Cycle Trip to Duivenvoorde Castle from The Hague, Netherlands

This past weekend we decided to cycle from The Hague city centre to a castle I’d read about called Duivenvoorde. The castle is located in the suburb of Voorschoten just outside of the city. The cycle trip itself is easy enough to do and takes around half an hour depending of course upon your pace and exact starting location. Here’s the trip we did on Google Maps – for the most part you just keep going in a straight line 🙂

En route, there’s not much around as Duivenvoorde Castle is really located in the midst of farm land. So expect to see cows, sheep, chickens and more. It’s a particularly peaceful and pleasant bike ride – great if you want to see rural Holland.

Upon arrival at Duivenvoorde Castle there are various walking routes to follow. There’s also a place to park your bike. So it’s great to just park and start exploring on foot.

Whilst walking we even came across a peacock and some really beautiful trees and plants on the property too.

You’ll also see some lovely little Dutch-style houses. Apparently people actually live here…

And here it is! Duivenvoorde Castle (from various angles).

Research tells us that the castle was first mentioned in 1226, making it one of the country’s oldest castles. What makes this castle particularly special is that (in all those years) it has never been sold and has instead been passed down from generation to generation. Today the castle is maintained by a foundation and there’s also a museum inside. Moreover, the south wing is still inhabited (since 2003) by one of the family members who inherited it and another family member also resides in the castle’s garden house.

Additionally, you can enter inside the actual building that is Duivenvoorde Castle on certain days of the week and there are guided tours available informing you of the history of the place.

A visit to Duivenvoorde Castle by bike is easy enough from The Hague city centre (even for amateur cyclists such as myself). It’s definitely a worthwhile afternoon trip if you want to do something a little different and explore Holland and the outdoors.