Bijlmerweide

Bijlmerweide is a free nature park on the eastern edge of Amsterdam-Zuidoost, laid out around 1975 and threaded with footpaths, ponds and dozens of small bridges. It wraps around the low-rise Geerdinkhof and Kantershof neighbourhoods, runs along the Provincialeweg between Diemen and Weesp, and is home to Kinderboerderij De Bijlmerweide, a free city farm that keeps rare Dutch livestock breeds. The park is open around the clock; the farm opens Tuesday to Sunday, 11:00–16:00.

Where	Along the Provincialeweg between Diemen and Weesp, Amsterdam-Zuidoost (approx. 52.3253° N, 4.9889° E)
Park cost and hours	Free, open 24 hours
City farm	Kinderboerderij De Bijlmerweide, Provincialeweg 46-A, 1103 SB Amsterdam. Free. Tuesday–Sunday 11:00–16:00, closed Mondays
Nearest metro	Kraaiennest (line 53), roughly a 15-minute walk
Best for	Families with young children, dog walkers, cyclists, birdwatchers, a quiet walk away from the centre
Facilities	Natural play course, farm playground, farm canteen, picnic tables, car park and bike racks at the farm

What and where is Bijlmerweide?

Bijlmerweide is a public park and nature area in Amsterdam-Zuidoost, built in the 1970s — around 1975 — at the same time as the Kantershof and Geerdinkhof estates were completed. Rather than sitting beside those neighbourhoods, it encloses them: the park lies east of the low-rise streets, west of the river Gaasp, north of Gaasperpark and the Gaasperplas lake, and south of the Verrijn Stuartweg industrial area in Diemen. Its northern edge meets the Groenhoven and Gouden Leeuw apartment blocks.

Most of the park is grassland, broken up by rougher scrub, woodland and a connected system of ditches and ponds. The Veeneikbrug, a bike and pedestrian bridge, carries the paths across the Gaasp into the Diemerbos, which makes Bijlmerweide a useful link in a longer ride out of the city rather than a dead end.

The park has a single house number. Bijlmerweide 1, on an island in the park, is the address of De Toevlucht, a rescue centre for wild birds and small mammals. It is a working rehabilitation facility, not a visitor attraction, so admire it from the path.

What changed in the 2014–2016 overhaul

Bijlmerweide’s water system was expanded and better connected in 2014 and 2015, and from December 2014 the city replaced 19 bridges, each rated for a maximum load of five tonnes. That work was largely finished by March 2015. In August 2018 roughly a thousand posts and plastic fencing were installed around the waterways. The upshot for visitors is a park that is easier to loop on foot or by bike than it was a decade ago, with more open water to walk alongside.

Since 1995 a volunteer group has worked in the park every month alongside the borough’s Ecoploeg, coordinated through Stichting Natuurontwikkeling Bijlmerweide in Geerdinkhof. The same foundation runs an advisory group that comments on municipal plans for the area and accepts donations from €15 a year, which is a reasonable way to support the park if you use it often.

Things to do at Bijlmerweide

This is a park for low-key outdoor time, not a ticketed attraction. Plan on an hour or two of walking, plus longer if you have children and stop at the farm.

• Walk or cycle the waterside network of footpaths and small bridges past meadows, reed beds and woodland, and cross the Veeneikbrug into the Diemerbos for a longer route.
• Let children work through the natural play course, built in and around 2016 from balance posts, log bridges, concrete tubes, a climbing tree, boulders and a cable ride.
• Meet the animals at Kinderboerderij De Bijlmerweide and use its large playground and canteen terrace.
• Look for the park’s 1970s sculptures and the mosaic traffic signs described below.
• Bring a packed lunch: there are picnic tables at the farm terrace and plenty of grassy banks in the park.
• Walk the dog. Bijlmerweide is a popular dog-walking park, with wide grass verges and long path loops; keep to local leash rules and away from grazing animals and nesting birds.

The natural play course

The children’s obstacle course stands where Wildzang used to be. Wildzang was installed in 1976 as the largest artwork in the Netherlands and was meant to last a human lifetime, but the city stopped maintaining it in 1987 because it was deteriorating too fast; the last fragments turned up in the undergrowth as late as 2013. The replacement course was built in and around 2016 from material that is roughly 95% wood and stone sourced in Bijlmerweide itself, and a signpost added in 2019 records the 2016 completion date.

One correction worth flagging, because several listings get it wrong: the skate park often attributed to Bijlmerweide was built in 2015 in the E-buurt of the Bijlmermeer, not in the park. It was dropped from the park’s zoning plan, so do not come here expecting concrete to skate.

