Cycling route National Park Drentsche Aa and Hunze Valley
Cycle through flower-rich stream valleys and historic esdorp villages, with a varied mosaic of fields, grasslands, forests, heathland, and quiet country roads.
The Landscape
Around Zuidlaren, Annen, and Tynaarlo, you experience Drentsche Aa National Park as a small-scale village-and-field landscape, with a stream that still meanders freely through the greenery. You cycle past flower-rich hay meadows, hedgerows, and historic communal arable fields, along quiet sandy tracks and leafy edges that give the landscape a timeless character. Villages built around a central green, farmhouses beneath ancient oaks, and visible traces of early settlement, such as megalithic tombs and burial mounds, make the route especially distinctive and rich in story.
The Hunze Valley also adds its own atmosphere to this route. Here, wet nature, open grasslands, and sheltered woodlands alternate, with small streams and low-lying areas where groundwater seepage nourishes the landscape and makes the greenery especially vibrant. On the higher sandy soils lie historic fields and farmsteads, while along the valley, herb-rich margins, hedgerows, and farmhouses create a characteristic Drenthe setting.
What You’ll Discover Along the Way
Around Zuidlaren, you cycle through forest areas and along open heathlands on the higher sandy soils. This variation gives the route a gently rolling character and continually reveals new views of the surrounding landscape.
Along the route, you encounter farmsteads, historic villages, and characteristic farmhouses that tell the story of centuries of settlement. It is precisely this combination of culture and landscape that makes this area so distinctly Drenthe.
In the lower parts of the Hunze Valley, the view opens out over meadows and fields. The sense of space, the quiet, and the calm roads make this section ideal for relaxed cycling.
The Drentsche Aa and the Hunze give the route structure and direction, sometimes close by, sometimes as a hidden line in the greenery. Water has shaped the character of this landscape for centuries, and you can feel it in every bend along the way.
Ride along with us on this virtual bike tour
Virtual cycling through Drentsche Aa National Park takes you through a small-scale village-and-field landscape with hedgerows, historic communal arable fields, and flower-rich stream valleys. At home on your indoor trainer, you experience quiet sandy tracks and villages built around a central green, with characteristic farmhouses that give this region its authentic character.
In the Hunze Valley, the scenery shifts to a more open, water-rich landscape with wet lowlands, grasslands, and sheltered woodlands along streams and ditches. The interplay of water, open space, and green edges makes this virtual cycling route in Drenthe ideal for training with a true outdoor feel or for exploring your ride in advance.
Want to learn more about virtual cycling? THIS IS HOW VIRTUAL CYCLING WORKS
Route map and cycling junctions
Start and finish near bike node 85 on the Wedbroek in Tynaarlo. Because this is a circular route, you can also start at one of the other cycling junctions along the route.
Distance: 46 km
Estimated riding time: 3 hours 5 minutes
Elevation gain: 74 m
Paved roads: 86%
Unpaved / semi-paved: 14%
Ideal for: e-bikes and city bikes
Along the way: several options for a coffee break or lunch.
