The Netherlands🇳🇱 | hikesNS Walk VeluwezoomPosbank heath, Zijpenberg ridges, red deer, brook valleys | things to do and best time to go

Look at the waymarks and you’ll see the route follows small NS signposts rather than the park’s own signs, because it was designed as a rail-to-rail day out. The walk sits on the Veluwezoom, the eastern edge of the Veluwe in Gelderland, between Arnhem and Dieren, in what became the Netherlands’ first national park in 1930. The pattern is simple: stations at the foot of the ridge, forest and heath above. The good side is rolling terrain that is rare in a flat country, purple heath in late summer, and trains every half hour. The bad side is that it gets crowded on dry weekends, and the distance is long for casual walkers. It is steeper than the flat Zuid-Holland dune walks, yet easier to reach than the Drenthe routes. One October dusk, a red deer stag bellowed from the oaks above me, a low rattling groan that carried a full kilometer down the slope.

If you enjoy meeting fellow travelers, consider choosing hostels with high ratings for atmosphere. On the other hand, if you prefer having your own space, a hotel might be a better option.