It's magical, an airport where you can cycle. You see the traces of an industry that still captures the imagination. In the Netherlands, we are spoilt, because we have several places where you can still experience that. Especially a former military airfield, you can think of something extra. In any case, we see that people often react positively to pictures of the base closest to our headquarters (deliberate choice for headquarters ;)).
We give you five bases you can cycle over or, in some cases, past. The most famous? Those the Dutch probably know. The others, those may be a bit less known. But they can go on the bucket list.
Soesterberg Air Base
One of the most famous places in the Netherlands for cycling, the Soesterberg airbase. The airbase is open to the public all year round. It is often combined by families with a trip to the National Military Museum, which unfortunately you cannot cycle through, as in Overloon, for example. But the airbase is a beautiful wide runway. Be careful, though, because during the breeding season for birds (between, say, 15 March and 15 August), the wide runway is closed. The times aside, it is one of the most beautiful places to be. Routes enough and you can also take in the climbs at the back of the military museum afterwards
Tempelhofer feld - Berlin
It is Berlin's old airport, Tempelhof. One of the nicest and widest tracks where you can have a nice ride. Races are also often held at this public park, where many skaters, day trippers and other recreational riders also grab the space. It is close to the city and is a favourite with many local riders.
Blackbushe airport - Yately - East Hampshire - UK
This is an abandoned airport in England, popular with locals but also tourists. You can drive here mainly over the former airstrip, but also along the airport. This makes for several great route options. Below is a route across the former airport near London.
Old Kona Airport
In Hawai'i, too, you can drive over an old stretch of airport. On the western side of the island of Kona, you'll find the Old Kona Airport Beach and there you have a nice piece of airstrip that you can totally indulge in. It's a bit of a fly, but for World Ironman Championship participants, it's a nice thing to add to the buckelist.
Campbel Airstrip Trail - Anchorage, Alaska - USA
Airports are ideal for building MTB routes. Often also because there is a bit of a run-up like in Soesterberg, but also because the area around a (former) airport is sometimes raised. in Anchorage, they have thought of a solution for this, namely a MTB trail that runs along/over the airport. It is briefly unclear whether you can actually ride over the strip here, but you do ride very close to it.
Also beautiful: Suvarnabhumi Airport in Thailand
You may not be able to drive over the air base here, but you can drive tightly past it and it is a 23.5km run which likes to be driven by the locals. While it is raked and landscaped, it is also ‘something with flies’. So we write it down anyway.
Do you know of any more remote and abandoned airports you can cycle over? We'd love to hear from you!
