Emmen travel guide
Wildlands zoo, stone-age tombs and peat-colony history
A green town in south-east Drenthe near the German border, visited mainly for Wildlands Adventure Zoo and the hunebedden in the surrounding woods. May to September is best for the zoo and cycling. Plan one day for the zoo, two with the tombs and the Veenpark. Prices are very high, and many passports get 90 days without a visa.
Close to the German border in south-east Drenthe, Emmen is a spread-out town of woods and farmland with a lot of old peat land around it. Most visitors come for one thing: Wildlands Adventure Zoo, laid out as themed climate zones rather than rows of enclosures, which takes most of a day.
Prehistory and peat fill the rest of a visit. Several hunebedden, stone-age tombs built from huge boulders, stand in the woods around town, and the Hunebedcentrum in Borger explains who built them. Within the municipality at Barger-Compascuum, the Veenpark open-air museum recreates daily life in the peat colonies. You will want a car or a bike for these.
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Top things to do in Emmen
A big themed zoo, stone-age tombs and an open-air peat museum.
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Best time to visit Emmen
Month by month, so you can pick the weather and the crowds you want.
Long days for the zoo, the Veenpark and bike rides between the hunebedden.
Cold and quiet; outdoor museums shorten their hours, so check before you go.
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Getting there
Train via Zwolle, or the A37 by car
Emmen sits at the end of the line, so most visitors come by rail through Zwolle. The regional train from Zwolle follows the Vecht valley via Ommen, Hardenberg and Coevorden in a little over an hour; from Schiphol allow about three hours with a change at Zwolle. Drivers use the A37 or the N34.
- Schiphol (AMS)
- Intercity to Zwolle, then the regional train to Emmen; about three hours in total
- Zwolle
- Regional train via Ommen, Hardenberg and Coevorden, a little over an hour
- Groningen Airport Eelde (GRQ)
- Closer, but with few routes; a car is the practical onward link
- Car
- A37 from Hoogeveen or Germany, N34 from the Groningen direction
- Tap in and out with a contactless bank card or an OV-chipkaart; the same card works on the Zwolle train.
- Coming from the Randstad for Wildlands, arrive the evening before so you can be at the gates when they open.
Getting around
Walk to the zoo, cycle or drive to the tombs
Walk from Emmen's main station to Wildlands and the shopping streets, and drive or cycle for the countryside: the Veenpark at Barger-Compascuum is about 10 km east, Borger and its Hunebedcentrum about 20 km north-west. Follow the numbered cycle junctions, or knooppunten, and use Qbuzz buses with a tapped bank card.
- On foot
- Station and centre to Wildlands
- Car
- About 20 minutes up the N34 to Borger
- Bike
- Junction-network routes to the hunebedden and the Veenpark
- The hunebed in the Emmerdennen woods is close enough to the centre to reach on foot.
Know before you go
What makes Emmen worth the trip, and what catches visitors out.
Why travelers love it
- Wildlands Adventure Zoo, where you walk through jungle, savanna and polar zones rather than past cages.
- Hunebedden in the woods, boulder tombs older than the Egyptian pyramids.
- The Veenpark at Barger-Compascuum, an open-air museum of peat-colony life.
Good to know
- Distances add up in Drenthe: the sights lie kilometres apart, so bring a car or rent a bike.
- Start at the Hunebedcentrum in Borger if you want the tombs to make sense before you see them in the woods.
Trip fit
BookingMentor editorial ratings out of 5, based on a first-time visitor's experience.
Weather in Emmen, month by month
Month-by-month climate figures for Emmen are being researched.
Wildlands at opening time, Borger's dolmens the morning after
Give your first day in Emmen to Wildlands Adventure Zoo, arriving at opening time to work through the climate zones before school groups build up; the indoor jungle hall is the place to retreat to in rain. On the second morning, drive or cycle up the N34 to Borger for the hunebedden and the Hunebedcentrum.
Eat inside the park, since leaving and coming back eats into the day. In the early evening, walk off the zoo in the Emmerdennen, the woods on the edge of town, where the first hunebed of the trip waits under the trees.
The Hunebedcentrum explains who hauled these boulders into place and why, and the largest hunebed in the country lies right beside it, so the theory and the real thing come together in one stop. Have lunch in Borger, then head back south-east towards the German border for the afternoon at the Veenpark in Barger-Compascuum. Here the story jumps forward several thousand years to the families who dug peat for a living, with reconstructed houses, a working narrow-gauge railway and canals cut through the bog. Back in Emmen, have dinner near the station before an evening train to Zwolle.
