Netherlands · Provincie Overijssel · Zwolle
Stadshagen, Zwolle — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Stadshagen is Zwolle's Vinex district, laid out west of the Zwarte Water on the reclaimed Mastenbroek polder, which was diked in the 14th century. The first pile went in on 27 November 1995.
About Stadshagen
Where to stay in Stadshagen
The right area depends on your trip — here's what each neighbourhood is best for.
Zwolle keeps the beds. Stadshagen was built for families rather than for visitors, so a stay here means a rented address rather than a hotel, and the compensation is a Sprinter from Zwolle Stadshagen that reaches the main station in a few minutes. Its centre gathers a shopping parade trading since 2004, a Cultuurhuis and a Gezondheidshuis around one underground car park.
Cyclists get the better deal, because the Twistvlietbrug carries buses and bicycles straight over the Zwarte Water toward the old town while drivers are sent round by the Mastenbroekerbrug. In summer the Milligerplas beach fills with swimmers from well beyond the district.
About Stadshagen
What are the main landmarks in Stadshagen?
The Milligerplas is the draw. Sand dug here in the 1960s to raise and widen the A28 left a lake on the district's northwestern edge. Since the summer of 2003 the city has fenced part of it off for swimming, and a beach, a beach pavilion and a car park now sit on the south shore, while the north side stayed a nature reserve behind a barrier moved to mid-water in 2004.
On the same water lies the Luis Listoni Haven, a harbour named for the artist whose project ran there in spring 2004 and marked by a stone dated 9 May 2004. The Mastenbroekerbrug is the other set piece: 197 metres of asymmetrical cable-stayed deck by Maarten Struijs, opened on 19 September 1998, with concrete pylons about 50 metres above the water. A plaque on the Twistvlietbrug remembers a Lancaster crew that came down beside it on 21 May 1944.
What is the history of Stadshagen?
Dense swamp forest stood here between AD 100 and 500 before drowning under a freshwater lake, and builders working the rim of the Milligerplas turned up its remains in May 2000. Mastenbroek was reclaimed and diked in the 14th century and has barely been altered since. The plan for the modern district came from the urban designer Klaus Folmer and was worked up by the Rotterdam bureau BGSV.
The first pile was driven on 27 November 1995. A shopping parade followed in 2004. In March 2007 the mayor Henk Jan Meijer welcomed the fifteen-thousandth resident, and in 2009 Level Z opened as a youth centre that the teenagers themselves had helped decide from 2006 onward.
Where is Stadshagen?
West of the Zwarte Water, Stadshagen occupies part of the Mastenbroek polder, which sets it apart from the other districts of northern Zwolle. Its first phase runs through Schoonhorst, Werkeren and Frankhuis, the last of them dropping to the Zwolle-IJsselkanaal with 469 dwellings planned behind the dike. Stadshagen II is pushing about 850 metres further north into De Tippe, Breecamp and Breezicht, and De Tippe will be the first part to cross the Kamperlijntje.
The Hasselterweg loops round it. With Westenholte and Spoolde the district has made up the West quarter of Zwolle since 2012, and when Stadshagen II is finished it will be the city's largest.
More areas in Zwolle
Updated September 2026