Cycling through the water: one of Belgium’s most beautiful cycle routes
In spring 2020 we wrote about the sunken cycle path in Bokrijk, where you come face-to-face with the water. What became of the Belgian who amazed the world? We checked in.
Yes, the cycle path through the water at Bokrijk still exists, and yes, it’s worth every detour. Since April 2016, a 212-metre-long, 1.6-metre-deep sunken concrete path cuts straight through a pond in the Belgian De Wijers pond landscape. The water stands at eye level on both sides, and you still won’t get wet. We rode this classic from our 2020 archive once more to see what’s changed.
- The path is located at junction 91 of the cycling-node network in the Bokrijk estate, Belgian Limburg, right in the heart of the De Wijers pond landscape.
- 212 metres long, three metres wide, sunk 1.6 metres below the waterline. Walls keep the water at eye level; you stay dry.
- Access is free; you can rent a bike from around €14 per day at Fietsparadijs Limburg. Reservations are worth it in high season.
- Also walkable or joggable, open year-round, and most magical at dawn or just before dusk.
- Designed by Bart Lens, it won awards and in 2018 was named by Time as one of the world’s 100 greatest places.
When we first reported on Fietsen door het Water in 2020, it sounded like one of those ideas that look better on paper than in reality: a cycle path running through a pond, water at eye level on both sides. You pictured wet feet, a tourist trap, a five-minute photo stop. That’s not what it turned out to be. Today more than 300,000 people have ridden the path, and the structure has lived up to every promise made by its architects.
What’s it like to ride a cycle path that’s underwater?
The mechanics are simpler than they look. The path isn’t a bridge over the pond; it’s a trench cut straight through. Concrete, three metres wide, sunk 1.60 metres below the natural waterline. Two walls hold back the water, open at the top so that when you reach the middle the surface sits exactly at eye level. From the side an observer sees nothing but your head floating above the water. You yourself ride on dry ground and gaze up at two water walls in which the sky is reflected.
The entire stretch measures 212 metres, from one shore to the other. That sounds short-and it is. The appeal isn’t in the length, but in the thirty seconds when your usual perspective flips. Once past the path you’re back on normal ground and continue through the ponds of De Wijers, a nature reserve with more than 1,000 ponds where frogs spawn in spring and dragonflies hover above the reeds in summer.
The appeal isn’t in the length, but in the thirty seconds when your usual perspective flips.
Who dreamed this up, and why does it work?
Behind the path stands Belgian architect Bart Lens; the surrounding pond landscape was re-modelled by the office BuroLandschap under Pieter Daenen. The client was Visit Limburg, the provincial tourism board, which set out to do something unusual: a structure that doesn’t sit on top of the landscape but sinks into it. The result won the 2018 World Landscape Architecture Award in the small-scale category and that same year Time Magazine listed the cycle path among the 100 greatest places on Earth-Belgium’s only entry.
What began as a solitary piece became a series. Visit Limburg followed up: in 2019 Fietsen door de Bomen opened in Bosland, a 700-metre spiral that screws up into the treetops. Soon after came Fietsen door de Heide, a four-kilometre route through the heathland of Hoge Kempen National Park, Belgium’s only national park. Once you’re here you can link all three experiences into a longer tour. Limburg is flat, well signposted and threaded by Europe’s densest cycle-node network.
Is the trip really worth the journey?
Honestly: not for the 212 metres alone. For a day in De Wijers, yes. The cycle path is the hook, not the destination. You park in Bokrijk, rent a bike and follow the nodes through a landscape that makes no grand gestures-quiet ponds, birch woods, an old open-air museum right next door. The sunken path is the moment you stop because something feels off with the pull of gravity, and that’s exactly why people come back.
If you want the path to yourself, arrive early. Warm summer weekends can get busy because the shot of a head above the waterline has long since claimed its fixed spot in every Limburg Reel. On weekdays and in the hours after sunrise the pond is often mirror-still, and you nearly have the perspective to yourself. In autumn, when the birches along the shore turn colour and morning mist hangs over the water, the mood is thickest. The concrete is low-threshold and passable with a wheelchair or pushchair; the gradient is gentle. Visitors with more time can combine De Wijers with the neighbouring Bokrijk open-air museum and turn the detour into a quiet day far from the big sights.
Good to Know
▸Will you get wet riding on the cycle path through the water?
No. The path lies 1.60 metres below the water level, with two concrete walls holding the water back. You ride on dry ground; the water simply stands at eye level on either side.
▸Where exactly is Fietsen door het Water located?
In the Domäne Bokrijk near Genk, Belgian Limburg, at junction 91 of the Flemish cycle-node network. Bokrijk is about an hour’s drive east of Antwerp and easily reached from Aachen or Maastricht as well.
▸How much does it cost to visit?
Access to the cycle path is free. Bike rental starts at around €14 per day at Fietsparadijs Limburg, from a child’s bike up to an e-bike. During peak season, reserving a bike in advance is advisable.
▸Can the path be used without a bicycle?
Yes. Despite the name, the route is open to pedestrians and joggers too. Slower visitors actually get a better view.
▸Are there other cycle paths like this in Limburg?
Yes, two more. Fietsen door de Bomen spirals up into the treetops in Bosland, while Fietsen door de Heide is a four-kilometre route through the Hoge Kempen National Park. All three can be combined into one tour.
For more travel ideas that skip the obvious, explore our hidden gems for your next European road trip. If you’d rather have an entire city to cycle around than a pond, read why Ljubljana is Europe’s underrated dream city. And if you want to turn those 212 metres into a proper multi-day tour, our colleagues at InspiredBySports show you how to get into bikepacking.
