Arnhem & Hoge Veluwe

A storied WWII city on the Rhine, where free white bikes carry you through the forests of Hoge Veluwe National Park to the Van Gogh collection at the Kröller-Müller Museum, with an open-air museum and Burgers' Zoo nearby.

Arnhem, capital of the province of Gelderland in the eastern Netherlands, sits on the north bank of the Lower Rhine, backed by the Veluwe, the country's largest area of forested hills. The city is famous for Operation Market Garden in 1944 and the film A Bridge Too Far; the John Frost Bridge, the Airborne Museum in Oosterbeek and the war cemetery form its WWII history trail. The heart of any visit is Hoge Veluwe National Park north of the city: ride the free white bikes through pine woods, heathland and sand dunes, and stop at the Kröller-Müller Museum in the forest to see nearly 90 works by Van Gogh and a large sculpture garden. On the outskirts are the Netherlands Open Air Museum and Burgers' Zoo, known for its eco-displays; to the east, the Posbank in Veluwezoom National Park turns purple with heather in late summer. About 30 km north, Apeldoorn has the royal summer palace Het Loo and the Apenheul monkey park; about 20 km south lies Nijmegen, the oldest city in the Netherlands. The best season is April–October, with heather in bloom in August–September and red deer bellowing in autumn. Getting there: trains from Amsterdam or Schiphol Airport reach Arnhem Centraal in about 1 hour; buses serve the park and museums, though cycling is the easiest way around. Plan on 2–3 days.

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