On Wednesday we drove over to the village of Giethoorn, located in Weerribben-Wieden National Park.
The mostly car-free village has many thatched roof farmhouses built in the 1800's on small peat islands separated by narrow canals and connected by 170 small bridges. It's really pretty, with lots of walking paths, and the popular thing to do is rent an electric boat to tour the canals.
But you can also walk or cycle the area. Although really, we think walking is the best way to see it. There are typically too many pedestrians and having a bicycle means you'll mostly be walking with your bicycle anyhow.
There is a huge car park area, because as I said, it's very touristy and a lot of people visit. And it doesn't take long for the car park to fill up. Recommend you get there early! We arrived at about noon on a Wednesday, and were lucky to get the last spot that would fit us in an informal parking area at the far north access to the town. On weekends, of course it would be even busier.
There is no entrance fee.
But if you want to rent a boat, the going rate appeared to be €20 ($29.75 CAD, $23.60 USD) per hour. And there can be congestion on the canals which means things can be pretty slow going and your planned one hour trip can easily turn into two.
There are also lots of expensive canal side restaurants.
Most of the thatched cottages are really well maintained.
Dutch wooden shoes.
There are 170 of these bridges connecting the islands.
Many are private and chained off.
It's a really picturesque area.
The gardens at some of them are fabulous.
They must be in competition with each other.
Who can have the best garden?
Beautiful area. Really worth a visit, but be warned, it is touristy. The houses are all privately owed, although some of the operate as Bed and Breakfast and quite a few are listed on Airbnb ranging in prices from €125 to €350 a night. But they are almost all booked up through August.
We walked past the tourist area and out to the main canal where the larger boats are.
No staying overnight at this parking area.
The pictograph sign is pretty clear!
We walked just over 5 kms (3 miles) taking a circular route back to the main road. There is a public and free washroom at the main parking area, but if you need to use facilities while you are in the touristy area, it will cost you €1 ($1.50 CAD, $1.20 USD).
The most beautiful place in the Netherlands? Well it is for us so far. Really pretty area.
Later in the day, we drove another 35 kms north to a parking area for a nature trail that we figured would be okay for the night. Turned out it was fine.
Max, parked at GPS 52.914781, 5.88853
Ruth made a delicious pizza for dinner!
Before.
After.
We had a good day!
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And in Canada...
We must go there ourselves. Just beautiful.
ReplyDeleteWe have no doubt that you guys would love it there. Just don't go in the middle of summer during a "normal" summer and especially not on a weekend! :-)
DeleteI remember the teams on The Amazing Race trying to navigate those canals.
ReplyDeleteWe have watched all of the Amazing Race seasons and episodes but we aren't sure if we remember that episode. I am sure if we saw it again then we would all of a sudden remember it. We aren't sure how anyone could have a hard time navigating them but I guess they do because we saw one boat going the wrong direction and then crash into another boat, we really had to shake our heads because we don't get how they could have done that, lol!
DeleteI have read about that town before, and it looks absolutely gorgeous! You got some amazing shots. I assume those very showy flowers are hydrangeas. En masse like that, they are stunning! Ruth's pizza just as much so - yum. :-)
ReplyDeleteI had read about this place before and saw the beautiful setting in numerous pictures, that is why we wanted to go there. It really was beautiful even though it was a bit busy. We certainly wouldn't have wanted to be there on a weekend though.
DeleteYes, those flowers are hydrangeas and they were gorgeous with such vibrant colors.
My first pizza cooked in Max's oven and it turned out great. We are so happy with the efficiency of the oven. :-)
I remember this location from an Amazing Race!! It looks so pretty and busy.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure why Kevin and I can't remember that episode, looks like we are going to have to watch that season over again.
DeleteYes, it was fairly busy but we think that during a normal summer it would have been crazy busy and there is no way we would want to be there on a weekend, even in these times!
Every Dutch person is born with a green thumb, lol. My family always have plants inside, outside. Gardens are stunning.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with you, I also think that the British are on par with the Dutch as they have such beautiful gardens too. I sure know that my mother, her sister, and their mother had amazing gardens. We really are enjoying all the gorgeous gardens and flowers here in the Netherlands. I can't wait until we come back here in the spring one year to see the tulips!
DeleteWhat a beautiful area! You 2 are enjoying the summer! Or is it Spring there? You 2 take care, Rawn Stone poo
ReplyDeleteit is a very beautiful area. We definitely are enjoying our summer, and yes it is summer here.
DeleteWhat a beautiful area. Your lucky to have seen it up close. Enjoy your stay.
ReplyDeleteIt is definitely a beautiful area. We were more lucky to see it when it wasn't packed full of people. It was busy enough but I don't think either of us would have enjoyed it much if it had been busier than that.
DeleteReally lovely ... but if you lived in one of those attractive homes, wouldn't it be annoying to have so many li'l motorboats continually putt-putting by? Nice you could have a walk around.
ReplyDeleteIt really was beautiful area!
DeleteYou are right, we wouldn't want to own one of those homes either, not only having the motorboats going by but you also have the hordes of people walking and biking by, the day we did it, it wasn't too bad. Also if you sat outside you would always be on display. By the way the boats didn't putt-putt along, they were all electric and quiet as can be but the people in them weren't!