Groene Hart

The Groene Hart (literally "Green Heart") is a scenic agricultural zone between the four biggest cities of the country. The flat polders and canals, considered typical for the country, can be explored by hiking or cycling.

Map showing the location of the Groene Hart

Most of the area lies beneath sea level, and is protected by numerous dikes and windmills. The area is very flat and offers great cycling opportunities. At the tourist offices in the towns of the Groene Hart, you will be able to find some brochures or leaflets detailing scenic routes.

Cities
Rural area typical for the region in Wijde Aa
Gouda cheese produced at the farms is sold on cheese markets
A part of the Groene Hart as seen from a plane

The Groene Hart is a relatively sparsely populated area, its landscape considered archetypically Dutch. Nevertheless, there are some larger and smaller towns worth visiting.

  • 🌍 Alphen aan den Rijn — founded by the Romans, a theme park about prehistoric and roman era is now located here.
  • 🌍 Gouda — beautiful city famous for its Gouda Cheese, stroopwafels and the cheese market
  • 🌍 Schoonhoven — a nice small town with many well preserved medieval buildings.

Other destinations

Get in

There are several highways running through the area, the most important one is the A12 which runs from The Hague to Utrecht.

Get around

See

Do

Eat

Drink

Sleep

There are countless B&Bs in the area, many of them situated in the countryside. If you are looking for a hotel, there's a list below.

Bodegraven
  • 🌍 Tulip Inn, Goudseweg 32, 2411HL, Bodegraven (6km outside Gouda, just off the A12. Take bus 178 from Gouda.), ☎ +31 172-650003, e-mail: . 64 rooms all with balcony. Renovated in Aug 2007. There are two restaurants and a bar. €65.50-95.50, Breakfast €12.50. 

Gouda

Haastrecht
  • 🌍 Hotel Over de Brug, Ad en Vic Versteeg, Veerlaan 1, 2851 BV, Haastrecht (Take Provincialeweg West (N288) from Gouda), ☎ +31 182 501210, +31 182 501415. This traditional hotel on the River IJssel, is about 5km from Gouda, in the small town of Haastrecht. It's an easy cycle to Gouda. There is a pub/restaurant. Free Wi-fi and parking. Double €67, Single €40. 

Stay safe

The Groene Hart is a very safe area. Be aware that some roads are not wide enough for two cars to pass each other. If you are on a small road and there is a car approaching from a distance, make sure to stop at a wider spot until the other car has passed.

Go next

The Groene Hart is surrounded by the largest Dutch cities:

gollark: If there's some leather available, and two different production processes needing leather, how do you decide which factory gets which?
gollark: And a quota for "10 tons of nails", so they made a single 10-ton nail.
gollark: There were things with Soviet truck depots driving trucks in circles pointlessly because they had a quota of "40000 miles driven".
gollark: If your factory is told to make 100K units of winter clothing of any kind they will probably just go for the simplest/easiest one, even if it isn't very useful to have 100K winter coats (extra small) (plain white). Now, you could say "but in capitalism they'll just make the cheapest one", but companies are directly subservient to what consumers actually want and can't get away with that.
gollark: That is why we have the "legal system"./
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