Holiday apartment in Stichtse Vecht – waterways, castles and World Heritage

The wider Vecht region brings together sites of cultural and historical significance, nature and water-based recreation. In Stichtse Vecht, you can also explore the Vecht by small motorboat through picturesque villages. Here, the waterscape and regional history come together in many different ways.

Water and landscape

In summer, De Strook offers swimming, playing and sunbathing on a sandy beach and a large sunbathing lawn beside the fifth lake of the Loosdrechtse Plassen. Admission is free; the site has picnic benches, barbecue facilities and a volleyball court.

The Tienhovense Plassen preserve a peat landscape in which traces of peat extraction are clearly visible as narrow strips of land and peat cuttings. The Molenpolder is also a water-rich fen area in the municipality of Stichtse Vecht. Centuries of peat extraction and human management have shaped it with wide ditches and elongated peat cuttings.

The Vecht corridor in Stichtse Vecht can be explored by bicycle through the surrounding landscape. The Doortraproute Maarssen in Stichtse Vecht is designated as a 23-kilometre cycling route.

Paths and regional exploration

The Liniepad leads from Fort bij Abcoude to Fort bij Nigtevecht and back. The route passes forts and batteries and runs along the Gein River, offering views of a landscape of water, windmills and meadows.

On the Waterlinie Fietsbootroute, cycling alternates with travelling by De Fietsboot on the Vecht or the Loosdrechtse Plassen. Along the Vecht in Stichtse Vecht, further routes lead past buitenplaatsen, castles and tea pavilions and through historic landscape parks. Guided walks to buitenplaatsen are regularly organised in the Vecht region.

Culture and history

The history of Slot Zuylen dates back to the 13th century; the castle has an exceptionally rich architectural history. Slot Zuylen has been open to the public as a museum since 1952. The garden was altered again in 1839, when landscape architect Zocher was asked to create a new plan in the English landscape style.

Kasteelpark Loenersloot was laid out around 1797 and is considered a rare type of garden in the Netherlands. The park is freely open to the public. Between April and October, volunteers from Utrechts Landschap regularly offer guided tours, lectures and concerts at Kasteel Loenersloot.

Fort bij Nigtevecht can be explored by taking walks through the fort or the outer fort, visiting the “Gewapend water” exhibition in the gorge casemate and looking inside the barracks. At weekends, homemade cakes, fresh soups, toasties, and hot and cold drinks such as coffee and tea are available there.

Fort Nieuwersluis houses a small museum about the Cold War era, when the fort was used as a command post by the Dutch civil defence organisation (BB), as well as the “BB-Beleving” visitor experience. Via the Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie, Fort Nieuwersluis is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Hollandse Waterlinies.

The Streekmuseum Vredegoed in Tienhoven displays rural and farming objects from around 1900 from Tienhoven, Oud Maarsseveen and the surrounding area. The exhibits relate to traditional living, farm crafts, peat extraction and village life. The museum at the Goudestein buitenplaats tells the history of the Vecht region and its inhabitants. Boerderij Vredegoed is a Rijksmonument with historic Art Nouveau elements and is itself of museum value.

Nature

Fort Nieuwersluis provides a habitat for bats, grass snakes, kingfishers and pheasants. Rare plants and wetland birds, including wild orchids, spoonbills and purple herons, find a habitat in the Oostelijke binnenpolder.

The Vredevoetpad is a signposted hiking trail through the Tienhovense Plassen, with their ponds and herb-rich grasslands, and starts at the Streekmuseum Vredegoed. The area around the Vredevoetpad is part of the “Oostelijke Vechtplassen” Natura 2000 site.

The fort in the Molenpolder is generally not open to the public. Exceptions are excursions, as the fort has been left to nature.

Other places

Other places in the region: Breukelen, Bunnik, Utrechtse Heuvelrug, Nieuwegein, De Ronde Venen, Leusden, Maarssen, Baarn.

To the main travel overview: Utrecht.