APELDOORN tourist attractions

Apeldoorn is a historic city closely related to the history of the royal Orange dynasty. There is the Het Loo Palace, which was her residence in the past and is now open to the public.

Although the history of the city dates back to the 8th century, until the 17th century it was only a local trade and craft center. Everything changed due to the construction of a hunting lodge in the vicinity of Wilhelm III. Over time, the expanded Het Loo Palace became one of the main residences of the monarchs of the Netherlands. Princess Margriet, sister of Queen Beatrix, still lives nearby.

The ruling family left the Het Loo Palace surrounded by beautiful gardens in 1975, and a few years later a museum of palace interiors began to operate here. The 17th-century baroque gardens, which are even compared to the gardens of Versailles, were also restored.

In the 19th century, Apeldoorn began to develop as an industrial center. The present urban layout of the center with neo-Renaissance buildings comes from that time, among which the Big Church, in which the royal lodge has been preserved, stands out. The main street of the Hoofdstraat has many restaurants, bars and shops, while the Deventerstraat is home to villas from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.

There are also plenty of places to walk in Apeldoorn. In addition to several parks and an arboretum located at the Het Loo Palace, there is also the Apenheul Zoo, which specializes in breeding great apes.