Enjoy Giethoorn

Giethoorn is known as the Venice of the North. With its many bridges and waterways, this picturesque water village is an experience in itself. To transport the peat, canals and ditches were dug here. This created small islands on which houses were built that can only be reached via bridges. There are dozens of characteristic national monuments in Giethoorn. The only continuous connection over land is a cycling and walking path that runs straight through the village. Much traffic takes place over the water, via so-called punts that - just like the gondolas in Venice - are propelled by a punt boom.

The area around Giethoorn is also worth a visit. You drive through the beautiful nature of De Wieden, which is part of the Weerribben-Wieden National Park. This water-rich nature reserve in the Kop van Overijssel is an oasis of space and tranquility. Here you will see ponds and ditches, vast reedlands, meadows full of flowers and dense swamp forests. No matter how unspoilt the landscape may appear, De Wieden is a cultural landscape. From the fifteenth century onwards, peat was dredged here and left to dry on narrow fields so that the peat could be used as fuel.

In old mining villages such as Nijeveense Bovenboer, Nijeveen and Kolderveen you can still see beautiful old farms. In Meppel you will pass the striking water tower from 1883. The tower has a height of almost 40 meters and a water reservoir of 230 cubic meters. Zwartsluis is a picturesque village located at the point where the Zwarte Water and the Meppelerdiep meet. The town was once the transit port for the transport of Drenthe peat to Holland.