On Saturday, May 24, national parks across the Netherlands celebrated National Park Day with a wide range of excursions, walks, workshops, and nature experiences. Across the country, the 22 national parks collectively organized more than 80 activities for young and old around this day. All activities are entirely focused on experiencing, discovering, and appreciating nature.
Visitors could participate in early bird walks, jungle canoe trips, evening boat tours, wild harvesting walks, insect safaris, bird recognition and night moth excursions, cycling discovery tours, and much more.
Diverse and Accessible Nature
In National Park Nieuw Land, birds and water were the focus, while in National Park Oosterschelde, a spider and insect excursion and a fly and mosquito excursion were organized. In National Park De Biesbosch, people could join an early canoe trip and an adventurous bird tour. Throughout the country, national parks demonstrated how diverse and accessible Dutch nature is.
National Parks Challenge
In all parks, there was attention for the National Parks Species Challenge, where an effort is made to count as many plants, animals, insects, and other species as possible. This can be done independently or by joining an excursion. Observations can be reported via the apps from waarneming.nl and Obsidentify. This way, participants not only help map biodiversity but also discover more about nature close to home. The Species Challenge runs until May 31. So far, nearly 395,000 observations have been made. Get out this weekend and join in to increase this number. More information about the method can be found here.
Successful Edition
The Day of the National Park shows every year just how much engagement there is with nature and the landscape in the Netherlands. With many visitors, dozens of collaborations, and a record number of activities, the national parks look back on a successful 2026 edition.