Royal cycling tour across the Utrechtse Heuvelrug

Enjoy cycling through the forests of the Utrechtse Heuvelrug. Along the way you will pass beautiful places, such as Paleis Soestdijk.

Roverestein
You start at Grand Café Groeneveld, a warm and hospitable address where you will immediately feel at home. Then you fill your lungs with fresh forest air as you cycle past picturesque country estates and fairytale castles. Where forests turn into fields and meadows you will find a few beautiful country estates together: Eyckenstein, Roverestein and Rustenhoven. The latter country house was built around 1757 by order of the bailiff of Maartensdijk. It is a mixture of Dutch Classicism and the Louis XV style.

Soestdijk
Via the country estate Vijverhof you cycle to Ewijckshoeve and Pijnenbrug, which borders on Soestdijk Palace. The young stadtholder Willem III bought the estate in 1674. This crown prince and his Russian wife had Soestdijk completely renovated into a real summer palace, which remained in use by the Royal family after them. From 1940 to 1945, Soestdijk Palace housed many foreign soldiers. After Beatrix was honoured as queen in 1980, Princess Juliana and Prince Bernhard went to live there.