Belt-Schutsloot: Holiday Apartment for Water, Culture and Hiking

Belt-Schutsloot is a village where waterways, low-lying peatland and living local history are closely intertwined. The canals, lakes, reed beds and hiking trails add different dimensions to your stay. When choosing a holiday apartment in Belt-Schutsloot, you can therefore consider whether you would mainly like to focus on excursions on the water, nature observation, culture or longer hikes.

Gondola Festival and Visible Local History

A particular highlight is the Belt-Schutsloot Gondola Festival. Organized by the residents of Belt-Schutsloot, the event takes place every year on the second Friday in August. A colorful procession of illuminated gondolas with theatrical performances travels through the Schutsloot and onto the Kleine Belterwijde.

Other landmarks also tell stories of the village’s past. Belt-Schutsloot has been a village of reed cutters for centuries; this craft is visible throughout the landscape. Boerderij Havezathe de Belt is an 18th-century building on older foundations and, according to tradition, stands on the site of an earlier havezate. De Melkvaarder depicts a milkman with a push pole on a punter carrying milk churns.

Canals, Pools and De Wieden

The Belt-Schutsloot canoe route runs along the village and then through De Wieden, with its canals, small pools and lakes. Along the way, it passes through pools and small lakes, follows winding canals, crosses peatlands, and runs past reed beds and flower-rich hay meadows. The route also passes a rare stretch of quaking bog and places where rare flora and fauna are often found.

Stobbenkolkje is one of the pools around Belt-Schutsloot. Yellow water lilies and snake’s head grow in this body of water. This gives the waterways and landscape significance for visitors seeking a peaceful, nature-oriented side of the region. De Goede Watersport has an extensive fleet of rental sloops for different group sizes.

Hiking Between De Wieden and Belterwiede

The landscape can also be experienced on foot in various stages. The Giethoorn–Belt-Schutsloot stage of the Stellingenpad runs through the low-lying peatland between Schutsloterwiede and Belterwiede. The fifth stage of the Stellingenpad is 19.6 kilometers long and runs from Belt-Schutsloot via Vollenhove to Blokzijl. Along the way, it passes lakes, ditches, dikes, swamp forests, meadows, canals, reed landscapes and quaking bogs.

The Beltiger Kuierpad is shorter: this two-kilometer hiking trail through the De Wieden nature reserve starts opposite the bridge on the Arembergergracht. It includes, among other things, a hand-pulled ferry for crossing a ditch. The Beltiger Kuierpad is accessible every year outside the breeding season.

Orientation for Planning Your Trip

Bus route 70 between Steenwijk and Zwolle operates from the Belt-Schutsloot, Belterweg bus stop. For the fifth stage of the Stellingenpad, drivers are advised to use the public car park P4 at Belterweg 15. These specific landmarks help you connect a holiday apartment in Belt-Schutsloot in your mind with your planned hiking and water-based experiences, without limiting your stay to a single activity.

Discover More Places

Other places you may wish to consider when planning your regional trip include Vollenhove, Sint Jansklooster, Ossenzijl, Paasloo, Steenwijkerwold, Kallenkote, Kalenberg and Steenwijk.

For the overarching travel overview: Steenwijkerland.