Netherlands 24: Riding to the Nationaal Militair Museum

It was another lovely sunny day on our last day in Amersfoort, so we decided to make the most of it, with a wander round the weekly markets, followed by a ride to the Nationaal Militair Museum.

Located in the town of Soesterberg, the Nationaal Militair Museum focuses on the history of the Dutch Armed Forces and is based at the former military airbase, Vliegbasis Soesterberg that closed in 2008.

The museum was created as a result of the merger of the Legermuseum (Army Museum) in Delft and the Militair Luchtvaart Museum (Military Aviation Museum) in Soest. The two museums decided to build a joint new museum to secure both collections for the future.

The Nationaal Militair Museum is part of a joint foundation, Stichting Koninklijke Defensiemusea (Royal Defence Museums Foundation), which includes the Navy Museum in Den Helder and the Marines Museum in Rotterdam.

Riding to the museum

Watch full-length video at normal speed Riding to the Nationaal Militair Museum

As it was Friday, it meant we had opportunity to browse Amersfoort’s weekly market, which is on every Friday and Saturday. So before heading to the museum, we got on our bikes and made our way into the centre, to browse the market.

In addition to browsing the stalls and picking up one or two things, we enjoyed some kibbeling for an early lunch, while our youngest got himself a tasty fresh stroopwafel. While it wasn’t the biggest market we’ve been to, it was nice having a browse on a sunny Friday.

Youngest on Monnikenboschpad, part of the F28 fast cycle route

After our browse, we got on our bikes and set off to the museum. Initially, we started off along the F28 fast cycle route to Utrecht, which I’d ridden on previously during the week. This meant we got to ride on the excellent cycle paths on Barchman Wuytierslaan and Monnikenboschpad.

Person cycling past a sign for the De Paltz estate

Upon reaching the N413 Van Weerden Poelmanweg, we left the F28 route and turned left towards Soesterberg. We were now riding along the road on a cycle path, as we made our way towards the museum.

It wasn’t long before we arrived at the entrance to the museum, where you enter the grounds on what must have been the original route in, when it was an airbase. Unsurprisingly, there was extensive cycle parking, where we parked up and headed for the museum.

Markets in Amersfoort — Enjoying some kibbeling

At the museum

Now, if you’ve been to any military or war museums, you probably have a good idea of what to expect from the Nationaal Militair Museum. The museum is split between interactive exhibits, a large hangar with many military vehicles, which continues outside, plus activity areas for kids.

We started in the interactive exhibits, learning about the history of the Dutch military, which isn’t that dissimilar from ours in the UK, with both countries having rather questionable pasts as colonial empires.

In addition to models and a 360 video, there was a particularly thought provoking war stories exhibition, where you got to hear about people’s experiences from all around the world.

We enjoyed browsing the vast hangar, featuring various military vehicles of all ages and continued outside, wandering round the aircrafts. We didn’t take part in the activities that were running, but we did make use of the café and shop during our visit.

Overall, we enjoyed our visit to the Nationaal Militair Museum. There was some pretty interesting content in there and the setting of the old airbase is fantastic.

Inside the Nationaal Militair Museum — Nationaal Militair Museum entrance

On the runway at Soesterberg Airbase

Before riding back to Amersfoort, we got on our bikes and headed for the runway of the old Soesterberg airbase, which you’re able to ride over.

Watch full-length video at normal speed Soesterberg Airbase

Doing this brought back memories of riding around Tempelhofer Feld in Berlin, which we did during our trip in 2023. Though access is very restricted at Soesterberg, with large sections of the runway fenced off.

This is very different to the old Tempelhof runway in Berlin. There’ll be no sitting around drinking beer, watching the world go like we did there.

Selfie on the way to the runway — Approaching the exit

Riding back to Amersfoort

Watch full-length video at normal speed Riding from the Soesterberg Airbase to Amersfoort

After our ride round the runway, we set off back to Amersfoort, largely following same route I did on my last ride back from Utrecht. This was mostly on Amersfoortsestraat and Utrechtseweg, with chance to ride up all 4000cm of the Col du Strop once again!

It wasn’t too long until we were back in Amersfoort, making our way along Kersenbaan and under the railway tracks that lead to Amersfoort Centraal.

Arriving back at our Airbnb home, it was time to pack up, as the next day we were heading back to Duinrell, for the second week of our Netherlands 24 trip.