Giethoorn, Overijssel, Netherlands

Welcome to Giethoorn

It was a gorgeous morning this Sunday, a welcoming change after our bitterly cold and even snowy past week. Eagerly we left home mid morning to explore a new part of North Holland with friends visiting from the UK.

We were off on a bit of a rural adventure to the small northern village of Giethoorn and while we were there, to cruise the nearby Noordoostpolder 100km Tulip route.  

The busy main canal

Located in the province of Overijssel the historic town of Giethoorn (pronounced as ‘Hee-thaw-rn’) was founded by a group of fugitives from the Mediterranean region around AD 1230. 

The fugitives gave the small settlement the name 'Geytenhoren’ meaning Goat Horns due to the large quantities of wild goat horns they found, possibly after the goats had drowned in a flood. 

Boats on the water

Today, the small and idyllic island village is most famous for its lack of roads (it actually has no roads and is only accessible by water) and its almost magical-like series of floating islands that are connected together by over 150 old wooden bridges. 

It was a relatively longish drive from Amsterdam with several stops as we waited for raised road bridges to descend but we eventually arrived and excitedly parked on the outer fringes of the old town. Our first point of call was to get ourselves a boat, the cars of Giethoorn, if you will! 

With several outlets offering basic electrical boats we chose the closest one to the carpark and silently set off. 

Kara and the crew

Choosing our electric boat

Sailing around in Giethoorn gives you a feeling that you're in a fairytale. You hear birds chirping and the green leaves hanging down from branches rustle in the wind. 

Fancy a lake for a backyard

Heading under the bridges

Farm houses of Giethoorn

Quiet little roads of Giethoorn

18th century Dutch houses

We sailed beneath lovely wooden-arched bridges as voices of the other punters faded. We passed by classic 18th century Dutch-style houses and quaint farms nestled over the dark canals surrounded by immaculately kept lawns.

We saw thatched cottages adorned with red and white flowers, decorative lace curtains at window sills and boats parked out front against weathered jetties. 

A beautiful lawn!

Coming around another bend

Like a water-way drive way

Most houses had typical Dutch-styled thatched roofing made of grey coloured reed, and chimneys on top. Some houses had a hump-backed roof and small semi-circular shaped windows in the attic made it appear like the house had eyes of its own! What was fascinating was that each house is situated on its own island and we wondered how they built them so long ago- perhaps just hard slogging. The little islands were connected to each other only by a bridge or by boats on the canal.

Meandering down the village

Little waterways

Surrounded by a beautiful lake! 

We continued on and Kara had a go at driving; we made a turn at the town's windmill and reached the ‘outskirts’ of the village. For a town with no roads, these outskirts were obviously a huge lake! This water is only three feet deep (supposedly) but stretches out as far as the eye can see. 

Part of Giethoorn village

On the lake

Rest stop in the middle of the lake

Cute house surrounded by water

After our tiki tour on the canals we stopped for lunch and then made our way towards the region of Flevoland which is Holland's biggest flower-growing region.

Lets take the Tulip Route

Laying 4 meters below sea level, this area located in the northeast of the country was built up from reclaimed land of the Zuiderzee around the time of WWII and has the perfect conditions for growing tulips.  Starting in the small town of Emmelord the spectacular 100km Tulip Route meanders through over 2500 acres of flowering fields. 

The route has become the longest and most colourful route in Holland and even, according to National Geographic, one of the world’s ultimate road trips!

One of our favourite fields 

Partners in Tulips!

Happy, Happy, Happy

Kara in the fields

White and rose coloured tulips

Although we had spent a bit of time exploring the tulips to the south of Amsterdam over the last two weeks we were excited to see more of the Netherlands' beautiful tulip fields. They didn't disappoint, in fact they were the brightest most vivid tulips we've seen yet! Making several stops within the first ten kilometres we clambered constantly out of the car and roamed around the rainbow of flowers.

Rays of sunshine!

A sea of orange!

The driving was slow as we stopped at almost every field we saw until it started to get a bit much and we began to do a few drive by, open window, point camera type shots. In the end, we only did about 1/3 of the total 100km route before we felt we had probably tortured our guests enough!

Tot siens,

John and Kara

Royal crimson 

Drive by photo