Wadden Sea coast, Friesland, Netherlands Nov 16, 2024

If you"ve ever dreamed of walking on water or something close to it, the Wadden Sea is the place for you. Tracing over 480 kilometres along the coast of the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark, this UNESCO World Heritage Site offers a unique landscape of tidal flats and wetlands. In fact, it is the world"s largest unbroken intertidal zone—the area that is underwater at high tide and exposed at low tide—of sand and mud flats. The area is also a playground for aquatic species such as houting, brown trout and white-beaked dolphins, and it"s a home or resting spot for species of birds like waders and herons. Pictured here is the Wadden Sea coast in Friesland, Netherlands, dotted with charming fishing villages and medieval churches. Mudflat hiking is a recreational pastime here—the Dutch call it wadlopen—and the Wadden Sea is a popular destination.

© Ron ter Burg/Minden Pictures

palette

Today in History

A 50-year balancing act
Nov 16, 2023World Philosophy Day
Nov 16, 2025A traboule in Lyon, France

More Desktop Wallpapers:

Apr 9, 2026Sgwd yr Eira waterfall, Brecon Beacons National Park, Wales
An underwater paradise to explore
Mar 26, 2026Logan Creek Suspension Bridge, West Coast Trail, Canada
Dec 16, 2025Handmade gnomes at a Christmas market
More of a moustache than a beard?
Sep 15, 2023Udaipur, India
A cantilevered window to the past
Dec 20, 2023Val Gardena, South Tyrol, Dolomites, Italy
Jul 21, 2025Staghorn coral in shallow ocean
Feb 7, 2024St. James Tidal Pool, Cape Town, South Africa
Sep 19, 2025Thousand Islands region, St. Lawrence River, USA-Canada border
Dec 27, 2024Lake Bled, Slovenia
Purple bliss as far as the eye can see
Blue Skies in Beautiful Bavaria
Apr 16, 2026Skagit Valley Tulip Festival
Nov 12, 2024Vineyards in Varnhalt, Black Forest, Germany
May 28, 2026Old city wall of Hwaseong Fortress, Suwon, South Korea
Jul 10, 2025Guru Purnima
Apr 14, 2026Ambedkar Jayanti
Your TEA comes from here!
May 16, 2026Smith Rock State Park, Oregon, United States
Feb 9, 2026Amur leopard cat, Russia
We’ve identified these ‘flying objects’
Aug 2, 2025Petroglyphs near Fruita in Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, United States
Jul 27, 2024Vineyards above the Moselle River, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany
Stealthy pollinators
Nov 11, 2025Externsteine in the Teutoburg Forest, Germany
Jan 4, 2026Kings Mountain, Chugach Mountains, Alaska, United States
Dec 17, 2025Eurasian red squirrel in Northumberland, England
Paint the sky with colours