Holiday on Terschelling: the list of top tips

At thegreenlist.nl we are fans of Terschelling. Saskia is perhaps the biggest Terschelling hugger. ‘We fell in love with the island because for us it is the perfect mix from action and relaxation. The beaches, forests and moors are beautiful, it is culinary enjoyment and on the campsite there is always a party for children. Wherever you are on the island, you are close to everything.’ Come to Terschelling and, above all, leave the car on shore. With the e-bike, you can discover the whole island in a healthy and sustainable way. With this list, you'll have the holiday of a lifetime.

Fun things to do on Terschelling

As a family, we are exploring ways to live more sustainably. Travel is by far our biggest climate gap. We love taking beautiful trips. It could never be far enough for us. But flying is obviously disastrous for the climate and so we try to look for gems closer to home. More by car or train and less flying, that's our resolution. Terschelling is one such gem in the far north. In 2021, we already had the holiday of a lifetime there; we combined Terschelling with a week then roadtripping through Friesland. We went back in 2022, for a fortnight this time. In this article, I share all the great things about Terschelling you shouldn't miss. The list of my favourite Terschelling tips.

Sneak peak of two tips: the wade excursion with the Wadden Sea Association and renting electric bikes (and leaving the car at home).

The best days out on Terschelling

We are real holidaymakers who like to go on adventures. Hanging around in front of a tent for a day is not for us. Because of this, we discovered a lot of fun things to do on Terschelling, something for every type of holidaymaker. I share our favourite outings and all the fun things to do on Terschelling in this article!

Trips with the Wadden Association

When we had done a fantastic mudflat tasting with chef Flang and the Wadden Society last year, we were converted. We immediately joined the Wadden Sea Association. What a great foundation. The goal they pursue is incredibly important (the preservation of the Wadden Sea, a crucial piece of earth that is not on the World Heritage List for nothing), but also the club of volunteers (mostly young biologists) who passionately organise excursions every day are awesome. In fact, everything the Wadden Association organises is a tip. In summer, cycle past Camping Nieuw Formerum where the Wadden Society is with a big tent. Here you can learn all about life on the Wadden and feed small fish. (You can just drop by during working days).

The mudflat tasting with Flang Cupido combined with an excursion by the Wadden Association.

Check the website of the Wadden Sea Association for the current programme. If these are on the programme when you are at Terschelling, I would know:

• Wade excursion and Wadden tasting with chef Flang. Both tours of the Wadden Sea take about two hours and are suitable for children from about five years old who can walk well. Tip: book mudflat hiking boots with your ticket!
• Children aged between six and 12 can take part in the Waddenvereniging's children's beach day. Without parents, but of course with volunteers from the Waddenvereniging, you go onto the North Sea beach near Hoorn. In addition to trawling and mudflat tagging, they organise a super fun and educational programme that lasts three hours. Frank (7) liked it so much that he participated twice.
• Go on an eco safari in the dunes in an electric all-terrain vehicle, watch a beautiful sunset, go beachcombing and learn all about the plants and animals on the island from a nature guide. Does that appeal to you? Then you should book the Jut Safari. Just the ride in the cart is awesome! Check the Wadden Association's current programme.
  
  

On Jut Safari at Terschelling.

Visit at Flang in the Pan

Terschelling is home to an interesting chef. His name is Flang Cupido, also known as Flang in the Pan. If - like us - you are into sustainability and local and seasonal food, then an excursion with Flang is not to be missed when you are on Terschelling. Flang cooks with what the island has to offer him, he is inspired by the seasons and he sees the Wadden as his supermarket. For him, sustainable is not necessarily vegan food, but mainly plant-based food with the very occasional piece of local fish or meat. We have done a total of four excursions with Flang and each time it is a great experience to be on the road with him or to join him in his cooking studio. View the agenda of Flang in the Pan for the current offer.

Game picking and dining at Flang's pop up restaurant.

• Tidal flat walking & tasting: Together with Flang and volunteers from the Waddenvereniging, you go out onto the mudflats to learn all about the animals and plants that live there. While you catch up on your walk, Flang will show you everything you need to know and taste. Oysters, shrimps, sea lettuce. The afternoon ends with a tasting session on the mud flats.
• Tasting the salty taste: bike ride, salting walk and salting lunch. During this outing, you will learn all about the impact of salinisation on nature. Salinisation is not good news and affects biodiversity and our food security. Flang shows which edible plant species are doing relatively well despite salinisation and how the salty sea affects the taste of these plants.
• Game picking walk & lunch: Walking through the dunes and forest, you will discover which special plant species live on the island, after which Flang will turn the finds into a delicious lunch. A rosehip soup, pasta with a wild mushroom tapenade or how about pofkes with candied pine cones and a pine cone syrup? This outing is fun for novice wildpickers, but even if you have done a wildpicking walk before, this outing is highly recommended. It gives you an insight into how an island is slightly different from the mainland. Also see: wildpicking walk in Amsterdam.
• Lunch or dinner at Flang's pop-up restaurant: Slide into Flang's flower garden, sip a Frisian wine (or two) and indulge in his cooking.
  
