Cycling routes in nature and virtual cycling in the Netherlands
With Fietsroutes in beeld you can discover the Netherlands by bike. Outdoors in the fresh air and indoors on your exercise bike.
Choose from carefully designed cycling routes through forests, heaths, polders, river valleys and national landscapes. Or join in virtually on more than 120 routes: free YouTube videos that bring the nature and tranquillity of the Netherlands straight into your living room.
Cycling in nature: discover the Dutch landscapes
The Netherlands is much more varied than it appears at first sight. Gently rolling arable plateaus and small fields in Northeast Twente, quiet heathlands on the Veluwe, peat meadows with wide-open skies, lakes and terps in Friesland, old river branches and floodplains along the major rivers. Every region has its own character.
On Fietsroutes in beeld you’ll find cycling routes that put these landscapes centre stage. For each route you can read what makes the area so special, which types of nature you encounter along the way and which villages, country estates or sights are worth stopping for. This way you set off well prepared and see more than just the next junction.
What you’ll find for every route
which type of landscape you cycle through,
which natural features and views you encounter along the way,
which villages, country estates or points of interest are worth a short stop.
This turns every bike ride into a little voyage of discovery through Dutch nature.
Virtual cycling in the Netherlands on your exercise bike
Want to get away for a while but can’t go outside? With the virtual cycling routes from Fietsroutes in beeld you can cycle across the Netherlands from the comfort of your home.
With more than 120 free YouTube videos you ride at your own pace past forests, heathlands, lakes, rivers, villages and historic town centres. Simply start the video on your TV, laptop or tablet, get on your exercise bike or crosstrainer and cycle along as if you were really out on the route.
Why choose virtual cycling?
to relax after a long day,
to stay active when you can’t go outside,
to get a feel for an area before you go cycling there in real life,
to enjoy a peaceful bike ride through nature. Straight from your living room.
Landscapes and nature areas as the common thread
The routes on Fietsroutes in beeld are not just lines on a map. Each route is built around a specific landscape or nature area: a national landscape, a historic cultural landscape with hedgerows and small fields, a river valley with floodplains, a woodland and heath area or a polder with straight parcels and wide open skies.
In the route descriptions you can read how the region developed, which elements shape the landscape and how people and nature have coexisted here for centuries. This makes every bike ride not only relaxing, but also a way to better understand the story of the Dutch landscape.
Storybiking: see more than just the bike path
Behind every route there are stories: of old trade routes, monasteries and churches, peat cutting and polder works, defensive lines, country estates and farms. In the cycling stories that go with each route, I zoom in on this background.
You’ll read where ships once sailed, how villages came into being, why a dike runs exactly where it does, and which legends drift around a hill, peat lake or heathland.
These stories change the way you look at what you see along the way. Whether you’re cycling outside on the road or riding along virtually at home.
All cycling routes at a glance
On the interactive map you can quickly and easily find all our cycling routes in the Netherlands, both outdoor routes and virtual cycling routes. View everything on a single map or neatly sorted by province, so you can switch between routes without ever leaving the map.
