The best road cycling routes around Maaseik

Farmers used this short and straight field path on foot or by cart to milk the cows and transport the milk cans between the surrounding pastures and farms. Hence the name Melkpad (Milk Path).

The cycle path here is called the Melkpad and crosses a significant part of the Zwarte Beek Valley here. It offers a diverse landscape with different types of nature specific to this reserve, including forests, spring areas and heathland.

The history of the Abdijhoeve in Kelchterhoef dates back to 1228, when Count Arnold IV of Loon donated the area to the Abbey of Floreffe. The Norbertines built the farm there for agriculture and fish farming. Since 1978 it has been protected as a monument and nowadays it serves as a catering establishment.

Thor Central is a powerful, impressive industrial building that was protected as heritage after the closure of the mines. In the search for a meaningful function for the Waterschei mining site and the option to develop the site into a technology park, the task of giving this beautiful building a new future was also included. Thor Central has evolved into the beating heart of the Thor Park site. Besides the Food Plaza with restaurant Partaasch and brasserie Lampada, the building mainly has a business function, with meeting rooms, an auditorium, a central reception, and even a daycare center. Events and exhibitions are regularly held there.

The Achelse Kluis monastery is widely known for its great beer garden with its own brewery and a great selection. At the entrance, there is also an impressive depiction of the death strip from World War I. An electric fence that stretched from Vaals to the North Sea and was put under high voltage. The German army command wanted to prevent spies, deserters, and smugglers with this.

Cycling between the terraces, also known as cycling over water, is a cycling project that opened to the public in September 2024. It is a pontoon cycle/footpath across the Große Plas (Great Pond) between the waste heaps at resort Terhills. It is a new addition to the series of special cycling projects previously realised in the cycling paradise of Limburg (such as cycling through the water (Domain Bokrijk), cycling through the heathlands (north of Zutendaal), and cycling through the forests (Bosland National Park)).

Station As is a former railway station on lines 21A (Hasselt-As) and 21B (As-Eisden). The station building now houses a restaurant and the Kolenspoorvereniging (Coal Railway Association) uses it for the operation of the tourist railway line Waterschei-As-Eisden. Station As is also one of the gateways to Hoge Kempen National Park and has an observation tower.

'Fietsen door de bomen' in National Park Bosland is located at junction 272 of the cycle network in nature reserve Pijnven, which is itself part of the dense forest landscape of National Park Bosland. The poles supporting the cycle path symbolize the straight trunks of the pine trees in the forest where it is located. This ensures that the construction blends beautifully into the surroundings. The forests of Pijnven consist mainly of conifers that were planted decades ago for timber production for mining. However, with the closure of the Limburg coal mines, these trees were never felled.