Tips for visiting The Netherlands for our events

The World of John Denver organizes an annual event. It’s fun to join us on these days, especially if you combine it with a bit of sightseeing.

We created this document for visitors outside The Netherlands to tell you about our events, and give a little bit of information about things to do in The Netherlands. If you have any questions, please use our contact form or e-mail (button at the bottom of the page) to ask. Also, it would be good if you let us know about your plans to visit us, so we can keep you updated with the latest information on events, work on railroads or trainconnections etc.

Events organized by The World of John Denver

Our Denver weekends are organized at ‘De Waterlelie’ – the address is Goudenregenzoom 73, Zoetermeer. Zoetermeer is located in the west of The Netherlands, in the centre of the area surrounded by The Hague, Rotterdam, Gouda and Leiden. You can study the map.

At these weekends there will be mini live concerts by our John Denver tribute artists performing the songs of John. Each concert is 15-45 minutes. Concerts from previous events of The World of John Denver can be watched on our website.

Also we will show recorded (clips from) concerts, documentaries, movies, shows and interviews with or about John Denver on a very big screen.

The weekends usually start on the Saturday evening at 7:15pm (19:15), until 10:45pm (22:45). On Sunday we continue at 10:00 am and we close around 5.00pm (17:00). If necessary we can change these times. Programs for the weekends are published on our website www.wojd.nl.

The dates for our 2024 weekend are 12 and 13 October.

Travelling to and within The Netherlands

From neighbouring countries you can travel to Zoetermeer by car or train.

If you live a bit further, an easy way to come to The Netherlands is by plane to Amsterdam Airport (also known as Schiphol). There you can either rent a car, or use the (usually excellent) public transport system. There’s a train station inside the arrival and departure hall, with frequent trains to areas like Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam.

There's a train every 30 minutes from the airport to travel to Den Haag Centraal (The Hague Central Station), which is the last stop for the train coming from Schiphol, and the start for the train to Zoetermeer (which is the third stop preceded by Voorburg and Ypenburg). Total travelling time from the airport is about an hour and the costs are about € 13,00 for one way.

If you don't want to fly, you can come by train, eg Eurostar of ICE. For Eurostar, travel up to Rotterdam, and switch to a local train to Den Haag Centraal and use the instuctions above to go to Zoetermeer. For ICE, travel up to Utrecht, and switch at Utrecht to a local train to Zoetermeer.

In The Netherlands, you can pay for your train or bus journey using your debet card, credit card or mobile phone at the check-in and check-out card readers. Read all about it here.

When you've arrived at trainstation Zoetermeer, you can walk from the station to our venue De Waterlelie in about 15 minutes. You can also go by bus 71 (about 4 minutes) and walk (3 minutes) from the nearest bus stop Florazoom. On your way back you could again take bus 71 from the other side of the previous bus stop. However, there’s only two busses every hour, so usually it’s better to walk from and to the station.

You can plan your journey from door to door online on the 9292 site. It also shows you a map how to walk from the bus stop to De Waterlelie, and alternative routes, but we advise the route by train via Den Haag Centraal for simplicity.

Suggested places to stay and eat in and around Zoetermeer

There are two hotels in Zoetermeer.

Bastion which is 3.5 km from our activities but has a good bus connection with our activities and a train station, and Golden Tulip, usually more expensive than Bastion, but it's closer to our activities, close to a train station and a reasonable bus connection.
Of course there are also some B&B's.

Other places recommended to eat in the area:
Golden Garden: A Chinese restaurant in the shopping centre between the station and De Waterlelie. We have a group dinner here on the Saturday evening of The World of John Denver weekend and of course you are invited to join us.
Sweet Lake Italy: This Italian restaurant is in the area, but a bit too far to walk to.

We are at a 10 minute drive by car or lightrail / bus from the city centre of Zoetermeer (“Stadshart”), there are lots of restaurants over there.

John Denver related places to visit in and around Zoetermeer

In Zoetermeer, not far from De Waterlelie you will find (after some puzzling and a search) the Far-Out! geocache.

Quite frequently, there are John Denver tribute concerts and other events where John's music is played in The Netherlands. If you're in The Netherlands anyway for our The World of John Denver weekend, it might be nice to see one of these concerts if possible. Read our events page to read about dates. That page is updated when information comes available.

Suggested places to visit in and around Zoetermeer

You will find more information about Zoetermeer here.

Den Haag (The Hague) is the 3rd city of The Netherlands, residence of our King and the Government, Peace Palace, miniature city Madurodam and many museums. Also there are beach areas and you can walk through the dunes. Located West from Zoetermeer, and only 15 minutes by train.

Besides a modern city centre and the harbor, there are many other things to see in Rotterdam, 2nd city of The Netherlands. South from Zoetermeer and 45 minutes by train or lightrail.

Delft is a lovely historical town in the area. It’s located south-west from Zoetermeer and 30 minutes by train or bus.

Well known for its cheese, but also a nice historical town is Gouda. East from Zoetermeer and only 15 minutes by train.

Leiden is the another historical town. North from Zoetermeer and 35 minutes by train.

Selection of other places of interest in The Netherlands

Of course, there’s a lot more to see and do in The Netherlands. We made a small selection for you, based on earlier experiences of John Denver fans in The Netherlands.

Kinderdijk is a popular attraction south-east from Rotterdam. You can visit some windmills over there.

Hoge Veluwe is one of the Dutch National Parks.

Keukenhof (seasonal - Spring time) is a popular attraction in the Amsterdam area if you like flowers.

Amsterdam itself is well known for its museums, channels and Red Light District.

North from Amsterdam you there are more nice towns, like Volendam (hometown for famous Dutch singer/songwriter/JD-fan Jan Smit) and Alkmaar (where you’ll find a little Beatles museum).

In the northern part of The Netherlands you could visit Groningen. You can also do a tour amongst the eleven cities of Friesland. Most well-known is doing the tour by ice skating, but if there’s no ice you can also do the tour by car, bike and many other ways.

In the southern part of The Netherlands we would recommend a visit to Maastricht.

Cycle rides in and around Zoetermeer

Zoetermeer is a great place to start a bicycle ride. Click here for some suggestions (in Dutch).