IJmuiden rewards visitors who take their time. The North Sea locks are genuinely impressive engineering, the fish harbour still smells of its purpose and sells the freshest herring in the Netherlands, and the dunes of the Zuid-Kennemerland National Park begin almost at the town's edge. The industrial heritage — the Hoogovensmuseum, the old steelworks, the wartime bunkers — adds a grittier dimension to what could otherwise be a purely scenic coastal visit.