Grand Hotel Opduin - Texel

“Best place on Texel”

Nice spacious rooms, I like the furnishing and decorations, all in one bue/brown theme. Extensive breakfast with local products and only a short walk to the beach.

“Far exceeded my expectations”

Ever been to a hotel where the web site totally oversells it? Less common is the opposite and that would be the Hotel Opduin. When I booked it, looking at the website I presumed a charming (and perhaps slightly run down) hotel nestling near the dunes. Perhaps a simple dining room, and a hotel with … more

Ever been to a hotel where the web site totally oversells it? Less common is the opposite and that would be the Hotel Opduin. When I booked it, looking at the website I presumed a charming (and perhaps slightly run down) hotel nestling near the dunes. Perhaps a simple dining room, and a hotel with a few guests mid week in May. Which couldn’t be more wrong. Let’s get a couple of issues out of the way. From some angles the hotel appears to have been built using one of the local fortifications from the Atlantic Wall. Outside the drive way to the main door is pretty steep. That’s something the hotel should think about after I saw someone pushing a wheel chair up that slope. Handicapped access needs some attention. But inside the hotel is lovely. Modern, clean in its lines. My room, overlooking the forest full of light and well looked after. This really is a very nice place. The dining room is very pleasant as well and it would be a mistake not to make a reservation. The food is very good - not that cheap unless you take the daily special - but interesting enough and they do seem to make good use of local food stuffs. The wine list isn’t going to win any awards, but then most seem to plump for the local and excellent beer. Looking at the car registration plates in the car park Texel and the hotel are something of a secret confined to the Dutch and the Germans. If you do come from the ferry take the bus - but keep on the bus after you think that bus has reached it’s final destination. It’s a circular route and the stop you need is as after the stop on the destination board. Post 37 is what you need and it’s right outside the hotel. The bar is a very pleasant place and a good choice of drinks. Four types of Calvados and three Armagnacs. Such pleasure is rare these days. There is no water in the room, to me an oversight but a well stocked Nespresso machine. And you might need that machine because breakfast doesn’t start until 0800 and by 0805 it is rammed. The hotel might want to think about an earlier start. The hotel is well placed if you want to go walking or biking with trails adjacent to the hotel. The actual beach is probably further that you might think. There are sea view rooms but the water bit is some way away. The beach is lovely fine sand, you know the kind of sinking sand that strains your muscles after ten minutes walking. The staff are generally lovely from those on the front desk, to those in the restaurant. I only had one issue during my stay. On my last night’s dinner despite the restaurant being less crowed than on previous nights (I stayed 4 nights) food was slow coming out of the kitchen. Nearly 90 minutes after the start of my 1930 reservation i was still waiting for my main (the steak dish). I was rather unamused to see the Chef doing his ‘victory lap’ around the room given how many tables were still waiting for food. By all means go and talk to your guests but wait until the the kitchen has cleared any backlogs. The server did comp me a free beer for the delay, but the chef should set a better example..On the food do not miss the bisque which is superb and generally stick to the seafood offerings. The sole (if you have recently won the lottery) is an excellent choice as well. Did I like this place. Yes. This is the perfect place for a traditional seaside holiday. Where you go out during the day and come back in the evening for good local food and a drink in the bar. There are too few places like this these days. And for any British visitors, yes you can but a bucket and spade in the mall. You can build your own Atlantic Wall.

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“Wonderful Stay with Just a Few Minor Drawbacks”

We had a very pleasant stay at Grand Hotel Opduin. We stayed in the apartment with a living room, two bedrooms, and a kitchen. The hotel's location is excellent, the breakfast was great, there is plenty of parking, and the staff were very friendly. Although their English and German were limited, co… more

We had a very pleasant stay at Grand Hotel Opduin. We stayed in the apartment with a living room, two bedrooms, and a kitchen. The hotel's location is excellent, the breakfast was great, there is plenty of parking, and the staff were very friendly. Although their English and German were limited, communication was never a problem. The only downside of the apartment was the lack of air conditioning or ceiling fans. Standing fans were provided, but because there were very few power outlets, one fan had to be plugged in next to the bed, creating a tripping hazard at night. In the bunk-bed room, the fan only reached the lower bunk, and the reading light for the top bunk couldn't be used because its cord was too short to reach an outlet. The pool area was nice. However, both the swimming pool and the jacuzzi were quite cold, so the jacuzzi wasn't as relaxing as we had hoped. Overall, we really enjoyed our stay and would happily return. With better cooling in the apartments and warmer pool and jacuzzi temperatures, Grand Hotel Opduin would be excellent.

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“Still a good choice but service, stocks and billing all need some work”

My second visit to the hotel. Overall it is a lovely place and a great location for walking or cycling. The restaurant is probably the best or at least in the top two in the area. So why not five stars on my four day stay? Well there are some inconsistencies. Some staff - like at reception - are wo… more

My second visit to the hotel. Overall it is a lovely place and a great location for walking or cycling. The restaurant is probably the best or at least in the top two in the area. So why not five stars on my four day stay? Well there are some inconsistencies. Some staff - like at reception - are wonderful but there was one lady who seemed to turn any request into a problem that we studiously ignored. Dinner at the hotel is good, but most of the serving staff are young and very inexperienced. Any pour of wine means some going on the outside of the glass and generally there are lots of little mistakes. Book early as well, and by that I mean dinner before seven. Too often later in the evening the kitchen seems to collapse and you’ll be surrounded by unhappy people asking where their food is. There are also billing issues. In a hotel restaurant it’s easy to just sign off on your room and depart, but you need to check the bill. One evening I found what seemed like a pretty big inconsistency on a popular dessert. The overcharge was removed (some issue to updating to a new menu it was said) but it was probably the most popular dessert in the menu you did wonder how many other people had missed it. It was certainly a new issue to the waitress so one guesses a lot. Supplies also seemed to be an issue with the excellent local Texels beer seeming not available. In the morning the food for breakfast is excellent but its a busy place so get there early - even if breakfast doesn’t start until eight. Two coffee machines aren’t enough for the diners and queues build up. Surely an easy problem to fix? On the general decor it’s light and airy but - and I didn’t really get this the first time around - it’s Hampton’s themed. Once you’ve caught on and noticed the fake photos happily placed around the public area together with the happy US slogans it can grate a little. Surely a little dutch culture would have been a better idea? On service we had an odd one in the bar - which is a very nice space - where we had lunch but then couldn’t find anyone to pay the bill to as they were all running around doing vdeo shooting for social media. Eventually we headed off to reception and explained the issue. In most cases the hotel would have comped the situation, after all waiting thirty minutes for a bill without staff would be cause enough, but they insisted that we wait until finally they found someone. The bar used to have a very good selection of drinks, in particular whiskey’s. They are all still on the bar menu but they aren’t on the shelves. Effectively you have to go to the bar and see what they have, which frankly wasn’t much. Lastly - and this only applies to the end of May 2026 - nearby significant roadworks means that the bus from the ferry did not stop at the hotel anymore. The hotel went to some lengths to send up updates as to whether the sauna would be available on our visit, perhaps they might have also included that the bus service wasn’t running to the hotel for a period. But then again as most of the visitors are from the Netherlands and Germany most arrive by car.

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