Glamping Netherlands
Glamping Netherlands
The Netherlands proves that you do not need mountains to create memorable glamping experiences. This flat country, threaded with canals and dotted with windmills, has turned its waterscapes, surprisingly extensive forests and North Sea coastline into a glamping destination distinguished by design innovation and creative accommodation concepts.
From houseboats on the canals of Friesland to designer safari tents in the forests of the Veluwe, tiny houses overlooking polders and cabins beside North Sea beaches, the Netherlands offers glamping that marries Dutch pragmatism with a contemporary aesthetic that has made the country a reference point for outdoor accommodation design.
Dutch design and innovative accommodation
The Netherlands is a pioneer in glamping accommodation design: self-sufficient tiny houses with solar panels, floating capsules on canals, transparent cabins for stargazing, restored circus wagons and heated geodesic domes. The Dutch design tradition is applied to glamping with the same emphasis on functionality and aesthetics that characterises the country's architecture. Many of these accommodations are the work of established architects who have applied principles of sustainability and minimal environmental impact.
Canals, lakes and boating
Friesland, with its eleven historic towns linked by canals, offers aquatic glamping unlike anywhere else in Europe. Houseboats, traditional sloepen and sailing boats provide access to a network of navigable waterways reaching deep into the countryside. Glamping beside lakes such as the IJsselmeer and the Friese Meren pairs accommodation with sailing, kayaking, paddle boarding and fishing. In winter, if temperatures drop low enough, the canals freeze over and locals skate between towns.
Artisan cheese and gastronomy
The Netherlands produces some of the world's most recognised cheeses: Gouda, Edam, Leiden and Maasdam are made on farms that welcome visitors. The cheese markets of Alkmaar and Gouda are spectacles held weekly from April to September. Dutch gastronomy goes well beyond cheese: raw herring (haring), kroket, bitterballen, pannenkoeken (pancakes), stroopwafels and a burgeoning craft-beer scene round out a culinary offering richer than many expect.
Veluwe National Park
The Veluwe is the largest continuous forested area in the Netherlands: 1,100 square kilometres of oak and pine woodland, heathland, sand dunes and wildlife including deer, wild boar and mouflon. The Hoge Veluwe National Park also houses the Kroller-Muller Museum, home to the world's second-largest Van Gogh collection, reachable by free white bicycle. Glamping on the fringes of the Veluwe offers the ideal blend of nature, culture and design.
Cycling and bike routes
The Netherlands has more than 35,000 kilometres of signposted cycle paths connecting virtually every corner of the country. The cycling-node network (knooppunten) lets you design custom routes between glamping sites, crossing polders, following dykes, passing through villages with windmills and skirting tulip fields in spring. Cycling is the most authentic way to experience the Dutch landscape, and many glamping sites include quality bicycles as part of the stay.
The Netherlands surprises with an innovative glamping offering distributed across five main regions. From designer safari tents in Gelderland to houseboats in Friesland, the country demonstrates that mountains are not a prerequisite for memorable outdoor experiences.
Gelderland leads with over 80 glamping sites in the green heart of the country, set among the forests of the Veluwe and the great rivers. Friesland offers lakeside glamping and canal cruising, while Zeeland and the Dutch coast combine beach with nature. Noord-Holland provides glamping near Amsterdam without sacrificing rural charm.
The Dutch cycling network, with over 35,000 kilometres of signposted bike paths, makes it possible to travel from one glamping site to the next by bicycle -- a unique experience combining physical activity with contemplation of the flat, luminous Dutch landscape.