Grand Hotel Opduin is a Dutch hotel located in the

Dunes of Texel National Park ''Duinen van Texel'' National Park (''duinen'' = dunes) is a national park located on the North Holland island of Texel in the Netherlands. All dune systems on the western side of the island and the large coastal plains on both the northern and ...

.Dros, S. (2008) ''Honderd jaar Badhotel, en de ontwikkeling van het toerisme in De Koog''. It is privately owned and affiliated with Hampshire Classic Hotels. The building is situated on top of

the dunes ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

on the edge of the

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

De Koog De Koog is a village in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Texel, and lies about 17 km north of Den Helder. It is the chief centre of tourism on the island, surrounded with many hotels and campgrounds. Th ...

Texel Texel (; Texels dialect: ) is a municipality and an island with a population of 13,643 in North Holland, Netherlands. It is the largest and most populated island of the West Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea. The island is situated north of De ...

, approximately 200m from the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

beach. The hotel has its own beach cabins. The hotel has 96 rooms and suites, as well as six multifunctional

conference rooms A conference hall, conference room, or meeting room is a room provided for singular events such as business conferences and meetings. Room It is commonly found at large hotels and convention centers though many other establishments, including even ...

. In and around the hotel are three

restaurant A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearan ...

s, a

tennis court A tennis court is the venue where the sport of tennis is played. It is a firm rectangular surface with a low net stretched across the centre. The same surface can be used to play both doubles and singles matches. A variety of surfaces can be u ...

, a fitness room and a beauty & wellness center. The hotel has an active

environmental policy Environmental policy is the commitment of an organization or government to the laws, regulations, and other policy mechanisms concerning environmental issues. These issues generally include air and water pollution, waste management, ecosystem mana ...

and in 2005 it was the first tourist location in the Netherlands to receive the

EU Ecolabel EU Ecolabel or EU Flower is a voluntary ecolabel scheme established in 1992 by the European Union. Logo The label includes a green flower with inclined green "ϵ" ( Greek epsilon) as the flower, surrounded by 12 blue stars. On EU Ecolabelled pro ...

History

In 1934 Hein and Trijntje Wuis started a

pension A pension (, from Latin ''pensiō'', "payment") is a fund into which a sum of money is added during an employee's employment years and from which payments are drawn to support the person's retirement from work in the form of periodic payments ...

called ''Villa Op Duin''. The pension was built beside a sandy road, and had no surrounding buildings.

Architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

was L.Igesz who also designed the

Esperanto Esperanto ( or ) is the world's most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Created by the Warsaw-based ophthalmologist L. L. Zamenhof in 1887, it was intended to be a universal second language for international communi ...

monument in

Den Burg Den Burg is a town in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Texel on the island of the same name, and lies about 12 km north of Den Helder. Overview Located in the middle of the island, Den Burg is the larg ...

. The pension had eleven rooms and was its time far ahead with

electric light An electric light, lamp, or light bulb is an electrical component that produces light. It is the most common form of artificial lighting. Lamps usually have a base made of ceramic, metal, glass, or plastic, which secures the lamp in the soc ...

, central-heating and warm and cold running water on each room. A pump system was installed to subtract the needed fresh water from the dunes. In the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

the hotel was confiscated by the

Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

to house

officers An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," fro ...

. In 1966 behind the

villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became s ...

a new wing with three floors and a restaurant was built. One year later the hotel was passed on to son Harry P. Wuis. In 1977 the floors were extended and an extra floor was built on top of the existing ones. Later (in 1988) the hotel build yet another extra wing. After twelve years of being assistant general manager, C. Den Ouden and his wife H. Den Ouden-Nuninga took over the hotel in the year 2000. In 2004 a

brasserie In France, Flanders, and the Francophone world, a brasserie () is a type of French restaurant with a relaxed setting, which serves single dishes and other meals. The word ''brasserie'' is also French for "brewery" and, by extension, "the brew ...

named ''De Franse Slag'' and a restaurant named ''De Heeren XVII'' were added. Also a new

stainless steel Stainless steel is an alloy of iron that is resistant to rusting and corrosion. It contains at least 11% chromium and may contain elements such as carbon, other nonmetals and metals to obtain other desired properties. Stainless steel's corros ...

swimming pool A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable Human swimming, swimming or other leisure activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built ...

was installed and a beauty & wellness center was opened. In 2005 all the hotel rooms were renovated.

References

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External links

Grand Hotel Opduin
Texel Hotels in the Netherlands Buildings and structures in North Holland