Flevoland

Introduction

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Flevoland is the youngest and therefore the 12th province of the Netherlands. It has around 385.000 inhabitans but it is rapidly expanding. As it is only a short ride from Amsterdam a lot of people moved to Almere, while working in Amsterdam. The province only excists as of 1986, before that parts of the province belonged to one of the other neighbouring provinces. Almost the entire surface of this province was once water, that belonged to the IJsselmeer.

Geography

As you can imagine from a province that was once water, this province is as flat as it can be. The province excists of three major parts: The Noord-Oostpolder, Southern Flevoland and Eastern Flevoland. The province also includes the former islands of Urk and Schokland. It neighbours are the provinces of Friesland, Overijssel, Gelderland, Utrecht and North Holland. The Flevoland polders, are surrounded by several lakes, and to the North-West to the big IJsselmeer.

Cities

• Lelystad
• Almere

Sights and Activities

No historic towncenters or historic buildings are to be found in this province, apart from the former Islands of Urk and Schokland. Almere and Lelystad are doing their best to become attractive cities, but for travellers it is unlikely they will rank very high on the ´must-see´ lists.

Schokland

In the middle ages the island of Schokland was bigger than it is nowadays, but the Zuiderzee kept eating pieces of the island, in the middle of the 19th century the situation was getting to dangerous and Schokland was evacuated in 1859 for safety reasons, but after that order the island almost didn´t get any smaller. Since 1942 it is embedded in the Noord-Oostpolder, and no longer an island. Of the three villages that excisted on the island only the village of Middelbuurt survived. Nowadays Schokland is a Unesco World heritage site, and the site also includes a museum.

Events and Festivals

Lowlands

The biggest event in Flevoland is the huge festival called A campingflight to Lowlands paradise, or simply Lowlands. This is an alternative music festival, with crossovers to other artforms. You will find a complete filmfestival, poets, modern dance spread out over 10 different venues. The Festival takes place near the Walibi entertainment park in Biddinghuizen, and is sheduled at the end of the holidayseason (August).

Koningsdag (King's Day)

In 2013, the Dutch throne was passed on to King Willem-Alexander and what used to be Koninginnedag (Queen's Day) will from 2014 become Koningsdag (King's Day). The date will be changed to the 27th of April, which is the king's birthday. In 2014 however it will be on the 26th of April because the 27th falls on a Sunday. On this day the streets of almost every sizable town in the country come alive with activity.

Weather

Flevoland is gained from the sea and as a result most of its edges border open waters and smaller waterways between Flevoland and other provinces. Temperatures on average are slightly lower than average in summer and slightly higher in winter, though differences between coastal areas and more inland can be high, even during the same day. Check the Netherlands weather section for more info.

Getting There

By Plane

The nearest airport is the airport of Amsterdam Schiphol. Because of the good road connections Flevoland can be reached without much trouble, although traffic jams during rush hours can be particularly heavy between Amsterdam and Almere.

By Train

There is a train connection to the two big cities in Flevoland. Almere has a couple of stops, and also Lelystad has a station. There are plans to extent this line, and aso to plan a station in Dronten, and to have better connections to the north of the Netherlands. Check the Dutch Railways website for more information about schedules and prices.

By Car

The main road into, across and again out of Flevoland is the A6 highway which runs from Almere up to Friesland. The A27 highway penetrates Flevoland near Almere and originates from the south (Breda) via Utrecht.

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