Through an 'outdoor gallery' to the Netherlands: Vechte Valley Route/art trail (kunstwegen)

This cycle tour twists and turns through the beautiful valley of the Vechte river to the Dutch province of Overijssel. And between Nordhorn in Germany and Zwolle in the Netherlands it offers art on the kunstwegen.

This cross-border project is an extensive open-air museum of modern art with a huge range of exhibits. It runs through forests and along the banks of the river, through areas of marshland, fields and meadows, and past sprawling forests. Ahead of you lie pretty little farmsteads and enchanting towns. After Nordhorn, more than 60 installations unite art, nature and history and draw the eye of passing cyclists. The raumsichten project is using landscape and planning as the themes for other works of art, which from autumn 2011 will continue to the North Rhine-Westphalian border, offering a tour full of surprises. Terrain: about half the paths are asphalt; all others are either paved or surfaced with crushed stone or gravel. The route is predominantly flat and switches to a 132km themed modern art trail at Nordhorn. Scenery: the route runs through unspoilt nature along the banks of the Vechte river. Gentle hills in the first section, followed by level agricultural land. Towns in the County of Bentheim and the Overijssel Salland region of the Netherlands.

• Length: 245 kilometres (kunstwegen: 132km)
• Starts: Darfeld (kunstwegen: Nordhorn)
• Ends: Zwolle (NL)
• Route info: mainly flat terrain, easily managed with children