Peat, hunebed boulders and pancakes around Emmen
Emmen's landscape explains what you see. Ice sheets dropped the boulders of the hunebedden, which farmers used for communal graves around 5,000 years ago, and Drenthe holds most of the country's 50-odd survivors; later, peat cutting shaped the land. Food here is plain, filling Dutch country cooking, pancakes included.
Much later, the vast bogs east of town were drained and dug for fuel, and new villages with long, straight canals grew up along the cuttings. Barger-Compascuum is one of them, which is why the Veenpark sits where it does. Look at a map and the ruler-straight canals and roads still give the peat colonies away.
Food here is plain, filling Dutch country cooking. The pancake house is the Drenthe institution: large, thin pancakes topped with bacon, cheese or apple, often in a farmhouse at the edge of the woods and well suited to a cycling stop. At the zoo and the Veenpark you eat on site. In town, the restaurants and cafes are concentrated around the pedestrian centre near the station, convenient before a train.
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How we research our Emmen travel guide
Emmen's Vecht valley trains are checked with NS Dutch Railways, and the Wildlands, hunebedden and Veenpark details against the town's official site, Holland.com and Wikipedia's Emmen entry.
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Checked against trusted sources:
Official website of EmmenHolland.comNS Dutch Railways
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Quick answers to the questions travelers ask most before visiting Emmen.
Cancellations & changes
At Zwolle. The regional train from there runs via Ommen, Hardenberg and Coevorden and reaches Emmen, the end of the line, in a little over an hour.
Getting there
Allow around three hours: an Intercity from Schiphol to Zwolle, then the regional train to Emmen.
Only if a route happens to suit you. Eelde is nearer than Schiphol but has few flights and no rail link, so you would need a car for the last stretch; most visitors land at Schiphol and take the train.
By bike, yes: the junction-numbered cycle network links Emmen with both, about 20 km to Borger and roughly 10 km to the Veenpark. Without a bike or car, the regional Qbuzz buses are the fallback, but they are slower.
Emmen sits at the end of the line, so most visitors come by rail through Zwolle. The regional train from Zwolle follows the Vecht valley via Ommen, Hardenberg and Coevorden in a little over an hour; from Schiphol allow about three hours with a change at Zwolle. Drivers use the A37 or the N34.
General
Yes. Give Saturday to Wildlands Adventure Zoo, then spend Sunday on the Hunebedcentrum in Borger and the Veenpark at Barger-Compascuum.
Yes. The zoo is a short walk from the main station through the town centre.
Stone-age burial monuments built from huge boulders left by the ice ages, most of them in Drenthe. Several stand in the woods around Emmen, including one in the Emmerdennen.
In Borger, next to the Hunebedcentrum, about 20 km north-west of Emmen along the N34.
An open-air museum at Barger-Compascuum, east of Emmen, showing how families lived from digging peat, with old houses, canals and a narrow-gauge railway.
May to September, when the savanna and outdoor areas of the zoo, the Veenpark and the cycle routes are at their best. In winter the outdoor museums cut their hours.
Walk from Emmen's main station to Wildlands and the shopping streets, and drive or cycle for the countryside: the Veenpark at Barger-Compascuum is about 10 km east, Borger and its Hunebedcentrum about 20 km north-west. Follow the numbered cycle junctions, or knooppunten, and use Qbuzz buses with a tapped bank card.
Timing & weather
The best time to visit Emmen is May to Sep. Warm enough for a full day at the zoo and for cycling out to the tombs.
- Best overall: May - September (Long days for the zoo, the Veenpark and bike rides between the hunebedden)
- Winter: October - March (Cold and quiet; outdoor museums shorten their hours, so check before you go)
Visa & documents
Schengen rules govern entry to the Netherlands. Citizens of the EU and of many other countries, including the US, UK, Canada and Australia, can visit visa-free for up to 90 days in any 180-day period; other nationalities need a Schengen visa. The EU's Entry/Exit System (EES) records non-EU travelers' fingerprints and a photo at the border.
Health & safety
Crime in the Netherlands is low. Bike theft and pickpocketing in busy areas are the main issues; watch out for cyclists.
