Appelscha (West Frisian: Appelskea; Stellingwarfs: Appelsche) is a village in the municipality of Ooststellingwerf in the province of Friesland, Netherlands.

It consisted from a few farms surrounding the Boerestreek (what was called high-Appelscha) for centuries, the hamlets Aakinga, Terwisscha and De Built close by.

Because of this large immigration of Frisian workers in the nineteenth century, Appelscha became a Frisian-speaking village, in a municipality where otherwise Stellingwarfs was spoken, a dialect of Dutch.

The forest and the sand dunes around the village attract tourists to Appelscha, and have become known in the Netherlands for their natural environment.

[citation needed] There are restaurants and weekend markets during the summer in the Boerestreek, which used to be the tourist center of the village.

Nowadays this canal is a popular tourist route for boaters, attracting a large number of visitors to Appelscha every year.

In 2012, 11 per cent of short domestic holidays, and 13 per cent of long domestic holidays by the Dutch people were spent in the area on the Groningse, Friese, and Drentse sand dunes, of which Appelscha is part (CBS, tourism and recreation in 2012).

[citation needed] Starting from the central platform adventurers are able to choose from trails requiring different skill levels.