A road trip in your own country is always a good idea, you see more of your own backyard. The last 2 years we’ve been touring the Netherlands a lot and loving it. This time we drove one of the Fletcher road trips, namely the 7-day Haute Cuisine road trip. Promising a road trip with a focus on excellent food. Fletcher is a hotel chain with over 100 hotels in the Netherlands. We drove this route at the beginning of May 2021, when there was still a partial lockdown. This meant museums and so on were still closed. Only terraces of restaurants were allowed to be open (until 6pm). Sitting inside a restaurant was still not allowed.
Touring the Netherlands Trip
Day 1: Arrive at Deurne
Day 2: Explore the area around Deurne
Day 3: Drive from Deurne to Heelsum (86 kilometers/53 miles, about 1.5 hours)
Day 4: Explore the Veluwe
Day 5: Drive from Heelsum to Loosdrecht (79 kilometers/49 miles, about 1 hour and 3 quarters)
Day 6: Explore the Loosdrechtse Plassen
Day 7: Going Home
Day to Day Itinerary
This Dutch road trip is fantastic and shows 3 different parts of the Netherlands.
Day 1: Arriving in Deurne
On the first day you head over to Deurne, which is a town in the South of the Netherlands in the province of Noord-Brabant. We drove from our home in Utrecht to Deurne. Deurne is a small town near to Helmond and Eindhoven.
If you have time to spare on your first day, Deurne has a museum, namely Museum De Wieger. The museum is the former residence of doctor and painter Hendrik Wiegersma.
When you’re staying at Fletcher hotel Willibrordhaeghe, there are two short walking paths surrounding the hotel. Both through the forest at the back of the hotel.
Day 2: Kempen Route
There are many things to do around Deurne. Since museums and all other indoor activities were still closed we opted to drive an ANWB autoroute. This route circled around Eindhoven through small towns. A small part of the route went through Belgium.
Eindhoven is a city with cool museums, such as the Philips Museum. A day in Eindhoven is also perfectly doable while staying in Deurne.
Day 3: Overloon + Wijchen
Don’t just drive straight from Deurne to Heelsum, but take the smaller roads. First stop is Overloon with Oorlogsmuseum Overloon. It’s all about the history of the Second World War.
Second stop is Wijchen. There’s a castle, kasteel Wijchen, in the center of town. By the way, you’ve entered the province of Gelderland, where you will be the coming days.
End your day in Heelsum.
Day 4: South Veluwe Route
Heelsum is on the Veluwe, De Hoge Veluwe National Park is a perfect day trip.
We took part of the day to drive the ANWB South Veluwe route. It was raining a lot, but the Veluwe is beautiful even with rain. The only waterfall in the Netherlands is on the route, namely the Loenense Waterfall. It’s one of the most beautiful waterfalls in Europe.
Day 5: Otterlo + Amersfoort
When driving from Heelsum to Loosdrecht, take the smaller roads and stop at Otterlo and Amersfoort.
Otterlo has an entrance to the De Hoge Veluwe National Park. There’s the Kröller-Müller Museum in the national park (mentioned above) with modern art and sculptures on display. Otterlo also houses the Dutch tegelmuseum, all about tiles.
Amersfoort, is one of the best cities to visit in the Netherlands, and is a perfect stop. The Cavalry Museum, the Mondriaan House and Museum Flehite are all worth your time. Muurhuizen (wallhouses), the 15th century old Onze Lieve Vrouwetoren and the Koppelpoort (old city gate) are monuments in the old city center. So go on a (self-guided) city walk. Amersfoort is in the province of Utrecht, you’ll drive to Loosdrecht, which is in the province of Noord-Holland.
Day 6 + 7: Loosdrechtse Plassen
The Loosdrechtse Plassen are a series of lakes around the town of Loosdrecht. It’s a watersport and nature area. So rent a boat or if the weather is really warm go for a swim in the lake.
If you’re looking for something else to do, Muiderslot, a castle is not that far away from Loosdrecht. It’s a true fairytale castle in Europe. A day exploring Amsterdam is also a good option. The Rijksmuseum, Anne Frank House or a canal boat ride are just a few of the things to do in Amsterdam.
On day 7 you can explore the area or Amsterdam before heading home.
