National Park Hollandse Duinen

The Landscape

Approximately 6,000 years ago, the area in the Nationalpark Hollandse Duinen was mainly shaped by water. Today, a contrasting landscape stretches from the coast to the peat meadows in the east. Characteristic of the region are various landscape types running parallel to the coast. Starting at the coast, beach, dunes, beach ridges with country estates, open beach plains, and peat meadow areas harmoniously follow one another. The elevated and dry location of the beach ridges provided ideal conditions for settlements. Farms, villages, and towns emerged. Due to the charming nature, from the 17th century onwards, the prosperous bourgeoisie and nobility settled in the estates, later giving rise to beautiful country houses. In the 19th century, many country estates were merged into a large contiguous green area under the patronage of Prince Frederik of the Netherlands, which was not engulfed by the continuous expansion of the surrounding cities. The result is a nature and recreation oasis where tranquility, expansiveness, and history go hand in hand.

Bike with us

Route map

You will bike in the vicinity of the towns of Wassenaar, Katwijk, Leiden, Voorschoten, Leidschendam, and The Hague.

Start and finish near bike node 92 on the Rietpolderweg in Leidschendam. However, this bike route is a circular tour, so it offers the possibility to start from any of the following bike nodes.

92 - 95 - 94 - 93 - 86 - 88 - 84 - 55 - 54 - 58 - 33 - 34 - 35 - 44 - 40 - 41 - 97 - 96 - 45 - 93 - 43 - 47 - 46 - 54 - 55 - 52 - 90 - 57 - 91 - 92