--- description: Find out why Cycling Through Water in Genk, Belgium is on TIME’s 2018 list of the World’s 100 Greatest Places. title: Cycling Through Water Is One of the World’s Greatest Places 2018 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbb89e55478727111/69893821bc6cfcf0753e6bd4/cycling-through-water-limburg-worlds-greatest-places-2018.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Aug 22, 2018 # Cycling Through Water Genk, Belgium by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close  fietsen doorhet water fietsen doorhet waterLuc Daelemans Walking on water may elude most of us, but this bike trail in northern Belgium offers an experience that’s almost as divine. The 212-m track, dubbed [“Cycling Through Water,”](http://cyclingthroughwater.com/ "undefined") slices through a large pond in the De Wijers nature reserve; in the middle, it dips low enough to put riders at eye level with the water. The project, which was completed in 2016, is part of the Limburg province’s efforts to bolster its 1,240 miles of biking trails. “We do not want to create more miles, we want to create better miles,” says Igor Philtjens of Toerisme Limburg, the project developer. To date, Cycling Through Water has attracted more than 500,000 bikers. _—Casey Quackenbush_ Cycling Through Water Is One of the World’s Greatest Places 2018 ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/worlds-greatest-places-2018/5366664/cycling-through-water-genk-belgium/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/worlds-greatest-places-2018/5366664/cycling-through-water-genk-belgium/"},"headline":"Cycling Through Water","datePublished":"2018-08-22T21:32:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-02T23:26:37.972Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/worlds-greatest-places-2018/5366664/cycling-through-water-genk-belgium/","keywords":["World's Greatest Places 2018"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbb89e55478727111/69893821bc6cfcf0753e6bd4/cycling-through-water-limburg-worlds-greatest-places-2018.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbb89e55478727111/69893821bc6cfcf0753e6bd4/cycling-through-water-limburg-worlds-greatest-places-2018.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/worlds-greatest-places-2018/5366664/cycling-through-water-genk-belgium/","name":"Cycling Through Water"}}]}] ```