Where to Eat
The road trip we took was named Haute Cuisine, so all the hotels had an excellent restaurant on site. Sadly, due to the restrictions in place at that time, we couldn’t eat in the restaurants itself. But we did have a 3-course dinner on every first evening in the hotel. We got our food and took it with us to our room.
At Fletcher Kloosterhotel Willibrordhaeghe in Deurne is Bar Bistro DuCo. All fish and meat dishes are prepared in a charcoal oven. We had been to this hotel and restaurant before and the food is delicious.
Fletcher Hotel-Restaurant Klein Zwitserland in Heelsum, has restaurant De Kromme Dissel, which has a Michelin star. We loved the dishes we ordered.
At last Fletcher Hotel-Restaurant Loosdrecht-Amsterdam has Marina Lounge Loosdrecht, with a perfect view on the Loosdrechtse Plassen. The food was excellent.
We had the breakfast buffet each morning at all our hotels. After choosing plates full of food, we took our trays with us to our room. We ordered lunch bags twice at Willibrordhaeghe. Which were delicious and convenient.
We had lunch in our room at the Klein Zwitserland hotel. All delicious. We also had their Fletcher borrelpakket, a charcuterieboard.
Other Than the Fletcher Hotels
During the Kempen route we had a delicious lunch on the terrace of Herberghe de Coeckepanne in Lierop. We had the best fries ever at De Weefkamer in Knegsel.
At Warme Bakker Degen in Overloon you can get the best and most delicious bread. During another road trip we had ice cream at Ijssalon Clevers Overloon, they have such delicious ice cream! We had something to drink at Thuis bij Fine in Wijchen.
We had coffee, tea and hot chocolate to go from Petit Restaurant ‘t Smulhuis in Otterlo.
For dinner in Loosdrecht we had sushi from A-Fusion, which was so good (but expensive).
Where to Stay
It was a Fletcher road trip we undertook, so all our hotels were from the Fletcher chain. We stayed 2 nights at each hotel.
In Deurne we stayed at Fletcher Kloosterhotel Willibrordhaeghe. It’s an abbey they have turned into a hotel. We had a family room, with a separate bedroom. The hotel has a courtyard with a terrace. At the back of the hotel is a small forest with walking paths.
Fletcher Hotel-Restaurant Klein Zwitserland in Heelsum was our second hotel. It’s in a small village on the Veluwe. The Veluwe is a beautiful nature area with heathlands, forest and sand drifts. This hotel has a Michelin star restaurant next door. We had a large room with an extra bed placed on it and with a balcony.
At Fletcher Hotel-Restaurant Loosdrecht-Amsterdam in Loosdrecht we had a room with a view on the lake and a terrace. They placed an extra bed on the room. The hotel rents out boats, it’s directly at the lake shore.
When to Visit
This the Netherlands tour can be driven all year long. We drove it at the beginning of May. Sadly we had a lot of rain on our trip, so we got to enjoy the terraces a little less than we would have wanted.
The Netherlands has a maritime climate. So usually cool summers and mild winters. It can rain all year long, but most rainy days are in the Fall and Winter. All is moderate, the rainfall and the sunshine. Temperatures average between 0°C/32°F and 10°C/50°F in Winter and 20°C/68°F and 25°C/77°F.
When you want to see fall colors, go leaf peeping at the Veluwe, than you have to come in October. If you love to see the heathlands in their beautiful purple color this is in August and September.
Hiring a Car and Airports
We drove the route with our own car. For this road trip we didn’t rent a car, but we have excellent experiences with Hertz, Stern and Alamo.
When arriving by plane before embarking on this road trip: Eindhoven Airport, located 32 kilometers/20 miles from Deurne and 106 kilometers/66 miles from Loosdrecht. Amsterdam Schiphol Airport is 138 kilometers/86 miles away from Deurne and 35 kilometers/22 miles from Loosdrecht. Rotterdam The Hague Airport is 134 kilometers/83 miles away from Deurne and 66 kilometers/41 miles from Loosdrecht. Maastricht Aachen Airport is 76 kilometers/47 miles driving from Deurne and 186 kilometers/116 miles from Loosdrecht.
Tips
- The Netherlands uses the Euro.
- Read these road trip books before or during you’re the Netherlands road trip.
That Concludes Our Touring the Netherlands trip
Hope you enjoy this road trip through my beautiful home country as much as we’ve done.
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