Orange Route

The Orange Route (, ) is a holiday route, that runs from Amsterdam in the Netherlands through North and Central Germany and returns to Amsterdam. It is 2,400 kilometres long and crosses the Netherlands and nine of German federated states. The Orange Route runs through towns and regions that linked the House of Orange-Nassau for centuries.Oranje Route at www.oranjeroute.nl. Accessed on 23 Jul 2011.

States The Orange Route runs from the Netherlands initially through the states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse, first in a southerly, then in a northeasterly direction in order to head for Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Brandenburg and Berlin. From there it heads northwest through Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and then turns westwards through Schleswig-Holstein, Bremen and Lower Saxony once again along the North Sea Coast near Amsterdam.

Landscapes The holiday route crosses a great variety of different landscape types: the North Sea coast and the plains of the Netherlands, the Lower and Middle Rhine Valley, the green, sometimes rugged, sometimes gently Central Uplands, the Havelland, the Mecklenburg Lake District and finally the broad North German Plain. In detail, the regions are, starting from Amsterdam:

North Sea region North Brabant Betuwe Lower Rhine Siegerland Middle Rhine Lahn Rheinhessen Westerwald Taunus Lahn-Dill region Waldeck Upland Weser Uplands Harz Mountains Elbe valley Havelland Mecklenburg Lake District Baltic Sea region Elbe water meadows Lower Weser North German Plain Veluwe Friesland West Friesland IJsselmeer

Sights Picturesque towns, castles, palaces and gardens may be found everywhere along this holiday road. Here are some of the places and sights that were linked to the House of Orange-Nassau:

Amsterdam – Prinsenhof, today the Hotel The Grand The Hague (Den Haag) - Residence of Binnenhof Delft – St. Agatha's Abbey (Sint Agathakloster) Dordrecht – Berckepoort housing complex Breda – Breda Castle and the "Prince chapel" at the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwe Church Buren (Gelderland) – St. Lambertus' Church Apeldoorn – Summer residence of Paleis Het Loo Moers – Moers Castle Freudenberg – old town / former Nassau border fortifications Nassau – Nassau Castle Diez – Ladies' residence of Oranienstein with the Nassau-Orange Museum Dillenburg – Wilhelmsturm on the Schlossberg, birthplace of William I, Prince of Orange Siegen – Siegerland Museum in the Oberen Schloss with the Orange Forum Bad Arolsen – Arolsen Castle Bad Pyrmont – Summer residence of Schloss Pyrmont with its museum Wernigerode – Castle and museum of Wernigerode Stolberg (Harz) – Stolberg Castle Dessau – Mosigkau Castle Oranienbaum – castle and orangery Wörlitz – Landscape garden of Wörlitzer Anlagen and castle Potsdam – Dutch Quarter, Dutch Mill Oranienburg – Oranienburg Palace and orangery Schwerin – Residence castle of Schwerin and Ludwigslust Castle Hitzacker – Prince Claus memorial busts Lingen – old town Nordhorn – Frenswegen Abbey Kamp-Lintfort – Kamp Abbey Leeuwarden – Princessehof Palace and Prinsentuin Gardens

References

External links Orange Route with detailed location descriptions