56

I come across this photo in Facebook where the borderline between Belgium and the Netherlands is drawn in the ground splitting a house in two sides one side at each country. One can literally put one foot in Belgium and the other in the Netherlands.

Is this photo real and if so where is it exactly I am so interested in visiting.

B-NL

JonathanReez
  • 83,545
  • 81
  • 372
  • 721
Nean Der Thal
  • 97,563
  • 38
  • 328
  • 430
  • 7
    There are also similar situation possible on the Dutch German border, where one side of the street is Dutch and the other German. Quite some tension if Holland plays against Germany in soccer –  Aug 22 '13 at 16:06
  • 2
    Another famous one is the Joint Security Area between Koreas, where conference rooms are exactly on the border. – mouviciel Aug 26 '13 at 14:47
  • 2
    There is also a spot where three borders join: Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, called the Drielandpunkt. It's very close to Aachen. There are border lines painted like in your photo, and a small marker on the joining point where you can be in three countries at once. – David Dec 26 '13 at 15:04
  • 7
    @mouviciel stepping over the line for a selfie with one foot in the DPRK and one in the ROK is however not advised. – jwenting Mar 12 '14 at 07:52
  • 1
    I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because JonathanReez has informed me that such questions are about geopolitical borders, not about travel. – hippietrail Sep 23 '16 at 04:32
  • 1
    Why on earth are we voting to close this? No no no. – JoErNanO Sep 23 '16 at 09:44
  • @hippietrail And I'm voting to leave it open, since it asks about travelling there and your close reason appears to be spite. – David Richerby Sep 23 '16 at 09:45
  • @JoErNanO: We found out that questions about geopolitical borders were no longer on topic as we had formerly thought we I asked about another interesting set of borders in China. We then found some older questions that went against this new ruling. – hippietrail Sep 23 '16 at 13:17
  • @DavidRicherby: The close reason on my question also appeared to be spite. Inconsistency is bad. – hippietrail Sep 23 '16 at 13:23
  • 2
    @hippietrail Did we discuss this on meta? Was this approved? Or are we just playing close-vote chicken for the sake of it? ;) – JoErNanO Sep 23 '16 at 13:34
  • Factoids have been discussed on meta in the past. I think the problems with them were acknowledged at the time but more people liked them and wanted to keep hosting them here. Except for sometimes when someone shouts "not travel" and other people jump on. So similar situations keep coming up but nobody has started a new meta thread that I can recall or brought the old one back to life yet. – hippietrail Sep 23 '16 at 13:42

3 Answers3

53

This is in fact a completely legitimate photo. It is from Baarle-Nassau where the borders get really funky.

Indeed, the one house you are looking it is just one of many, though it is probably the most famous. The exact address is Loveren 19, Baarle-Nassau 5111, The Netherlands.

In a situation similar to that along, say, the India-Bangledeshi border, the actual settlement patterns predate the national boundaries around them. Treaties in the 1830s followed by the dissolution of the Spanish Netherlands into Belgium and the Netherlands led to this odd situation. Treaties in the 1830s "clarified" the situation, but resulted in the pattern you see. The various enclaves even go through buildings in some instances.

Because everything is within the Schengen area, however, it presents no more difficulty than, say, borders that go through buildings in two states (e.g. Myock, NC) within the United States, or even in buildings that straddle the Canadian border. (e.g. the "Cross-Border Library" in Derby Line, VT / Rock Island Quebec.)

Note: this video has pictures and more information.

JJJ
  • 3,159
  • 2
  • 18
  • 35
Affable Geek
  • 7,055
  • 8
  • 43
  • 61
  • 2
    Even before Schengen it presentes no difficulty. Look what your history manual says about Benelux ... ;-) – Maître Peseur Aug 22 '13 at 19:08
  • 1
    Agreed - was just looking for a concise way to put. Schengen is accurate, although there are ways I could have been more precise. – Affable Geek Aug 22 '13 at 19:19
  • 1
    There are some farms which cross the Northern Irish border. – TRiG Aug 22 '13 at 19:43
  • 5
    Just nitpicking on this otherwise great answer (+1) but 5111 Baarle-Nassau is not an exact address, it's an incomplete postal code and the name of the city (a Dutch postal code has four numbers and two letters, streets have names but the postal code and house number are enough to fully describe an address). – Relaxed Aug 23 '13 at 23:21
  • 1
    Rest in peace Affable Geek :/ – Nean Der Thal Mar 24 '15 at 18:24
  • Since this answer was written, the India-Bangladesh border has been tidied up, completing a process that began in the 1970s. People living in the affected areas were given the right to stay where they were, or to move to either country. The Wikipedia page linked in the answer has the details. – David Richerby Sep 23 '16 at 14:00
26

The image is from the border between the Dutch municipality Baarle-Nassau and the Belgian municipality Baarle-Hertog. To be more exact, the address of the house is Loveren 19, Baarle-Nassau, Netherlands. If you don't want to go there, you can look it up on Google Streetview :)

Although it is not that uncommon that towns or villages are split by country borders and that you even in populated areas can stand with your feet in two different countries, the border between Baarle-Nassau and Baarle-Hertog is indeed rather strange. The Belgian village consists of 22 distinct exclaves, the smallest just about 2500m², within the borders of the Dutch village, while there are further 8 Dutch exclaves within the 22 Belgian exclaves. Wikipedia has a map of the area showing how the complex border course creates small patches of Dutch and Belgian land within each other.

Tor-Einar Jarnbjo
  • 56,324
  • 5
  • 151
  • 206
8

Just to add some extra info; there's also a town in The Netherlands where the border between The Netherlands and Germany runs through the length of a street with houses on both sides. The odd numbered houses are Dutch and the even ones are German (or the other way around, I forgot).

dexter meyers
  • 181
  • 1
  • 2
  • 2
    Yes, Neustrasse between Kerkrade and Herzogenrath. Afaik it even has bars etc, that are particularly busy during NL-GER soccer games. – Marco van de Voort Jul 23 '14 at 09:23
  • There's a supermarket near Haaksbergen where the border runs through the building. From google maps it looks like they put their liquor store in the German part, probably because taxes on liquor are lower in Germany :) Another place where there's a road running along the border through a town is Dinxperlo. – jwenting Dec 01 '22 at 10:44