Art along the paths

Three 1977 sculptures survive in the park: Maarten Manson’s monolinear Spiraalobject, Raymond Perridon’s Wolken, and a stainless-steel piece shaped like a folded paper boat set among boulders. More entertaining are the mosaic-covered traffic signs by artist Peter Vial. Finding the park’s signs neglected and the official replacement slow, he installed his own mosaic versions; because they had no legal standing the city had to add real signs beside them, and Vial’s pieces were saved from removal by being labelled as official artworks. A footpath behind the signs leads past several natural artworks, some of which are visibly decaying.

Wagner Schooltuin

The park also holds the Wagner Schooltuin, one of Amsterdam’s school garden complexes, with a greenhouse, a nursery, a herb garden and a bee corner. It is a teaching garden used by local schools rather than a public park feature, so treat visits as look-over-the-fence unless an open day is advertised.

Kinderboerderij De Bijlmerweide: the city farm

The farm is the reason most families come. Neighbourhood residents set it up in 1984, and it has since grown into a mid-sized farm that doubles as a care farm offering daytime activities every day of the week for people who need supported work, arranged through Stichting Landzijde. Since 2019 it has held both the “educational centre” and “recognised breeding centre” designations from Stichting Zeldzame Huisdierrassen, the Dutch rare-breed foundation, and it is the recognised breeding centre for the Hyacinth pigeon.

Alongside familiar cows, donkeys, pigs, goats, sheep, rabbits, guinea pigs, swans, geese, ducks, chickens, peacocks, pheasants, turkeys, guinea fowl, doves, ferrets, aviary birds, stick insects, fish and bees, the farm keeps old Dutch breeds you rarely see elsewhere: Lakenvelder and Witrik cattle, Zwartbles sheep, Dutch landrace and Dutch Toggenburger goats, and poultry such as the Dutch booted bantam, Dutch Owlbeard, Kraaikop, Barnevelder and Noord-Hollandse Blauwe. Information boards from the rare-breed foundation are set around the yard, which makes a visit genuinely educational for older children.

There is a large playground and a small canteen selling the farm’s own free-range eggs and honey plus coffee, tea, toasties, snacks and ice cream, with picnic tables on the outdoor terrace in warm weather.

• Address: Provincialeweg 46-A, 1103 SB Amsterdam-Zuidoost
• Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 11:00–16:00. Closed Mondays so the animals get a rest day
• Admission: free
• Phone: 020 695 11 49
• Entrance: inside the park, with a car park on the Provincialeweg side and bike racks at the gate

Hours and holiday closures can change, so check bijlmerweide.nl or the farm’s activity calendar before travelling with children.

How to get to Bijlmerweide

By public transport

The closest metro station is Kraaiennest on line 53, the Gaasperplas line, about a 15-minute walk from the park. Bus 47 and bus 49 also stop at Kraaiennest, and bus 41 stops at Koornhorst on the ‘s-Gravendijkdreef.

Walking from Kraaiennest with the shopping centre behind you, head towards the Koornhorst building, cross at the zebra crossing, turn left and then right into Kantershofstraat. Follow it to the end and you are in the park. At the junction turn left, cross the concrete bridge, turn right and take the first path on the left to reach the farm entrance.

By bike or car

The park runs along the Provincialeweg between Diemen and Weesp. Coming from the Bijlmermeer or Gaasperdam by car, drive towards the Gaasperplas metro terminus, follow Loosdrechtdreef to the T-junction, turn left towards Diemen and the farm is on your left after about 1.5 km, with parking on site. From Weesp or Driemond, follow the Provincialeweg towards Diemen, continue straight at the Amsterdam Riverside junction and under the motorway. Cyclists can approach from the Diemerbos across the Veeneikbrug.

Good to know before you go

• The park is free and never closes, but it is unlit in places and genuinely dark at night, so evening visits suit locals more than first-timers.
• Paths mix paved and unpaved surfaces and the bridges are rated to five tonnes, which is fine for buggies and bikes but bumpy after heavy rain. The farm has a car park and step-free yard; if you need a guaranteed accessible route, call the farm first.
• There are no shops or cafés inside the park apart from the farm canteen, and it keeps the farm’s hours.
• Spring and early summer are best for birds and newborn farm animals; autumn is quieter and better for a long walk into the Diemerbos.
• Take rubbish home, keep dogs clear of grazing animals, and stay off the water-edge fencing installed to protect the banks.

If you are exploring green Amsterdam-Zuidoost, Bijlmerweide combines well with a longer ride into the Diemerbos across the Veeneikbrug or the lake and beaches of Gaasperplas just to the south. For more Amsterdam green space, see Diemerpark and, north of the IJ, Het Twiske.

Frequently asked questions