Discover Zwiggelte: Holiday accommodation in Zwiggelte between forests, heathland and history

Zwiggelte is an originally medieval Esdorp whose open character has largely been preserved. When choosing holiday accommodation in Zwiggelte, you can therefore decide whether to focus on village history, landscape, hiking, cycling or astronomy.

Holiday accommodation in Zwiggelte between village, forest and heathland

On the other side of the canal lies the Zwiggelterveld, a large forest and heathland area that is now part of the Boswachterij Hooghalen. An accessible 21-km cycling route through the Boswachterij Hooghalen follows quiet cycle paths through coniferous and deciduous forests, along heathland, small moorland lakes and ancient areas of blown sand. This allows you to incorporate a variety of landscape impressions into your holiday planning when choosing your accommodation.

Along the Hoofdstraat in Zwiggelte are noteworthy hall-house types from the 18th and 19th centuries with a rear or central agricultural section. At the Herinneringscentrum Kamp Westerbork, the permanent exhibition tells the history of the site through personal accounts from deportees, guards, train drivers, neighbours and people who helped Jews hide or escape. The surviving original structures of the Kamp Westerbork complex are of international cultural and historical significance because of their special function and their particular importance for and during the Second World War.

History with distinctive buildings

The SS bunker at Schattenberg 4 in Zwiggelte is a rare and essential part of the Kamp Westerbork complex and is of architectural-historical significance because of its typology and use of materials. The Commandantswoning is one of the few remaining buildings of the camp and a Dutch Rijksmonument. It was built in 1939 by the Rijksgebouwendienst, when the camp began as Centraal Vluchtelingenkamp Westerbork, a Dutch reception centre for Jewish refugees from Germany. A glass greenhouse structure spans the wooden Commandantswoning to protect it from further deterioration.

Experience hiking, cycling and the stars

The signposted Westerbork–Zwiggelte walking route is 15 km long and runs from Westerbork through Zwiggelte and back. The Melkwegpad complements this range as an educational forest path and true-to-scale model of the solar system, with each planet briefly explained. The focus is on the fascinating universe and Europe's largest radio telescopes; the route ends at the first dish of the WSRT.

The Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope, or WSRT for short, is a radio telescope in the woods consisting of 14 individual parabolic antennas. The ASTRON radio observatory is located on the grounds of the former Kamp Westerbork, at a place where history, nature and science come together.

Practical information for getting around

Visitors who wish to travel by car to the camp site of Kamp Westerbork can park at the Herinneringscentrum and take a shuttle bus to the camp site. Vehicle traffic is restricted within the telescope's restricted zone. Visitors not supervised by ASTRON should leave their cars outside the zone and continue to the telescope on foot or by bicycle.

If you would like to compare other places in addition to Zwiggelte, you can find Beilen, Hijken, Witteveen, Ruinerwold, Hooghalen, Balinge, Spier and Drijber here.

For the overarching travel overview: Midden-Drenthe.