Cycling route Land of Leeghwater and UNESCO World Heritage Beemster
Cycle through a classic Dutch polder landscape of peat meadows, canals, dikes, open fields and traditional farmhouses.
The Landscape
The Beemster is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is regarded as a masterpiece of early 17th-century Dutch water management and land reclamation. In 1612, the former lake was drained using windmills, dikes and canals, creating a fertile clay polder that today lies more than three metres below sea level.
This route combines the Beemster with the Land van Leeghwater, a region also shaped by historic land reclamation and Dutch water engineering. The characteristic grid of roads, drainage ditches and fields, together with wide open views across the polder, clearly illustrates how water management, spatial planning and agriculture have worked hand in hand for centuries.
Together, these two landscapes tell the story of the Dutch struggle against water. Historic windmills, canals and polders illustrate how engineering and landscape design created a cultural landscape that has remained remarkably well preserved to this day.
What You’ll Discover Along the Way
In the Land van Leeghwater, you cycle along dikes, canals, and villages shaped by centuries of water engineering and polder work. In the Beemster, the traditional stolp farmhouses, historic ribbon developments, and heritage buildings stand out even more, as the strict design of the reclaimed landscape makes every element clearly legible.
The Beemster reveals a clear checkerboard pattern of roads, ditches, and plots, effortlessly guiding cyclists through the landscape. Behind the ring dike, fields and meadows alternate in long strips, with wide-open views that are characteristic of this open polder.
Around the reclaimed polders, peat meadows and wet grasslands stretch out, where reed beds and small ditches give the landscape a softer, more natural feel. This contrast with the structured Beemster adds extra variety to the route, shifting from geometric polder lines to bird-rich, water-filled edges.
Water remains close throughout the entire route, with the ring canal, drainage channels, and broad waterways running like shimmering lines through the polder. Precisely because a lake once lay here, every dike and every waterway along the way carries an added layer of meaning.
Virtual Cycling Through the Land van Leeghwater and the Beemster
Experience the Land van Leeghwater and the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Beemster, with its straight roads, ring dikes, canals and wide polder landscapes. The route passes historic villages, traditional stolp farmhouses and the characteristic grid of fields and drainage ditches that still reflects centuries of Dutch water management and land reclamation.
Want to learn more about virtual cycling? THIS IS HOW VIRTUAL CYCLING WORKS
Route map and cycling junctions
Start and finish near cycling junction 62 on the Groeneweg in Graft. Because this is a circular route, you can also start at one of the other cycling junctions along the route.
Distance: 53 km
Estimated riding time: 3 hours 33 minutes
Elevation gain: 52 m
Paved roads: 96%
Unpaved / semi-paved: 4%
Ideal for: e-bikes and city bikes
Along the way: several options for a coffee break or lunch.