  

Want to know more about Flang and his sustainable vision of cooking? We previously interviewed Flang at length.

Horse riding on Terschelling

The very best outdoor ride I have done in years was at Terschelling at The Prairie. This is a pony riding school with Icelanders and Shetlanders. For advanced riders, there is a small-scale outdoor ride on Icelandic horses (almost) every morning at 9am. Small children can hobble (almost) daily on the stubborn Shetland ponies. What makes this riding school and ride so unique? First of all, founder Marleen does everything to give you a cool experience. Her confidence in horses and in people ensures that you get a lot of space to choose the right pony, to groom your pony and get it ready for the ride. I totally got the pony camp feeling again at this centre! Besides, they only let experienced riders ride the Icelandic horses. If you can ride horses, then you probably know that riding an Icelandic is a special experience. They ride super nice and they are very stubborn (and a bit stubborn), but because the horses are only ridden by advanced riders, they have retained their character and fun antics. Not dozing off in a line, but getting to work on your horse. The Icelanders are looking forward to it every day!

Horse riding at Terschelling on Icelandic horses at De Prairie.

Trips via VVV Terschelling

Also via VVV Terschelling you can book incredibly fun outings and get information on what to do on the island. The Wreck Museum and the Self-picking garden are highly recommended and the bunker route is also nice to have seen for a while. According to our camping neighbours trawl and the climbing forest also a nice tip. Also on my bucket list are some outings: supping, from island to mudflats with guide Oene de Jong, a tour with the island girl and the Bee Safari. Also, always check the VVV site to see if there are other fun activities on the island, such as performances by De Mannen van Hee, a KNRM exercise or an open-air film festival.

Culinary delights: the best restaurants and beach bars

Man man man what good food you can eat at Terschelling. There is so much choice! The restaurants and beach bars that are really worth a detour are:

• Pura Vida Foodbar in Midsland and on West Terschelling: sustainable breakfast, lunch and dinner at this cosy bar and restaurant. Both the food and the interior are to pass muster. Our favourite is the restaurant's evening menu in Midsland and then the shared dining order dishes while enjoying the last evening rays of sunshine on the terrace. The aubergine from the oven and the oyster mushrooms in beer batter are our favourite dishes! Do you like a drink? The wine and cocktails are also lovely.
• Sand Sea Bar: as far as I am concerned, the nicest and cosiest beach club on Terschelling. Fine decor, fine atmosphere, fine playlists, fine menu with plenty of vegetarian options, fine music, fine wines and fine-priced cocktails. in short: fine.
• Beach pavilion Heartbreak Hotel: welcome to the 1960s where Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash are still blaring from the boxes. Mix an American diner with a beach bar and you have Heartbreak Hotel. You must have been here at least once, the beach is huge and because of this, the views are breathtaking. Got a kite? Bring it with you when you check out this beach joint! The menu is a combination of American and Terschelling ingredients. We have a very fine kite (tip)! It's this one: HQ Fluxx 180.
  
  

My favourite restaurant on Terschelling: Pura Vida Foodbar.

• Beach pavilion Kaap Hoorn is located in a small valley between the Hoornse Bos and the Terschellinger dunes with a microclimate, making it enjoyable in T-shirt early in the year. This beach club is truly a hidden gem and accessible only by bike, horse or walking.
• Pavilion the Whale: in its own words, the beach joint with the most beautiful view. In fact, this beach pavilion does not overlook the North Sea, but the Wadden Sea. You can sit there and have lunch or dinner while watching the boats go by. They have a lovely large terrace and this quickly puts you in the sun. We regularly stopped here for lunch after a walk through the town of West-Terschelling. Vega(n) options on the menu here too.
• If you're on Terschelling, you should also find out all about the cranberry. You can do that at Coffee & tea shop De Bessenschuur where you can also taste delicious cranberry tarts and ice creams.
• Café restaurant Under the pans where local and seasonal food is the starting point. A menu with many vegetables from their own vegetable garden and fish and shellfish from the North Sea and Wadden Sea. They also serve meat sourced from the island.
• If you want to dine really posh, head to petit restaurant ‘t Golfje in Midsland. This really is an old-fashioned night out. A very small, cosy restaurant with just six to eight tables is run by a couple. He in the kitchen, she as hostess. Indulge in the menu (set menu with a choice of four to eight courses) and the special wines. Important: book on time (preferably four months in advance) and indicate if you have any dietary requirements, such as vegetarian or vegan.
  
