"Texel, seven villages and more …." a Texel Travel Page by vtveen

Texel is one of the Dutch ‘Wadden Eilanden’ and is just 4,5 km’s from the mainland of Noord Holland and the ferry between Den Helder and the island is the only way to reach Texel (although there is also a small airport).
Texel already became city rights in the year of 1415 and originally existed of two islands, connected by shoals. In the 17th century the islands were poldered together.

Nowadays these polders are still the main part of the island with lots of sheep in the meadows. Texel has - during spring - also some bulb fields. In the western part you will find the nature reserves and the famous Dutch dunes and 28 km’s of lovely beaches. The dune landscape on Texel is a unique habitat for wildlife; particularly in winter, when birds of prey and geese take up residence.

Texel has seven villages - Den Burg, De Koog, De Cocksdorp, Oudeschild, De Waal, Den Hoorn and Oosterend - and several small settlements, often just a couple of houses or farms.
Texel is rather small - about 9,5 km’s wide and 24 km’s long - and therefore ideal to explore on a bicycle. Especially in summer you will see a lot of bikes; the island has 10.000 bikes for rent !!

We visited Texel for a couple of days in the winter, taking advantage of a very cheap offer from Hotel De Lindeboom. We were very lucky with the weather - only blue skies and sunshine - and could visit a lot of the sights of the island.

Some facts:
Inhabitants: 13.600
Visitors (yearly): 800.000
Sheep: 15.500
Rental bikes: 10.000
Bird species: 336
Flower and plant species: 1358