Trekvogelpad on foot

A wooden footbridge over the water in Varkensland, Waterland, on the Trekvogelpad

Photo: Hobbema, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Distance
about 414 km (257 miles)
Country
Netherlands
Difficulty
Easy
Type of trip
Hiking trail

The Trekvogelpad, or LAW 2, is a 414 km walk from Bergen aan Zee on the North Sea to Enschede in the east. Wandelnet calls it the longest nature path in the Netherlands, and it's sometimes called the Pieterpad sideways, because it crosses the middle of the country from west to east. It comes in 24 day stages, so three and a half weeks or so if you walk it in one go. White and red marks show the way in both directions. Nivon looks after it with volunteers and publishes the guidebook. Wikipedia lists 12 stations on or near the route, Alkmaar, Amsterdam, Ede-Wageningen and Enschede among them, and the guidebook maps show bus stops. For a bed, look for Wandelnet's Wandelaars Welkom label on cafés and places to stay that want walkers.

It was put together in 1999 for the 100th birthday of Vogelbescherming Nederland, the Dutch bird protection society, by joining three older paths, the Waterlandpad, the Heuvelrugpad and the Gelrepad. That's why the guide says so much about birds. The route takes in the dunes and beach at the start, the peat meadows of Noord-Holland, the Utrechtse Heuvelrug, the drift sands of the Veluwe and the estates of the Achterhoek. It crosses the Pieterpad at Vorden and finishes at Enschede station.

Highlights along the way

  1. Bergen aan Zee and Alkmaar: The first stage starts on the North Sea beach and crosses the Noord-Hollands Duinreservaat, then polder land and an old beach ridge to the fortified town of Alkmaar.
  2. Waterland and Broek in Waterland: After Het Twiske and Landsmeer, a small ferry takes you into Waterland, polder country full of birds just outside Amsterdam. Broek in Waterland looks like a farming village but was home to skippers.
  3. De Hoge Veluwe: From Otterlo to Hoenderloo the path crosses the Hoge Veluwe National Park, past the Kröller-Müller Museum and Jachtslot Sint Hubertus, the hunting lodge designed by the architect Berlage.
  4. Loenen and its waterfalls: Past the Schenkenshul hill you follow the Vrijenbergerspreng stream. To get it down the slope, two waterfalls were built, the Grote Waterval and the Kleine Waterval, and Wandelnet calls them the biggest waterfall in the Netherlands.
  5. Twente and Enschede: The last stage crosses heath and woods past the Rutbeek lake, then goes through the old workers' district of Pathmos and the Volkspark to the station. A variant of 8.5 km follows the Buurserbeek to the Buurserzand, heath with junipers 100 years old.

Distance

About 414 km (257 miles) in all, according to Wandelnet and Wikipedia, though one page of Nivon's own site says 425 km. Wandelnet lists 24 stages plus the Den Broam variant, from 9.6 km (Maarn to Langbroek) to 23.6 km (Schellingwoude to Weesp), and most are 15 to 22 km. There's also a cycling version of about 400 km in 5 stages of around 75 km, with GPX files on the Nivon site.

Best time to go

Much of the Noord-Holland stretch goes through places where birds breed. In the breeding season, from 15 March to 1 July, there are alternative routes you can take, shown on the guidebook maps, and they're also the ones to use if you walk with a dog. You need a ticket for the Hoge Veluwe. In 2026 it's €13.85 for an adult, and the park lets you in until an hour before it closes, which is 18:00 from November to March and as late as 22:00 in June and July. Check the route changes page on Nivon's Trekvogelpad site before you go (this was the picture in November 2026).

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