Discover Olst: Holiday Accommodation in Olst, Nature and History

Olst combines the IJssel landscape, trails and local history. The surrounding area encompasses topics ranging from the Duursche Waarden to the history of churches, mills and everyday life. If you are looking for holiday accommodation in Olst, you can combine days in nature along the IJssel with a hike and discoveries in the village centre.

Holiday Accommodation in Olst: Nature, Trails and the Village Centre

Along the IJssel, near Olst, lies the Duursche Waarden nature development area, a water-rich and marshy landscape with a lookout tower and birdwatching hides. The area around the Fortmond brickworks is freely accessible nature. A barefoot or boot trail runs between the birdwatching hide and the lookout tower – an unusual addition to a walk.

In the area around Olst and Wijhe, the Infocentrum IJssel Den Nul is located on the Rijksstraatweg. It is the gateway to the Duursche Waarden nature area, where several hikes begin. The building has an exhibition room as well as information about the nature and culture of the surrounding area. This makes it possible to take both the landscape and regional topics into account when planning your day.

Hiking between Olst and Wijhe

The shorter version of the Olst-Wijhe hiking route runs from Olst railway station to Wijhe railway station, is approximately 11 kilometres long and allows you to return by train. The approximate distance helps you combine this day of hiking with further impressions of Olst.

Village Centre and Willibrordkerk

The Holsto farmstead was first mentioned in a document in 947. It stood on an old river dune along the IJssel, at the site of the present-day village of Olst. The medieval village centre lay around the village church and expanded northwards along what is now Van Limburg Stirumstraat in the 12th and 13th centuries.

The Willibrordkerk stands at the highest point of a river dune, in the central area of the former Holsto farmstead, which belonged to the convent of Essen. An independent parish was established in Olst in the 13th century. Its foundation may have been prepared around 1234, when Bishop Otto I stayed at his farmstead in Olst; the new parish church, the Willibrordkerk, may already have been consecrated at that time.

Mills, Museum and the IJssellinie

Bökkers Mölle is a Rijksmonument on the edge of the IJssel floodplains in Olst and is currently operated as a grain mill by volunteers. The Oud Keukengerei Museum in Olst displays household objects from 1900 to the present day.

A folly was built at De Haere in 1870 as a garden ornament. The Hof ter Hare (Haer), associated with De Haere, is already documented in records from the 14th century. The IJssellinie included various military structures, including an inlet sluice in the river dyke near De Haere, as well as a command bunker, an emergency hospital and casemates. Between Kampen and Nijmegen, the IJssellinie was intended to be capable of flooding a 120-kilometre-long and 10-kilometre-wide strip of land along the IJssel.

The structures were restored to their former condition as a lasting reminder of the brief episode of the Cold War and opened to visitors. The IJssellinie Foundation offers guided tours regularly and on request.

More places for your regional planning: Wesepe, Welsum and Wijhe.

For the higher-level travel overview: Olst-Wijhe.