GETTING THERE
Amsterdam – 110km (1 hour 15min)
Rotterdam – 120km (1 hour 15min)
Arnhem – 15km (20 min)
There are several parking options (car and bike) depending on the loop you wish to complete. The main one is by Visitor centre “Bezoekerscentrum Veluwezoom”, which has 5 different loops starting from there and you can add additional loops if you wish. The main parking lot is most likely to be busy during weekends and bank holidays
Alternatively you can park at 7 different parking lots within the area which are by right by some of the loops. Second most popular is at Posbank or there are other smaller parking lots, which are not as frequented.
If you go with public transportation, you can go by train and stop at Rheden train station which is 1km away from the visitor center.
TRAIL DETAILS – PURPLE + BLUE – 10km loop
For me personally this is the best loop you can do, to see the best out of the area. I have started at the visitor centre following purple trail. The entire trail is solid ground without gravel, some parts are bit more sandy, but mostly it is very easy to walk on. Due the nature of the ground, you can complete the trail even if it rained the previous day as it will quickly soak up. You will pass several viewing points, which means you will have several smaller hills to conquer, but the views are well worth it. There is some shade, but majority of the trail is under open sky. In this area I came across freely grazing horses and sheep. I really highly recommend doing both these loops as they bring you across various terrains and has the most viewing points.
Elevation gain for purple + blue 235m
TRAIL DETAILS – RED + GREEN – 10km loop
This loop is mainly in wooded area, again with some minor rolling hills. Majority of the trail is in the shade. This portion of the trail might get muddy after rainfall. The whole trail might be monotone to some people, although it is very peaceful. The best part of the area is Carolinahoeve area. This is farm/restaurant, where you can stop for meal or ice cream but the best part is that around the farm there were several highlander cows. I think the farm feeds them so I’m assuming its very likely to spot them here. Apart from the cows, I came across a deer on this trail.
If you want to extend the loop further, you can add 2km black loop. The red and green are somewhat similar to each other, so you can easily do just one of them in case you don’t want to do both.
Elevation gain green 80m
Elevation gain red 120m-150m
TRAIL DETAILS – BROWN – 9km loop
This loop is slightly similar to red + green loop, mostly in wooded area with some rolling hills. The area closer to Velp/Rozendal is the best part of the trail, there is nice pond with man-made waterfall and then little further creek with bridges. It is all man-made but still very nice and peaceful. No animals were spotted, but clearly there might be some as there are several fences.
Elevation gain 210m
TRAIL DETAILS – GEOCACHE trail – 6km bonus loop
This is unmarked loop following 6km trail of 10 geocaches. You can do this trail as individual trail or combine it with purple/blue trail. You will not be able to complete this loop without geocaching App since it is not marked trail. It is really nice loop taking you from forrest to open flatter grassland to a view tower. Majority of the trail is in open sky area, some parts might get muddy after rain. I have came across highlander cows hiding in the shade of trees in the grassland part.
Elevation gain 45m
Tree coverage: This depends on the selected loop
Geocaching: There is only one geocache in the area unless you complete the geocache trail. There are some points of Adventure labs on some of the trails, mainly on the purple and blue.
Dogs: It is possible to do this route with your dog, if they are used to hiking. They must be on leash as there are animals grazing in the area.
FACILITIES
Since is in nature park there are no facilities other than listed ones below:
Bezoekerscentrum Veluwezoom (various trails) – restrooms and restaurant
Posbank viewing point (Purple or Red) – restroom and restaurant
Carolinahoeve (Red or Green) – – restroom and restaurant
Several restaurants and supermarkets in the village of Rheden.
I completed these hikes in May 2024, across several days, dry weather, sunny, around 19 degrees.
Purple/blue – completed on Sunday. Purple trail was very busy, blue one less, I only came across some trail runners
Green – completed during weekday in the afternoon, only few people
Red – completed on Saturday, very busy
Geocache – completed on Friday and it was busy in some parts
Brown – completed early Sunday morning and it was busy only around around start and then around Velp/Rozendaal
