Road trip route Groningen Province

I'm sure I'm not the only one who always points enthusiastically at the old Volkswagen vans. Secretly, it was always a dream to take a road trip in such a vintage van. For this trip to and through the province of Groningen, the time had finally come; we rented an electric Volkswagen van from Evan Trips. And óh, what fun the van was. After a photo and video session and the necessary explanations, it was finally here. We left.

Admittedly, it took some getting used to driving an electric Volkswagen van without power steering. Fortunately, it was an automatic so it was a matter of accelerating, braking and pulling hard on the steering wheel. This caused fits of laughter because spoilt as we are, driving without power steering is something neither of us are used to. In no time, we were in good spirits singing along to the music, enjoying the scenery and on our way to Groningen. For me, the first time in this region!

A short stop to drink coffee and have lunch, but mainly to recharge the van. With a full battery you could drive about 180 km. To avoid being stranded on the side of the road (wait until the end...), we had neatly looked up where we could recharge to avoid any surprises. Renting a Volkswagen van, Evan's men explain everything to you in detail.

Our first overnight stay was in Niezijl with Milena and Daan who have built a colourful blue gypsy wagon in their backyard. The atmosphere when driving into this village already felt like a warm blanket falling over us. The welcome was incredibly nice and Milena and Daan's backyard is to dream of. A gigantic plum tree drops its plums every so often, the wind blows through the trees and apart from that, it's dead quiet. Further down the garden are two cute guinea pigs: shy, but incredibly sweet.

This place is colourful, cosy and photogenic. You'll want to relax here with a fine book, a cup of tea from the pantry and a tasty local snack! And after a wonderful night's sleep in the gypsy caravan - don't forget your mosquito net: you'll need it - you'll be surprised by a great breakfast. This delicious breakfast is prepared with love and features local apple juice, organic yoghurt with local fruit and granola, and watermelon. With this breakfast behind you, you can continue exploring Groningen!

On our first evening, we had a reservation at Andre Dokter. This is a steakhouse in Briltil and, as a vegetarian, it is of course an interesting place to dine. I had scrolled through the menu beforehand and I already knew it would be just fine. Despite its name as a steakhouse, they also serve a number of vegetarian options here that are certainly not inferior to the meat dishes!

Andre Dokter is located next to a stream where you can dine on the covered terrace during the summer, but during the colder months you can sit cosily inside.

Fun fact: further on in this blog post I will tell you about the vineyard we visited. The wine from this vineyard is served at Andre Dokter. Should you come here, be sure to read on and order one of the local wines from the menu. I promise you: it does not disappoint.

After checking in at the Pipowagen and the delicious dinner, it was time for the stars. Indeed, Lauwersoog in Groningen is one of the darkest places in the Netherlands, making for perfect stargazing. It takes a bit of searching to find the Dark Sky Park Lauwersmeer platform, on which you can lie down to admire the sky, but once you have found it, you are in for a treat. Then, of course, the weather has to cooperate....

As Dutch as the weather is always here, it had gone from clear skies to completely cloudy within a 30-minute drive. Not ideal if you want to do some stargazing, but nevertheless we put on our jumpers and lay down on the platform. Chatting with two other star spotters, we had an incredibly enjoyable evening. Laughed, enjoyed, and still managed to admire some stars when the sky gave us a little brightness as a gift. We laughed so much that we had to gasp for air every now and then. Then you know you had a good evening!

It was a late night, but while cruising through the night in Groningen in our rented electric Volkswagen van, we returned to our Pipowagen for that good night's sleep.

Reading tip: 5x the most beautiful stargazing spots in the Netherlands.

After the delicious breakfast, we packed our things and returned to our yellow friend: the electric Volkswagen van. For it was time to head to 't Ailand for a workshop! Located on the edge of the Wadden Sea, near the ferry to the Wadden Islands, is this restaurant that serves sustainably caught fish. It is a popular restaurant with locals and here and there a few tourists also know how to find this place. The restaurant is open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

You arrive at 't Ailand and immediately see all the fishing boats. We were welcomed by Barbara and she had adapted the programme, in consultation with us, to a vegetarian version! We were handed two baskets and continued on foot to the dike at the edge of the Wadden Sea. Seaweed grows here at the lower edge of the dike and you are allowed to pick it yourself without any problems! It is slippery here, though, so it takes a while to slither down. Once you arrive safely at the bottom, you can start picking the seaweed.

We had two baskets full of two kinds of seaweed and after leaving some curious tourists behind us, we went back to the restaurant to wash the seaweed. Needless to say, this is incredibly salty, but by washing it thoroughly a couple of times, the saltiness quickly comes off.

For lunch, we ate bread with seaweed and used fresh herbs to make seaweed herb butter, pesto and oil. We spread the bread, aubergine slices and courgette slices and it was finally time to make our lunch. The barbecue went on and within 15 minutes we had an original and self-made lunch!

Almost immediately after our seaweed workshop at 't Ailand, we left by van for the vineyard. On the way, we had to stop to recharge the van and in the small village, we decided in the meantime to clean up some street rubbish.

As a wine lover, it is of course very special to visit a Dutch vineyard, because when you think of a vineyard you quickly think of France. Nothing could be further from the truth: on a hill in Groningen, Elma created her own vineyard: Hof van 't Hogeland, where you imagine yourself in a little piece of Groningen's France.

After a nice chat about her vineyard, Groningen and our road trip through this province, the tour began. It's quite a vineyard where Elma takes out thousands of bottles of wine a year to sell. The grapes were still hanging on when we were there, but of course there were still plenty of bottles for us to taste!

We were extremely lucky with the beautiful weather during these two days and in the old classic farm hall we were given a small glass of her 2019 wine. Incredibly delicious, and perhaps extra delicious because you know this is Dutch wine. Grown and made on its own land.

Besides her beautiful vineyard, Elma also grows countless fruits and vegetables on her land. From the juiciest tomatoes in her greenhouse, to courgettes and berries. The farm is not complete without animals, so I also had a cuddle with the two horses and said hello to the chickens and three pigs. They live here with an awful lot of freedom and can indulge themselves with the amount of land they have!

Fulfilled after my glass of wine (okay, two glasses of wine), we continued our way to Garnwerd to conclude this journey. Time had flown by, but at the same time it felt like we had had a good holiday. So much seen, discovered and talked to the nicest people!

On our last evening, we made our own pizza on the grounds of Grounded Expeditions. We prepared this pizza in the stone oven that owner Sjoerdje built with friends. Highly recommended, as I think this was the tastiest pizza I have ever eaten. To end the evening moodily, the campfire was lit, we enjoyed a cup of tea and (vegan) cake in the barn while the first rain of the past few days fell from the sky. With a blast of thunder here and there, we couldn't have wished for a more atmospheric evening.

This was not where we would spend the night either. We had driven the Volkswagen van around those days but we had not yet slept in it. Now was the time for that! We drove to the Marenland Winsum campsite, installed our van and prepared it for the night. Surely the best way to end this Groningen road trip.

Our way back was still quite an adventure in itself, but the long journey also gave enough room to relive these two days. And as I said at the beginning, standing still with the van was not really in our playbook. But, about six kilometres before our final destination, it happened. As the ultimate finale, our van quit and the auxiliaries had to be called in. All's well that ends well, this was a road trip to dream of and to remember.