Pijnacker

Pijnacker (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈpɛinɑkər]) is a town in the Dutch province of South Holland. It is bordered by Zoetermeer to the north, by Nootdorp to the northwest, by Delfgauw to the southwest, by Rotterdam (specifically Overschie) to the south and by Berkel en Rodenrijs to the east. Pijnacker was a separate municipality until 2002, when it merged with Nootdorp to form Pijnacker-Nootdorp, which is a part of Greater The Hague. However, Pijnacker does not border The Hague (Nootdorp does), and it does border Rotterdam especially since Nootdorp and Pijnacker, while technically contiguous, have about 2 km of nature between them. While it may then seem strange that the two towns would want to merge, they did so preemptively to avoid potential annexing by the cities. Pijnacker has two stops on the Randstadrail E-lijn between The Hague and Rotterdam: Pijnacker Centrum and Pijnacker-Zuid. In and around Pijnacker there are big and attractive nature areas, of which one is the Ackerdijkse Plassen, one of the most important bird areas in the Netherlands.