Delta Works

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Welcome to the forum lsimondjr.

The Maeslant Barrier west of Rotterdam is the first "mustsee" and from Delft an easy drive, just follow the N223 (or N221 and N222) with direction Naaldwijk / Hoek van Holland. There is a small but good visitor centre with guided tours, however the English tours have fixed limited time slots. Contact the centre, with a bit of luck they will be flexible about this in case it’s needed. This barrier is one of the most interesting parts of the Deltaworks and so again not to miss to my opinion.

On the way to the other mustsee, the Eastern Scheldt Barrier there are serious roadworks going on and a detour is needed till the 4th of August. So for explaining further it will be more easy for me telling when you will travel from Delft to Bruges.

Thanks for your information. We will be traveling through the area somewhere between September 8 and the 11th.

Wil, can one travel there via public transportation? Hopefully we will be in the country next spring, and I'm very interested in the Delta Works. Since we haven't established our base cities yet, it would be very helpful to know which areas have public transportation to access this.
Thanks so much!

https://www.maeslantkering.nl/english English time slots see under "Book guided tour".

For driving further to the Eastern Scheldt Barrier you have to go to Rotterdam and follow at the western side Ring-West direction A4 / Europoort till you see signs with Hellevoetsluis (N57) approaching the A15 freeway. Later keep following N57 direction Middelburg. The (also movable) Haringvliet barrier is the first one you will drive over. A little detour to tiny but lovely Goedereede is certainly worth for a stop and/or a drink before arriving at the Eastern Scheldt Barrier and halfway island Neeltje Jans where the visitor centre is.

Deltapark Neeltje Jans, the visitor centre is actually a combination of an exhibition and a playground for children. Have to say there are mixed reviews about this park. I never visited it so in contrary to the Maeslant Barrier have no experience with it. Only visited the barrier during construction in the early 80’s. The exhibition with a steep entrance fee of €27 seems a bit outdated, nevertheless it’s the only way to have a comprehensive idea about the unique way the barrier is constructed. Included there are guided tours to the barrier itself. https://www.neeltjejans.nl/en/

The Deltaworks are actually part of a very complex nationwide network of dikes, dams, canals, ditches, wetlands and so on. Not only to keep our feet dry but also to manage the level, flow and quality of water from rivers too to create optimal conditions for agriculture. Resulting the Netherlands (think still is) the world’s second largest exporter of agricultural products.

Driving further south to Bruges worth anyway to visit is cute Veere, Middelburg is certainly nice too. Good places for dinner? The only way to cross the Westerschelde / Western Scheldt Estuary is the toll tunnel to Terneuzen. South of it follow exit to the N61 direction Oostburg, later Sluis and there Bruges. You can take from Sluis the freeway all the way to Bruges or follow the more scenic route via Oostkerke and Damme. The region between the tunnel and Bruges is mainly reclaimed land using the oldest methods by building dikes around patches of land raised by sediment from the sea and rivers and so creating “polders”. You will see many inland dikes lined with trees (being so the older polders), being once sea dikes and some dating back to even medieval times.

Pat, for going to the Maeslant Barrier, Maeslantkering in Dutch, the website gives info how to get there with public transport. Is pretty straight forward to my opinion, see the link above.

Getting to the Eastern Scheldt Barrier or Oosterscheldekering in Dutch is lesser easy. For planning with public transport you can use the planning tool of the 9292 website. https://9292.nl/en Staying for instance in Middelburg and take from there the bus to Deltapark Neeltje Jans – Vrouwenpolder/attraction what takes about a half hour. There are direct trains from Amsterdam, Leiden, The Hague / Den Haag HS, Delft and Rotterdam to Vlissingen with a stop in Middelburg. So changing trains is not needed if you stay in one of these places is. But knowing it will take for instance around 2½ hours travelling like the link shows from Rotterdam to the barrier, that’s 2 hours more than from Middelburg.

Example route planning Rotterdam Centraal railway station to Deltapark Neeltje Jans: https://9292.nl/en/journeyadvice
Same from Middelburg: https://9292.nl/en/journeyadvice

Middelburg is nice and worth staying. Certainly worth a visit is Veere, around 20 min. with the bus from Middelburg.

Wil, thx so much for your expert advise and taking the time for the detailed response!