For hikers, birdwatchers and nature lovers, national parks in the Netherlands make for great sightseeing trips, with their unique landscapes and animals. Here's where to find them.
What is a national park?
A national park is an area that is protected for its nature and historical significance. There are 20 national parks spread all over the Netherlands, selected for their representation of Dutch nature and wildlife.
Landscapes, flora and fauna
In the parks you will find all the typical Dutch landscapes, such as dunes, woods, moorlands, bogs, valleys and swamps. Every park has its own local flora and fauna. The wildlife includes special species of birds, butterflies, reptiles and amphibians, as well as beavers, otters, seals and deer.
The national park areas are interconnected, and each has a minimum size of 1.000 hectares. Since 2013, the responsibility for the upkeep of the park lies with the provincial governments.
Biesbosch - North Brabant
The Biesbosch is a combination of the Hollandse Biesbosch and the Brabantse Biesbosch. The area consists of a maze of rivers, surrounding little islands and brooks. These swamplands attract many small boats and canoes that float through to admire the surroundings. The Biesbosch is one of Europe’s rare freshwater tidal areas. One of the most famous local animals is the beaver, and you can find various rare birds as well.
Drents Friese Wold - Drenthe, Friesland
The Drents-Friese Wold is one of the largest nature areas in the Netherlands, consisting of over 6.000 hectares. It is counted as one of the most beautiful and important natural areas in Europe. It is rich with forests, heathlands, sand dunes, ponds, marshes and grasslands, and has two observation towers for gaining stunning panoramic views.
Drentse Aa - Drenthe
The Drentse Aa is an area following a meandering brook with flourishing natural banks. Its grounds were used as farmland for thousands of years, resulting in rich natural surroundings. Because of the area’s large amount of villages and farmland, it the Drentse Aa was not originally classified as a national park. It took a special new title of "national brook landscape", and focused on the water banks, to classify. Later, its status as a national park expanded to the full area of 34.000 hectares, villages and farmland and all.
Texel dunes - North Holland
The Texel dunes consist of the western part of Texel, the biggest of the Wadden islands. The landscape is versatile, with wet dune valleys and dry hills and forests. Rare beach birds, birds of prey and plants can be found here.
Dwingelderveld - Drenthe
National Park Dwingelderveld in Drenthe is the largest area of wet heathlands in Western Europe. It is grazed by two sheep herds to provide natural upkeep. The area is large and quiet, with various walking routes and stunning vistas.
Groote Peel - Limburg
National Park Groote Peel is a calm area with peat moors, grasslands and lots of water. It is mainly known for its many species of birds and its rich history of peat farming. Throughout the area, the land is still scarred by the old peat farming activities.
Hoge Veluwe - Gelderland
Located in the Dutch province of Gelderland, National Park Hoge Veluwe spans roughly 55 square kilometres, and is one of the largest nature parks in the Netherlands. It features heathlands, sand dunes and woodlands. The area’s rich animal population includes various kinds of deer, wild boar, snakes, rabbits, foxes, badgers, pine martens and butterflies, and includes many threatened species.
Lauwersmeer - Groningen, Friesland
Lauwersmeer is known as a birdwatcher’s paradise. The area used to be connected to the Wadden Sea, until a dam was constructed due to flooding. Now, it is a unique open landscape full of unusual flowers and special birds.
Loonse en Drunense Duinen - North Brabant
The 35-kilometre-square Loonse en Drunense Duinen is an area of dunes, situated between the cities of Tilburg, Waalwijk and 's-Hertogenbosch. It has been designated as a national park since 2002.
Maasduinen - Limburg
The Maasduinen are the longest stretch of river dunes in the Netherlands, and were formed by water, wind and people. The area is steeped in history. Ancient burial sites and a large urn field show proof of inhabitants in the Maasduinen as early as 4000 BC. It was a battlefield full of trenches during World War II, and it has a war monument that is still visited on memorial days.
De Maasduinen still contain various castle ruins, and the lake Reindersmeer that was created through grit cultivation. Rare animals include species of snake, lizard, bird and bat.
Meinweg - Limburg
The Meinweg has a landscape that is unique to the Netherlands, with terraces and valleys at different levels, that were formed by sedimentary erosion and the movement of tectonic plates.
Oosterschelde - Zeeland
Oosterschelde is a gigantic pool of salt water just behind the dykes of Zeeland, filled with mud flats, salt meadows, gullies and shoals. The Oosterschelde wetlands are a popular destination for migrating birds, seals and porpoises.
De Sallandse Heuvelrug - Overijssel
The Sallandse Heuvelrug, or Salland Ridge, is a combination of privately-owned area and government-owned grounds. It is one of the largest continuous dry heathlands in western Europe and hosts a great variety of animal and plant species. In summer, the heather blooms into a sea of purple.
Schiermonnikoog - Friesland
Schiermonnikoog National Park became the Netherlands’ first official national park in 1989. It covers 72 square kilometres, which is the majority of the island of Schiermonnikoog. The park is very popular among tourists because of its rich flora and fauna, which has flourished because the island is isolated and visitors are not allowed to use cars. Wadden island Schiermonnikoog has a rich, natural environment of dunes and salt marshes. Near the tidal flats, the area is windswept, rough and full of special species of plant and birds.
Utrechtse Heuvelrug - Utrecht
The Utrechtse Heuvelrug (Utrecht Ridge) is full of special natural areas, as well as museums and eateries dedicated to the surroundings. It is an oasis of rest, nature and inspiring landscapes, where nobility used to build their castles and holiday residences. The local mix of nature and culture is apparent in picturesque villages and endless marshes and woods.
Local wildlife includes deer, badgers, lizards and woodpeckers. You can also find proof of the earliest human habitation in the Netherlands.
Veluwezoom - Gelderland
The Veluwezoom is the oldest Dutch National Park, as well as one of the largest, with 5.000 hectares. The hilly area consists of rugged woods, heathlands, drift sands and farmlands, as well as a large variety of flora and fauna.
Weerribben - Overijssel
The Weerribben shows all the stages in the development from open water to marshes, with shores and waters slowly getting covered in forestation, floating lands, reedlands and grasslands. Local swamp creatures include fishes, birds, mammals, reptiles and insects. Large butterflies and otters roam the wetlands, and all kinds of plants that grow in bogs and swamps thrive here.
De Zoom-Kalmthoutse Heide - North Brabant
De Zoom-Kalmthoutse Heide is a cross-border park on the Belgian-Dutch border, largely covered in heath. It is a merger of two former parks, the Kalmthoutse Heide in Belgium and De Zoom in the Netherlands. While the most famous part lies in Belgium, the Netherlands hosts a stretch of the area in North Brabant.
Zuid Kennemerland - North Holland
Situated within the municipalities of Bloemendaal, Velsen and Zandvoort in the province of North Holland, National Park Zuid-Kennemerland was established in 1995. The park spans about 38 square kilometres and contains sand dunes, forests and coastal beaches. Remnants of old settlements, sea villages and bunkers can still be found in the area, and the old estates, created during the Golden Age, still boast winter gardens, farmsteads, orchards, a sculpture yard.
Bird watchers will love this park as it is home to over 100 different bird species. Other animals you may encounter here include deer (fallow and roe), squirrels, hedgehogs, rabbits, foxes, highland cattle, Shetland ponies, Konik horses, and European bison (wisent).
Natura 2000
Many Dutch National Parks are a part of the Natura 2000 area, a network of landscapes with special plants and wildlife from a European perspective.