Apeldoorn in a Day — Het Loo Palace, Hoge Veluwe & Kröller-Müller
Route length
9h
Moving time
~3 h
Distance
14 km
Budget
€55–125/person
Transport
Walking, Mixed
Best Season
Spring
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Route Map
Route Waypoints
Apeldoorn is a mid-size Gelderland city — calm, green, and entirely oriented around the Veluwe and the royal palaces. The station is clean and well-connected. Pick up snacks and a picnic lunch at Albert Heijn (3 min walk, closes late) before heading to Het Loo. Bus 102 to Het Loo leaves from the station forecourt. Journey takes 10 minutes.
Practical Tips
Albert Heijn supermarket (Stationsplein, 2 min from station): buy picnic lunch here — sandwiches (broodjes), fruit, stroopwafels, water. Far cheaper and better than the limited park café options.
Bus 102 stop is on the left as you exit the station — look for the Connexxion blue bus sign. OV-chipkaart: check in when boarding, check out when leaving. Single journey ~€1.50–2.50 depending on distance.
Toilets in the station before departure — limited facilities inside Hoge Veluwe (only two locations).
The station itself was partially renovated in 2020 — the forecourt has a good city map board showing distances to Het Loo and the park.
Paleis Het Loo was built for William III and Mary II between 1684 and 1686 and served as the Dutch royal family's summer palace for three centuries. The full restoration completed in 2023 added a spectacular underground extension beneath the gardens — the new entrance building allows visitors to pass under the baroque garden and emerge at the palace courtyard level. The baroque formal gardens, symmetrically laid out with fountains, parterres, and orange trees, are among the finest surviving 17th-century gardens in northern Europe. The palace interiors show 300 years of royal life — from William III's original Dutch Blue and White Delft tile-work to Queen Wilhelmina's 20th-century apartments.
Practical Tips
Book online at paleishetloo.nl — pre-booking skips a 20-minute queue at peak times and guarantees entry. No online booking surcharge. Bring the QR code on your phone.
Open Tuesday–Sunday 10:00–17:00. CLOSED MONDAYS year-round (except holidays and school vacations). Last entry 16:00.
The new underground entrance wing (2023): the most architecturally surprising element of the visit — you walk underground below the garden before emerging at palace level. Allow 30 minutes just for this section before reaching the palace itself.
Garden only: no separate garden ticket exists (2026). Full ticket covers palace, gardens, stables, and exhibitions. If budget is tight, the gardens are visible from outside the estate fence — but the formal parterre gardens are only accessible with a ticket.
A visit takes 2.5–4 hours for a full visit including exhibitions, stables, and gardens. If pressed for time, allocate 2 hours minimum for the palace interior + 45 min for the gardens.
Shuttle bus within the estate: €1/day ticket — connects the entrance building with the palace (500m, 10-min walk or 3-min shuttle). Use it on the way out if tired.
Palace restaurant Stable 1 (in the former royal stables): accessible without an entrance ticket. Good for coffee and Dutch apple cake before or after your visit.
Hoge Veluwe is the largest private nature reserve in the Netherlands — 5,500 hectares of heathland, shifting sand dunes, pine forest, and open grassland. The landscape changes completely as you cycle from gate to centre: from dark pine forest to bright white sand dunes (a genuine mini-desert in the Netherlands) to purple heather heath. Red deer, wild boar, mouflons, and red foxes roam freely — deer sightings are almost guaranteed in the early evening. The free white bicycles are the essential way to experience the scale; the park is too large to walk meaningfully in a half-day.
Practical Tips
White bicycles: 1,800 free bikes available at all three entrances (Hoenderloo, Otterlo, Schaarsbergen), at the visitor centre, and at the Kröller-Müller Museum. Take any bike, leave at any rack. Child seats available. No locks provided — leave them at the official racks, not in the forest.
Card only at park entrances — no cash accepted. Card payments (contactless, Visa, Mastercard) required.
Wildlife timing: deer are most active at dawn and dusk. The central heath area near the Museonder visitor centre has the best morning sightings. In October (rut season), stags can be heard bellowing across the entire park.
