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Drenthe is pure, Drenthe is nature, Drenthe is pure nature.

Cycling holiday The heart of Drenthe

As soon as you hop on the saddle for this tour, you'll experience the ultimate feeling of relaxation.
No wonder, in a province where time seems to have no hold over the hectic pace of modern life. During beautiful and varied bike rides, you’ll discover stunning forests, heathlands, charming villages, and impressive cultural treasures. » read more about Cycling holiday The heart of Drenthe

The Hondsrug, Dwingelderveld, Drents-Friese Wold National Park, Fochteloërveen
Picturesque village squares: Rolde, Orvelte, Dwingeloo, Ruinen, and Havelte
Dolmen & Prison Museum Veenhuizen

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Cycling holiday
Trekking tour
4 or 7 days
Individual

from 345 p.p.
excl. additional costs

Prices and dates

from 345 p.p.
excl. additional costs

Prices and dates

Prehistoric Cycling in Drenthe

"Prehistoric" stands for robust and authentic. That’s why Drenthe is known as the "Prehistoric Province" of our country. You cycle through landscapes so natural, it almost feels like no human hand has touched them. Forests and heathlands in their pure simplicity. Places where the present and the distant past easily meet. You’ll certainly experience this during this tour. Both the 4-day and 7-day tours will take you through Assen, Odoorn, and Dwingeloo, along with all the beauty and prehistoric sites in between.

Culture and Nature

Speaking of prehistoric: you’ll visit the esdorp (village square) Rolde, encounter various dolmens (including the largest one in Borger), cycle through the museum village of Orvelte (a little less prehistoric, but definitely an impressive old town), stop in the village squares of Dwingeloo, Ruinen, and Havelte, and visit the Prison Museum Veenhuizen. And that’s not even mentioning the impressive and calming nature. For example, the Dwingeloosche Heide, the heathlands and forests of Uffelter, Holtinger, Wester, and Oosterzand, and the national parks Drents-Friese Wold and Fochteloërveen. You never knew that a single day of prehistoric cycling in one of the most beautiful parts of the Netherlands could have more impact than a whole month of meditation.

Centuries-Old Bog Body

In Assen, just outside the Drents Museum, you'll come face to face with Bartje – the famous little figure who didn’t want to pray for "brune bonen" (brown beans). Inside, you can say a prayer for the bog body of Yde: the 16-year-old girl who ended up in the swamp 2,000 years ago. Around her neck, she wore a woolen scarf, and she had a stab wound in her neck. Researchers now know that she was murdered or, more precisely, sacrificed to the gods due to the threat of the advancing Romans. She is believed to have been strangled with the scarf around her neck. A real cold case. In any case, it’s very special to see ‘someone’ so well preserved by the bog for over two millennia.

A Dolmen Built with Prehistoric Strength

Arrived in Borger? Park your bike at dolmen D27 for a moment. This impressive burial monument, like all the other dolmens here, was built over five thousand years ago. During the Ice Age, the giant stones were carried by the ice from Scandinavia. When the ice melted, the boulders were left behind. Using tree trunks, the builders stacked the enormous stones on top of each other, usually on a higher point in the landscape. With combined strength, they hauled the massive stones up. Pure human effort – talk about prehistoric power. Take a moment to think about that. The largest stone here weighs more than 20,000 kilograms. The dolmen itself is 22.6 meters long. It is the largest dolmen in the Netherlands.

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Cycling holiday The heart of Drenthe

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