Hoge Veluwe & Kröller-Müller

Hoge Veluwe is the largest national park in the Netherlands, covering 5,500 hectares of ancient forest, heathland, and shifting sand drifts 22 minutes by car from Arnhem. At its centre sits the Kröller-Müller Museum, founded in 1938 by art collector Helene Kröller-Müller: it holds the second-largest Van Gogh collection in the world (90 paintings, 180 drawings) and one of Europe's largest sculpture gardens at 30 hectares. Admission to the park includes access to 2,000 free white bicycles.

The Kröller-Müller collection includes Van Gogh works from all periods of his career, among them Café Terrace at Night and Sorrowing Old Man. The sculpture garden features work by Auguste Rodin, Barbara Hepworth, Jean Dubuffet, and Marta Pan. The Kröller-Müller Museum has its own ticket and is not covered by park admission — a costly surprise if you assume one covers both.

The 2,000 white bicycles distributed across the park were inspired by the Amsterdam Provo movement of the 1960s; the park acquired its first 50 bikes in partnership with the ANWB in 1975. The sand drifts at Oud-Reemsterzand and Otterlose Zand support rare species including sand lizards and the grayling butterfly. Bus line 105 from Arnhem Centraal runs to the Otterlo entrance in approximately 45 minutes.