  

Dining at ‘t Golfje, an experience.

Sustainable shopping on Terschelling

West Terschelling is the village you go to for shopping, it's also where the Brandaris stands by the way (you can tick that one off at once too) and where the boat passes. A cosy old fishing village with a few clear shopping streets and cosy terraces. The shops in the village are mostly small boutiques by local entrepreneurs. My favourite stops are Fine, ‘t Lokaal, The Conservation, Kiem concept store, At Suuz's, and a cup of coffee, lunch or drinks at Pura Vida Foodbar (West-Terschelling location) or the Council Café.

If you have children, you cannot avoid buying a fishing rod and a bucket and going to catch crabs in the harbour. Release the critters quickly though!

West Terschelling

Sleeping on Terschelling

On Terschelling, you can find a place to sleep for every type of holidaymaker and every wallet. From cheap B&B ‘s at home to luxury accommodation and everything in between. During the summer holidays, we consciously choose a glamping tent on a cosy child-friendly campsite. After asking around and searching around, we came across De Kooi campsite come out, an ANWB charm campsite on a fine dune lake, with a cosy restaurant and beautiful green fields. A glamping tent offers us the comfort of a holiday home, but with all the cosiness and activities of a campsite. The campsite is ideal for my son Frank, who is an only child at the campsite. no-time can make holiday friends. This campsite is on the moors, so a perfect base for a walk or workout. And less than 15 minutes by bike, you're on the beach. If you go by tent, you can even camp under the fruit trees. If we go back to Terschelling next summer, we will definitely go to this campsite again.

Camping De Kooi, our favourite campsite.

A selection of other accommodation on Terschelling:

• Stayokay Terschelling
• Paal 8 Hotel by the sea
• WestCord Hotel Schylge
• Aparthotel Boschrijck
• Various Bed & Breakfasts
• Camping Cupid (sits next to Camping De Kooi on the same dune lake)
• Camping at the farm
• Staying overnight at the Signal Box (According to VVV Terschelling, this is one of the most special places to sleep)
• The seafarer of Schylge
  
  

To Terschelling by car or not?

Do we take the car or leave it on shore? I remember being hugely unsure about this the first time. I couldn't find any good advice online either and my followers on Instagram were also divided. My opinion: leave the car on shore and hire electric bikes. You really don't need the car on Terschelling. Besides, you can't reach whole parts of the island at all well with a car, so then it's no use at all. Without a car, you can also take the fast ferry, then you won't be on and off the island in two hours, but in forty minutes. As for booking the e-bikes and boat tickets: book in time! In high season, you don't want to run the risk of just missing out. Especially if, like us, you want to hire an electric cargo bike, there are a lot fewer of them. We hired the bikes at Zeelen Bike Rental. I find this an ideal bike rental: off the boat, straight onto your bike (rental is opposite the arrival at the port) and they bring the luggage to your accommodation.

You can also offset holidays in the Netherlands

And don't forget to compensate for your holiday after it is over too, because every little bit helps. While compensating for a trip is not an immediate no-no, it is the minimum you can do after your holiday. You can also offset a car holiday and all the outings and activities you took during your holiday by buying up allowances or planting trees from a reliable organisation. See more about offsetting carbon emissions and the options you have.

Certificate_Dona...024.jpg

Don't miss the boat to Terschelling!

Finally, long-term parking in Harlingen can take quite a bit longer. After all, you have to take a short shuttle bus to the boat after parking. In the article with Vlieland tips you can read more about Rederij Doeksen and why it is smart to be at the car park at least thirty to forty minutes before departure. Should you unexpectedly want to change your ticket to another day or time, you can very easily do this yourself online until the last minute. Shipping company Doeksen has a great easy website.

I hope I have offered you inspiration for a holiday at home. Terschelling is great! I wish you lots of fun! Feel free to send me an email or DM if you have done any of these tips and are excited.

More outings in your own country

• Tips for a weekend in our sustainable capital Nijmegen.
• Sustainable shopping in Amsterdam: Do the Green Light District Walk.
• Road trip Friesland: tips for a week away.
• Family holiday on Texel: The list of the best Texel tips.
• Tips for a weekend in sustainable and vibrant Breda.
• At Het Meerdal in Limburg, you get the real Center Parcs experience in nature.
  
  

Photo credits: thegreenlist.nl.