The beginning of March has never been so warm as this weekend, weather bureaus said on Sunday.

The temperature reached 19 Celsius at the De Bilt weather station near Hilversum on Sunday afternoon – the highest March 9 temperature ever recorded. Saturday was also a record-breaking day.

In southern and eastern parts of the country, the temperature tipped 20 Celsius. In Maastricht it reached almost 22 Celsius, while in Twente and Eindhoven it almost reached 21.

Beach

However, it was cooler in coastal areas, where tens of thousands of people flocked to the beach to take advantage of the spring sunshine.

Roads were extremely busy and in Zandvoort there were no parking places to be had, Nos television said. Dozens of beach bars along the coast opened for business.

With all 400 chairs taken, ‘we’ve never had such a busy opening weekend,’ Lisa Spruijt, a waitress at the Zanzibar beach bar, told RTL news.

Monday will also be warm and sunny but the temperature will dip back to around 12 Celsius on Tuesday as the wind becomes northerly, the KNMI weather bureau said. It will remain dry until next weekend.