent Van Gogh. Beside the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, Kröller-Müller has the second largest collection of Van Gogh art in the world (90 paintings and over 180 drawings). This museum is located in the heart of the Dutch national park De Hoge Veluwe so you can combine a trip nature and art visit in one day or one weekend. I would not suggest to do both both in a day.

The couple Anton and Helene Kröller-Mülle were one of Van Gogh’s first patrons, through his art teacher H.P. Bremmer who convinced them to buy his art. The personal connection gave them access to some of his most sentimental pieces. With these collections you can follow the development of Van Gogh’s style and state of mind, from his early years as a painter until his golden and perhaps most turbulent days in Arles France.

I can stand in front of a painting for many hours examining the details, the stroke, the colours. In this series of (very close up) photos, I’d like to show why I admire this Dutch master. You could feel his emotion in every stroke, in every line of his painting. Take for example this portrait of a woman: