It is a part of the municipality of Schagen, and lies about 15 km northwest of Alkmaar, on the North Sea.

Somewhat to the south of Petten, the dunes have been eroded, as a result of which a dike had to be built, the Hondsbossche [nl] and Pettemer zeewering.

A sleeper dike was built behind the dunes in 1432 and from 1506 active coastal defense took place, with pile heads of beams from Norway and Sweden and stone from Vilvoorde, Belgium.

During the Second World War, the entire town of Petten was broken up in 1943 by order of the German Wehrmacht because of the construction of the Atlantic Wall.

On 11 December 2004, an approximately three-year-old basking shark, Cetorhinus maximus, was beached on the coast near Petten.