Running in Soestduinen ist somewhat a special experience. While you might not have heard of Soestduinen before, the area in the Netherlands actually looks like a desert. Well, this desert is interestingly located right in the middle of a forest.

Going running in Soestduinen was something I was looking forward to due to the weird scenery.

Map of running in Soestduinen (tracked by Runtastic)

Leaving Hilton Soestduinen, I had to run along the street for quite some time, which wasn’t too exciting. A nice building here and there, but nothing to really write home about.

Yet, as soon as you cross the rails, you just have to run through a small residential area with villas and find yourself in the forest afterwards. That’s where you should get excited.

Running in the forest…

At first, the forest in Soestduinen doesn’t look too special. It’s quite a beautiful forest with large trees and lush greenery.

Also, the paths are quite good for running as they are relatively natural and not tarred, which is definitely more enjoyable for running. After another few hundred meters, you’ll happen to find yourself close to a dune.

The dunes is where the real experience is about to begin

You already spot some sand on the path at this point, but the real experience begins as soon as you run upwards.

… running in the dunes

The view you can enjoy as soon as you find yourself on the dune is kind of surreal.

Doesn’t this look extremly special?

There’s ton of sand and the whole thing actually looks like a desert. Well, it’s not like an endless desert, but that makes the whole scenery look even more interesting as there are trees in the background.

It’s a little hard to really describe how cool the whole area looks like, but I’m sure you’ll see yourself when checking out the pictures!

Running in Soestduinen is a real experience

I decided to run around this big dune (there are actually a few more of these little deserts in the area) and then back to the hotel. While I spotted the desert a few more times, the run wasn’t too interesting afterwards.

Nevertheless, running in Soestduinen is a really interesting experience. I can just recommend to give it a try yourself!

You like this running guide? Take a look at our other “Running in …” posts!