Where to live near Zwolle: six places in three provinces compared

• Train · 24 minDeventer to Zwolledirect · 2× per hour
• Car · 36 minDeventer to Zwolle32 km

Deventer's older core sits on a river dune: the restored Bergkwartier, the Brink and the small red-roofed terraces of the Rode Dorp, which are mostly rented. The former harbour quarter Pothoofd now holds modern apartment blocks, while Keizerslanden, Borgele and Platvoet are family districts from the sixties and Colmschate adds newer suburban streets. Zwolle's stock leans towards recent expansion areas such as Stadshagen, so Deventer feels more layered and more historic.

• Train · 11 minKampen to Zwolledirect · 2× per hour
• Bike · 64 minKampen to Zwolle14 km
• Car · 17 minKampen to Zwolle14 km

Kampen's housing is split between the protected old town, with its wall remnants and painted advertising on walls, and districts such as Hagenbroek, Hanzewijk, Flevowijk and Brunnepe, plus a former cookware factory site turned into a residential area. Across the bridges lie IJsselmuiden and the farmland of Kampereiland. Next to Zwolle's Stadshagen and Aa-landen expansions, Kampen is small and low-key, with the air of a little waterside town.

• Train · 14–17 minMeppel to Zwolledirect · 6× per hour
• Car · 24 minMeppel to Zwolle26 km

Meppel's centre is a densely built old core, partly redeveloped in the mid-twentieth century, with Oud-Zuid close by, a protected district full of monumental houses. Around it come neighbourhoods from the interwar and post-war decades, the former hamlet of Oosterboer and newer areas such as Berggierslanden and Nieuwveense Landen. Next to Zwolle's larger expansion districts, housing here is modest in scale, and canals and the Wilhelminapark give the centre its touches of water and green.

• Train · 25–31 minLelystad Centrum to Zwolledirect · 4× per hour
• Car · 47 minLelystad Centrum to Zwolle52 km

Lelystad was laid out as a planned town, so streets come in orderly neighbourhoods from the early decades, such as the ship-named Schepenwijken and the Boswijk, with newer districts added later around water and a golf course, including Landerijen, Waterwijk and the Golfpark. The Stadshart was redeveloped with striking modern architecture, and some homes have private moorings. There is no medieval core as in Zwolle, so the town reads as modern and open.

• Metro, tram or bus · 43–76 minMarktplein to Stationdirect · 7× per hour
• Car · 37 minApeldoorn to Zwolle40 km

Apeldoorn presents itself as green and wooded, with the Parken district of old mansions and protected parks, spacious villa avenues around Berg en Bos, and large post-war districts such as De Maten and Zevenhuizen, which carries the city's first high-rise. Monumental and detached houses are a defining feature, whereas in Zwolle newer expansion districts such as Stadshagen and Aa-landen shape the picture. That tends to mean more room around the home, with the Veluwe on the doorstep.

• Train · 27 minHoogeveen to Zwolledirect · 2× per hour
• Car · 39 minHoogeveen to Zwolle46 km

The town grew fast after the war, with large residential districts such as Hoogeveen-West and Hoogeveen-Zuid, a historic crossroads at the Kruis and newer areas like De Erflanden. Many of the old peat canals were filled in, though villages around town such as Elim, Fluitenberg and Noordscheschut still have theirs. Set against Zwolle's mix of old-town streets and expansion districts, housing here is mostly post-war neighbourhoods in open Drenthe landscape.