Strandpaviljoen "Bad Noord" in Wijk 04 Bakkum

With my partner, sister, brother-in-law, and my 90-year-old father, who was eager to return to Bad Noord in Castricum aan Zee (because he regularly had coffee there with his late wife), we set off on foot from Camping Bakkum. It was a bit too far for him, but luckily, if he could still make it down the steep dune to the beach, he could relax downstairs with a cup of coffee and cake. Arriving on the terrace, the five of us sat down at a large table, looking forward to it. Because we were looking straight into the toilet with the door open, my partner pulled it closed a bit. After a few minutes (we hadn't gotten anything yet), my father started to feel cold and wanted to move to another table, which we did. Someone who later turned out to be the owner spoke to my partner, lacking any communication skills and even appearing somewhat threatening. He complained about the chairs he hadn't neatly put back at the table and the toilet door we'd pulled closed a bit. According to him, we had changed everything, and he clearly disagreed, saying, "You can put that back properly now." Because we were completely unaware of any wrongdoing and felt very offended by this, as if we were teenagers again, we ignored this request. This person then told us he was the owner and that we would no longer be served. He angrily walked over to his staff and ordered them not to serve us. All that was left was for my now exhausted and devastated 90-year-old father to resume his journey back to the campsite. What should have been a pleasant family outing had ended very unpleasantly for my father, among others. He actually only had fond memories of the place he loved to visit with my mother, but the feeling wasn't mutual.

It's great that there's a beach bar at Bakkum beach, although the selection of fries and frikandellen is a bit corny. I also had an unpleasant experience with the owner: I climbed onto the bulldozer to wait for some children who were about to arrive from a treasure hunt. The owner approached me aggressively and promised to "pull me off" because I was a "complete idiot" for climbing on it. When it turned out he was serious, I did climb down because I'm not much of a fighter, but I was still quite shocked by this man's aggression. Fortunately, his staff is friendly.

Completely restyled, with a lovely beach terrace! Perhaps the only authentic beach club in Castricum!