Museonder (underground museum, included in park ticket): a fascinating underground exhibit directly below the visitor centre showing the geological and biological history of the Veluwe soil. Open 09:30–17:30 daily.
Jachthuis Sint Hubertus (the hunting lodge, guided tour only): designed by H.P. Berlage in 1920, considered the most important Art Nouveau building in the Netherlands. Tours must be booked in advance online. ~€8 extra above park ticket.
From Hoenderloo entrance to Kröller-Müller: 8km by bike, mostly flat, well-signposted. Allow 30 min at a gentle pace.
The Kröller-Müller Museum sits in a forest clearing 8km from the Hoenderloo park entrance — accessible only through the park, which is entirely the point. The permanent collection of 90 Van Gogh paintings and 180 drawings is the second largest in the world after the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, but displayed in smaller, quieter rooms that allow real contemplation. Behind the museum, the 25-hectare sculpture garden is one of the largest in Europe: Rodin's The Thinker, Henry Moore reclining figures, Jean Dubuffet's Jardin d'email (1974, walkable on top), and Marta Pan's Sculpture flottante floating white form on its purpose-built pond.
Practical Tips
CLOSED MONDAYS year-round and January 1. Open Tue–Sun 10:00–17:00.
You need BOTH a park ticket (purchased at the gate) AND a museum ticket (purchased online at krollermuller.nl or at the museum). They are separate foundations — one ticket does not cover the other.
Museumkaart holders: museum entry free, park ticket still required (~€9.50). Significant saving on a full day visit.
Book museum tickets online at krollermuller.nl — on busy summer days (July–August), the museum can reach capacity by mid-afternoon. Online booking gives priority entry at the park gate.
The sculpture garden: allow 45–60 min minimum — it extends well beyond the obvious central paths. Jean Dubuffet's Jardin d'email has an internal staircase accessible to visitors; climb to the top for the full optical effect.
Café at the museum (open same hours): the only reliable food option in this part of the park — soups, sandwiches, Dutch apple tart. Expect queues at lunchtime (12:00–13:30). Better to eat your packed lunch on a bench in the sculpture garden.
The Van Gogh highlights: The Potato Eaters (1885), Terrace of a Café at Night (1888 — a different night café from the famous Arles version), The Sower (multiple versions), and dozens of drawings from Nuenen and Paris. The quieter rooms allow 30-second dwell time in front of each work — nothing like the Rijksmuseum rush.
Apenheul is Europe's only zoo where primates roam freely among the visitors — pygmy marmosets (world's smallest monkey) climb across paths, spider monkeys swing overhead, and squirrel monkeys sit on shoulders without provocation. Located in Berg en Bos park directly adjacent to Apeldoorn city, it's a 15-minute bus ride from the station. This is an either/or option with Hoge Veluwe for families with young children — doing both in one day is exhausting. If the group includes under-12s, Apenheul often wins.
Practical Tips
CLOSED November 1 – March 31 (winter closure). Open daily April–October, 09:30–17:00 (last entry 16:00). VERIFY opening dates for 2026 at apenheul.nl.
Bus 7 from Apeldoorn Station to Apenheul: 15 min, every 15 min. OV-chipkaart valid.
Book tickets online at apenheul.nl — saves queuing time, no extra fee. Busy on Dutch school holidays.
The free-roaming monkeys (pygmy marmosets, squirrel monkeys) are genuinely free — they sit on you if you stay still and hold your arms out. Do not feed them. Do not grab them. Do not wear dangly earrings (spider monkeys are curious).
Best visited in combination with Het Loo (both in Apeldoorn, both doable before or after lunch) rather than replacing a full Hoge Veluwe day. The two combined = a family day, while Hoge Veluwe + Kröller-Müller = a culture and nature day.
Gorilla enclosure: the western lowland gorilla family is the centrepiece — observed from a raised boardwalk over their outdoor island. Most active in the morning (10:00–12:00).
Practical info
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