Cycling route De Ronde Venen and Rondehoep
Cycling through a typical Dutch peat meadow landscape with open polders, reed beds and wide lakes, where narrow canals and peat rivers shape the scenery.
The Landscape
In De Ronde Venen, a low lying polder landscape unfolds that has been shaped for centuries by peat extraction, land reclamation and water management. You cycle through open peat meadows with long narrow fields, a dense network of ditches and winding peat streams that give the landscape both structure and tranquillity.
On the eastern side lie the Vinkeveense Plassen, formed through peat extraction and later developed into a water rich nature and recreation area. The characteristic strip fields and narrow islands reflect the region’s peat heritage, while reed fringes and open water create constantly changing views.
What You’ll Discover Along the Way
Around Abcoude, you cycle past places where water, defence and governance shaped history together, with forts and structures that form part of the Defence Line of Amsterdam. Dikes, locks and embankments run like quiet lines through the green landscape, giving the route a distinctive cultural and historical character.
The Rondehoep is one of the most open peat meadow polders in the Netherlands, with a wide horizon and neatly divided pastures. You literally cycle around it, alongside endless ditches and grasslands where the landscape remains vast and quiet, without buildings interrupting the view.
In areas such as Botshol and Waverhoek, the scenery changes from pastureland to reed beds, wet peat fields and swamp forest. Here, you experience the peat landscape in its most natural form, with water weaving through the greenery and a great chance of spotting meadow and water birds.
The Vinkeveense Plassen give the route a distinctly water rich character, with wide views across open water and small islands that reveal the area’s peat history. Along the shores and waterways, you can see how nature, water recreation and historic land reclamation blend seamlessly together.
Ride along with us on this virtual bike tour
Virtual cycling through De Ronde Venen and the Rondehoep lets you enjoy a relaxing ride through a vast peat meadow landscape filled with ditches, reed fringes and long grasslands stretching to the horizon. You follow quiet polder roads around the open Rondehoep and experience the character of the Groene Hart landscape in every wide panoramic view.
Along the way, you look out over water rich areas towards the Vinkeveense Plassen, with strip fields and lakes that recall the region’s peat extraction history. In this way, virtual cycling becomes a calm, almost meditative ride past water, birds and the quiet rhythm of the polder landscape.
Want to learn more about virtual cycling? THIS IS HOW VIRTUAL CYCLING WORKS
Route map and cycling junctions
Start and finish at cycling junction 71 on the Abcouderstraatweg in Amsterdam-Zuidoost. 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 35 minutes
Elevation gain: 76 m
Paved roads: 98%
Unpaved / semi-paved: 2%
Ideal for: e-bikes and city bikes
Along the way: several options for a coffee break or lunch.
