Spend your holiday in Groningen

Come visit the far north of the Netherlands

First of all: what is Groningen? Groningen is the name of both the province and of the provincial capital in the far north of the Netherlands. This website contains information of both the city and of the northern part of this province. This region is not a world renowned tourist destination but it has a couple of very attractive features. Why would you spend your holiday in the North of Groningen? First of all: you could explore the historic city that has a population of about 200 thousand and boasts some museums, pittoresque historic quarters around the docks and in the city centre and two fine landscaped parks. Secondly: there is the countryside, flat country where you can cycle all sorts of long or short routes. The Netherlands is een country of cyclists and the infrastructure for cycling overall is excellent, especially here in the less crowded north where you can use cycle paths but also ride on relatively quiet roads. Also, the thing that marks out the North of Groningen is it's number of medieval churches. Many of these can be found on so called 'wierden', manmade hills (up tot 10 metres) that were built in and after the Roman Period. There is no region in Western Europe where the density of medieval churches is so high as here. Compare it with the county of Norfolk in England. A thing that should be comfortable for you as a foreigner is that many Dutch people speak English to a certain extent. Finding yourself in a position where you can't communicate at all is very unlikely.

The countryside of Groningen is flat with the exception of the wierden I just mentioned and of course the dykes that protect the land from the sea. These barriers protect the entire northern coastline. There are paths for walkers and cyclists along these dykes, sometimes even on them. The land is mostly cultivated: in the northern parts of the North of Groningen you will find mostly arable lands and further south (closer to the city) a lot more pastures with grazing livestock like cows and sheep. There are a number of lovely villages as well, two of them were recently voted as most beautiful in the entire country.

This website is written in Dutch, this particular page is one of a couple of exceptions. Luckily for you the site contains a lot of photos, interactive maps with interesting locations and the walkingroutes and cycleroutes can be viewed on map as well. It has to be said: this regio is mostly suited to go cycling. For instance: go to Bestemmingen to find possible destinations, to Overnachten to find and book hotels or other types of accommodations, to Wandelroutes to view walking routes and to Fietsroutes to study cycling routes. Do you live in Great Britain? In that case, check these links and read further: