Gelderland: Holiday apartments and holiday homes

Gelderland is considered a province for cycling and hiking, with varied landscapes, well-maintained cycle paths and distinctive hiking routes. The visitor regions include the Veluwe, the Achterhoek, the Betuwe, the Arnhem region and the Rijk van Nijmegen. This means that different landscapes and cultural sites come together in one province.

Nature and landscape

The Veluwe encompasses extensive forests, heathland and drifting sands. In De Hoge Veluwe National Park, forests, heathland and drifting sands covering 5,400 hectares come together with coniferous and deciduous forests, agricultural land, the Sint Hubertus hunting lodge designed by Berlage, and world-famous visual art in and around the Kröller-Müller Museum.

The Kröller-Müller Museum lies in the heart of De Hoge Veluwe National Park; a visit to the museum and the sculpture garden takes approximately three hours. The sculpture garden contains more than 200 modern sculptures by internationally renowned artists. Also located in the middle of the national park is Museonder, an underground museum that provides insights into the organisms living below the earth’s surface, both in the present and in the past. More than 40 kilometres of cycle paths lead through De Hoge Veluwe National Park, allowing visitors to explore the landscape.

Veluwezoom National Park covers more than 5,000 hectares. Forests, heathland, drifting sands, country estates and hills shape its landscape; from the Posbank, views extend as far as Germany. The Achterhoek displays a different regional character, with winding roads, hedgerows and hidden country estates.

Culture and history

Gelderland has approximately seven large and 120 small museums, each telling its own story. The Nederlands Openluchtmuseum presents Dutch history through original mills, houses, farms and a dairy in a 44-hectare museum park with historic trams. There, visitors can experience craftsmen at work, such as millers, blacksmiths, printers and conductors, and learn a craft themselves in a workshop.

The World Heritage Site Frontiers of the Roman Empire – the Lower German Limes includes components in Gelderland in the municipalities of Arnhem, Berg en Dal, Nijmegen, Overbetuwe and Zevenaar. The Limes Route is a 200-kilometre long-distance cycle route, while the Romeinse Limespad is an approximately 300-kilometre long-distance hiking trail. Both follow the Limes between Katwijk and Nijmegen and pass more than 40 historic sites.

The Dutch Water Defence Lines are also part of Gelderland’s historic landscapes. The more than 200-kilometre-long defence system consists of forts, dikes, locks, pumping stations, canals and inundation polders and is jointly supported by Noord-Holland, Gelderland, Noord-Brabant and Utrecht. The section of the Hollandse Waterlinies located in Gelderland runs for approximately 35 kilometres through the Rivierengebied, from Fort Everdingen to the Batterij onder Poederoijen.

Slot Loevestein is located in this historic landscape. The medieval castle dates from 1358, is part of the Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie and was recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in June 2021. When visiting Slot Loevestein, visitors can discover the castle, the outer bailey and the soldiers’ village. Together, they form a fortress with stories about knights, soldiers, Hugo de Groot and water defence.

The garden of Paleis Het Loo is the only reconstruction of a Baroque garden in the Netherlands. One of its defining features is the Koningssprong, a fountain that sprays more than 13 metres high.

Routes through different regions

Even shorter routes reveal different sides of Gelderland. De Hoofdige Boer is a 21.3-kilometre hiking trail from the old Hanseatic town of Zutphen through a varied landscape with country estates to Almen. Rondje Woudrichem follows the Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie for 11 kilometres from Woudrichem to Slot Loevestein. The 20.4-kilometre day hiking trail Verscholen Dorp runs through extensive forests near Vierhouten.

For cyclists, Gelderland’s main cycle network connects towns, villages and important facilities. The express cycle routes in Gelderland’s main cycle network are wide, comfortably surfaced, have few obstacles and, wherever possible, give cyclists priority. The express cycle route between Cuijk and Nijmegen, the MaasWaalpad, has been completed. The express cycle route between Arnhem and Velp, the F348, has also been completed.

More experiences

At Apenheul, visitors enter areas where monkeys move around freely. Apenheul is accessible to wheelchair users, with the exception of the Apenboompad and one bridge in the free-range area of the François langurs and black-and-white colobus monkeys; the park is hilly.

Subregions in Gelderland

The regional classification includes Emst, Lochem, Overbetuwe, Doesburg, Berkelland, Barneveld, Neerijnen, Zevenaar, Aalten, Lingewaal, Oldebroek, Elburg, Bronckhorst, Ede, Apeldoorn, Arnhem, Beuningen, Brummen, Buren, Culemborg, Doetinchem, Druten, Duiven, Epe, Ermelo, Geldermalsen, Groesbeek, Harderwijk, Hattem, Heerde, Heumen, Lingewaard, Lochem, Maasdriel, Millingen Aan De Rijn, Montferland, Neder-Betuwe, Nijkerk, Nijmegen, Nunspeet, Oost Gelre, Oude Ijsselstreek, Putten, Renkum, Rheden, Rijnwaarden, Rozendaal, Scherpenzeel, Tiel, Ubbergen, Voorst, Wageningen, West Maas En Waal, Westervoort, Wijchen, Winterswijk, Zaltbommel and Zutphen.

For the overview of the wider travel destination: the Netherlands.