The best way to get to know the Noordoostpolder der is on foot or by bike. You will pass art, vast fields, through forests and over dykes where the birds fly with you for a while. We have various cycling and walking routes available, which take you to all kinds of surprising places. Very handy are our Tourist Transfer Points (TOPs), where the starting points of cycling and walking tours come together with plenty of parking and catering facilities. A good start to a wonderful day in the open air.
A Toeristisch Overstappunt (TOP) is the perfect starting point for your cycling or walking tour. At a TOP, there is always plenty of parking space and catering facilities. Park your car here and continue on foot or by bike and follow one of the routes marked on the three-metre-high pillar (TOP).
View all TOPs
The Noordoostpolder is an ideal cycling destination. While cycling, you can enjoy the beautiful views and the great outdoors. Not tough enough? Then get on your mtb and test your skills on a tough route over unpaved paths through the woods of the Noordoostpolder.
Especially for visitors who do not have their own bicycle (with them), there are six bicycle hubs spread throughout the Noordoostpolder. So you can still enjoy cycling if you came by car or public transport. A bicycle hub has shared e-bike hub which you can easily reserve via the app Deelfiets Nederland. That way, you know for sure that a bike is available. Also handy: you can return it at another hub in the region, even in National Park Weerribben-Wieden and Giethoorn. So you decide how long you will cycle and where to go.
More about our shared bicycles
Don't have a bike at hand or the shared-bike app to reserve and unlock an electric bike via your phone? Then, of course, you can still rent a bike the old-fashioned way. For a list of physical rental locations, click on the link below.
View bike rentals
Especially for cyclists, bicycle break points have been set up at various locations throughout Flevoland, including therefore also in the Noordoostpolder: places where practical facilities for cyclists are made available free of charge. Think of a toilet, a bicycle pump and tyre repair kit, a water tap, a first aid kit and a place to sit and take shelter from the weather. You will recognise each bicycle break point by the sign by the road.
Here you can find cycle stopover points in the Noordoostpolder
Our suggestion for a scenic cycling route passes several vista panels. This way you discover most of the Noordoostpolder, while at each panel you can take a break and learn something about the area and its history. The drawings on the panels are projected onto the landscape and visualise something that is no longer visible, such as the wreckage of a plane that crashed in the war or the plodding polder workers who came to clear the new land. The text below each panel explains exactly what you are looking at.
View this route
"Hup, out! "
Are you ready to discover the rich history of the former Zuiderzee? This route from Elburg to Kraggenburg leads you a long way through the Noordoostpolder . Discover our beautiful landscape.
With the lost ships route, you can have a good experience of how the Noordoostpolder is a reclaimed area.
The history of Urk is centuries old, that of the Noordoostpolder only very young. A perfect mix for a surprising and attractive cycle trip.
This route takes you past plane wrecks in Noordoostpolder and tells the history of the reclamation of Noordoostpolder and the Second World War.
Are you way too cool for recreational cycling on paved roads? Then grab your mountain bike and come cross country in our forests. You will find challenging and even spicy routes in the Voorsterbos and the Kuinderbos. In Bant, the mtb route has even been extended to include a bike park with a wallride and a real bike café. Because yes, even the toughest cyclists can use a drink and a garden hose to clean their bikes, right?
The MTB route has a length of 2.5 kilometres and starts at a gate at the farm driveway. The route has several bypasses with technical challenges, and is challenging with all its curves. In terms of length, it is very suitable for children.
This 95% unpaved route is located in the Voorster forest in the greenest corner of the Noordoostpolder. It includes many technical sections that make the route, despite its 21 kilometres, spicy. In two places, small height differences are included in the route.
This route contains some nice hills and a very tough downhill. Due to the often slippery surface, the descent can even be called dangerous, which is made clear by a large yellow sign. Due to the often wet and soggy surface, the trail is quite tough.
The Noordoostpolder also has a real bike park for mountain bikers: in Bant, right next to Camping Fiederels. This is a professionally built bike park with both an easy route and one that tests your technical skills.
More about the bike park
Walking: some people do it every day, for instance taking the dog for a walk around the block. Others enjoy walking only when they see or discover something new along the way. Well, there are plenty of opportunities for that in the Noordoostpolder : you can walk on or around a former island, look at scale models of various world ports in the forest or be amazed or other people's creativity while walking the sand sculpture route. And let's face it: you'll be doing some sport on the way, too!
If you take a walk around the Schoterplas and across the Schoterveld, you will come across several sand sculptures along the way. The theme of the sand sculptures is different every year.
The harbour route leads through the Waterloop forest and passes a large number of watercourse models.
This richly illustrated cultural-historical walk leads past Nagele's architecture and through greenery and gives a beautiful picture of the modern village in the Noordoostpolderder.
this listening route, you walk along with The Last Light keeper of Schokland. He guides you through your own headphones to the southern tip of his island. Along the way, he tells you a compelling story.
Put in your earplugs or put on headphones and get carried away by special stories. Walking or cycling through this special landscape, the story of the Noordoostpolder comes to life even more through the audio routes.
Discover all audio routes
