Nijmegen March 2027: everything about the 109th Four Days Marches

Nijmegen March 2027: dates and name

The Nijmegen March 2027 runs from Tuesday 20 to Friday 23 July 2027. It is the 109th edition, according to the 4daagse.nl home page. The event takes place in the third week of July, according to 4daagse.nl, and every day you start and finish in Nijmegen.

A note on names. The full name is the International Four Days Marches Nijmegen, in Dutch Internationale Vierdaagse Afstandsmarsen Nijmegen. People also call it the Nijmegen March, the Four Days March, the Vierdaagse or the 4 Days March Nijmegen. They all mean the same event.

Before you start, you register in person. The page for debutants names Sunday 18 July or Monday 19 July 2027 as the days to do so.

Registration for the Nijmegen March 2027: where things stand

Registration for 2027 is not possible at the moment. The English home page of 4daagse.nl said on 18 October 2026 that registering for 2027 was not yet possible. As soon as more information about registration for the 109th edition is available, the organiser says it will publish it on its website.

So there are no fixed dates, no fee and no priority rules for 2027 yet. Check 4daagse.nl regularly. Everything below about 2026 is a guide, not an announcement.

How registration worked in 2026

For the 108th edition, Stichting DE 4DAAGSE opened registration on Monday 26 January 2026 at 10:00 hrs CET, according to the organiser’s announcement. There were two periods:

• Period 1: 26 January 10:00 hrs to 6 February 17:00 hrs, or until the maximum was reached. For walkers who completed the Marches at least once in the past 10 years, and young people born between 2008 and 2014.
• Period 2: 9 February 10:00 hrs to 5 June 17:00 hrs, or until the maximum of 47,000 participants was reached. Open to everyone.

The fee was 120 euros, the same as the year before. 2026 also introduced a waiting list for ticket transfers. Later the website carried a notice that all 47,000 entry tickets had sold out.

This was the 2026 process. Whether the periods, dates, fee and priority rules stay the same in 2027 has not been published and may change. 4daagse.nl is the authority. A ballot for 2026 or 2027 is not mentioned on the pages checked. It has happened before: in 2005 a draw was used for the first time, because 53,336 registrations met 47,500 places.

Who can take part, and which distance do you walk?

Your distance depends on age and gender. The organiser’s distances page lists three distances: 30, 40 and 50 kilometres. The one marked “R” is your regulation distance, the minimum you must register for. You cannot walk shorter, but you can walk longer.

According to the 2027 age table, the regulation distance follows from your year of birth:

The youngest birth years in the table are 2012 to 2015. For individual military servicemen born 1978 to 2008 the regulation distance is 50 km. They may walk 40 km instead, in which case at least 10 kg of kit is mandatory. For the measured lengths of 2025 and more detail, see our page on Nijmegen March distances.

The four days at a glance

Every day you start and finish in Nijmegen and walk in a different direction each time, as the organiser’s routes page explains.

• Tuesday, Day of Elst: north. Over the Waal bridge into the Overbetuwe, also called Blue Tuesday.
• Wednesday, Day of Wijchen: west. Land van Maas en Waal, also called Pink Wednesday.
• Thursday, Day of Groesbeek: east. The day of the seven hills.
• Friday, Day of Cuijk: south. Pontoon bridge over the Meuse and Via Gladiola.

The routes are never exactly 30, 40 or 50 kilometres. Directions and measured lengths for each day are on our page about the Nijmegen March routes. Anyone who completes the Four Days Marches successfully receives the 4Days Marches Cross, according to the organiser. More on the page about the 4Days Marches Cross.

What a walking day looks like

You start early. For the 108th edition (2026), 4daagse.nl gave these start times for individual participants on its start and finish page:

The finish closed between 12:00 and 17:00 from Tuesday to Thursday and between 12:00 and 18:00 on Friday. Those are the 2026 times. Whether they stay the same in 2027 is for 4daagse.nl to announce.

Starts are split across three gates: Wedren and Omroep Gelderlandplein for regular walkers, Julianapark for military groups and special cases. The route is marked with arrows in four colours: red for 50 km, yellow for 40 km, green for the military 40 km from Heumensoord and blue for 30 km. The colour matches the colour of your wristband.

The numbers: how many people walk?

According to 4daagse.nl, more than 45,000 participants from more than 70 nationalities come to Nijmegen every year, aged from 11 to over 90. In 2026, 47,000 walkers from 77 nationalities registered, as the facts and figures of the 108th edition show.

There are numbers for first-timers too. The page 4Days Marches in figures says 28 percent of those at the start in 2026 were first-timers. Of the previous year’s debutants, 90 percent left the Wedren on Friday with a 4Days Marches Cross.

A short history of the Four Days Marches

The starting shot was fired on Wednesday 1 September 1909, with 296 soldiers and 10 civilians, according to the history page on 4daagse.nl. Since 1925 Nijmegen has been the permanent start and finish. Foreign participants took part for the first time in 1928. The Vierdaagsefeesten, the city festival around the event, have existed since 1970.

Some years stand out:

• 2006: the 90th edition was called off after one day because of extreme heat.
• 2020 and 2021: cancelled because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
• 2022: the first walking day, the Day of Elst, was cancelled because of extreme heat.
• 2024: routes were shortened on Friday because of high temperatures.

For your planning, that means heat can change the programme. Shade, drinking and pacing belong in your plan. You will find tips on our page about preparing for the Nijmegen March.

What you can do right now

Start with a base. If you begin in winter, you have about 24 weeks to build up steadily before July. You can do this now:

1. Check the table above to see which distance matches your year of birth.
2. Work out how far you can walk in one go today.
3. Plan a build-up with easier weeks. For an example, see our Nijmegen March training plan for 30, 40 and 50 km.
4. Follow 4daagse.nl for news about registration.

How Etappe helps

Etappe is a training app for the Four Days Marches. It is free, needs no account and shows no ads, and all data stays on your iPhone. Choose the Four Days Marches (30, 40 or 50 km) as your goal and the app works the plan backwards from the start date. The goal screen shows a countdown. The app knows the regulation distance by year of birth and gender from the 2027 age table, and recalculates the plan after every walk you log. Etappe is coming soon to the App Store. More about the app is on the home page.

This is not medical advice. If you have symptoms or questions about how much you can take on, speak to your doctor.