Holiday apartment in Dinxperlo: Border, history and trails

A holiday apartment in Dinxperlo offers you a stay in a place where the border is visible and tangible in the townscape. Together with the German town of Suderwick, Dinxperlo forms a continuous built-up area known as a twin village. The national border runs through this built-up area and follows the Heelweg for the most part. On the Heelweg, the border street, the German-Dutch border is marked on the road surface. The unusual layout makes the border a visible theme during a walk through Dinxperlo’s townscape.

Discovering border history

The Grenslandmuseum Dinxperlo is housed in a historic building dating from the 18th century and presents the history of customs work at the border. The collection includes documents, photographs, uniforms, customs items, smuggled goods, confiscated merchandise and weapons. Two border guards’ huts with information panels explain what life and work in the border region used to be like. The „Open Grenspoort“ allows people to cross to the other side of the border without hindrance. At a historic heraldic boundary stone from 1766, an information panel explains the course of the border.

Culture, architecture and shared experiences

The Dorpskerk in Dinxperlo is a Late Gothic pseudo-basilica and features vault and wall paintings from the 16th century. Kerkje De Rietstap was added to the list of historic monuments in 1977 because of its distinctive character and history. The little church serves as an exhibition space, hosting exhibitions by artists that change every month. Bread baking is also one of the hands-on experiences available locally: in restored historic ovens, including a traditional brushwood-bundle or wood-fired oven, visitors can watch the baking process from start to finish and take part themselves. Baking demonstrations and bread-baking sessions in small groups for adults and children are offered.

Music, border trails and active days in Dinxperlo

Sneeuwpop is an annual benefit festival held at the Kulturhus in Dinxperlo for young and old, with live music from Dinxperlo and the surrounding area taking centre stage. For active days, there are signposted trails: the „Grensbelevenissen Dinxperwick“ cycling and walking route starts at the Suderwick/Dinxperlo-West border crossing, at the Brüggenhütte. Dinxperwick also has signposted cross-border walking trails, including the 17.5-kilometre „GrenzenLos“ route. For day planning, the 17.5 kilometres of “GrenzenLos” and the approximately 25 kilometres of “Rondje Dinxperlo” represent two options of different lengths for walking and cycling tours, whose scope can be directly incorporated into your own plans for the day.

Cycling, inline skating, walking, Nordic walking and horse-riding trails are signposted from TOP Welinkbos. The bronze sculpture „Europa en de stier“, designed by artist Jaap Hartmann, stands directly on the German-Dutch border. The „Rondje Dinxperlo“ route is an approximately 25-kilometre cycling route. The two distances provide a concrete basis for planning walking and cycling tours. VVV Dinxperlo provides tourist information as well as walking and cycling routes.

Discover more destinations

For your further travel planning: Bredevoort, Aalten and Ijzerlo.

For the higher-level travel overview: Aalten.