Touring - Bicycling trip in Holland

We am planning an 8 day trip by bike through Holland at the end of April into early May. We know that the country is very bike friendly and that there are bike lanes all over as shown on a biking map of Holland. We plan to carry our clothes in panniers from place to place. We plan on doing between 40 and 50 miles a day. Any suggestion for a particular nice route? We were thinking of starting of course in Amsterdam, doing a 3 day circle south and west thru Harlem and Dordrecht. Then, another 3 days east thru the polder area to Arhem and then back by train. What do you think about this? Eagerly awaiting any suggestions to make the trip better, or even the best possible one in the whole world.

There are many cycleroutes through Holland, they are documented by the SLF (Dutch National cylcenetwork)

Unfortunately its only in Dutch; http://www.fietsplatform.nl/

You can also check; http://www.holland.com/ for the more general info

You may want to PM Chewa, he and his wife cycled through Holland many times, i`m sure he can give you some good info.

Hope this works, otherwise feel free to ask!


cheers :beer:

cycling holland is great, no hills!!! I live in dordrecht, so feel free to visit!
first part sounds good to me, there is also a marked route from amsterdam to brussels. can get the train back from there.
you can see the tulipfields around amsterdam in that time.
the 30 st of april is nice, it is the queens birthday and there is a sort of garage sale all over holland, together with activities concerning dancing on wooden shoes.....crazy in the big cities like utrecht, amsterdam, rotterdam, especialy the night before.
the polder are a bit boring, i think, even by motorbike....only straight roads. the north (friesland/ groningen/drente would be more interesting or to the south, from dordrecht on to maastricht.
if you arive in amsterdam, every touristinfo has cyclingmaps of holland and there are a lot of marked roads as well.
if you cycle towards dordrecht don't miss the windmills at kinderdijk.
taking the bike on the train is easy, about 6 euros ( a bit more than 6 us) to take it with you after rush hour
take a raincoat!!!

if you want more info, email me (arjanels@hotmail.com)

els

Wonderful place!! 6 of us did a by-the-seat-of-your-pants tour of Europe that started in
Amsterdam. Holland was the best part. Be sure to do the dunes trail on the North Shore
going to Den Hagg.

Wonderful People.

8 days is NOT enough!!

Mark is right. My wife and I have done many tours in Holland( she doesn't like hills) :)

We have tended to use B&B's or small hotels (she doesn't like camping :D)covering 50 to 75 miles per day. I would recommend trying to get to the Veluwe for some time as the forested areas are beautiful, but you could also go up over the Islands.

Feel free to pm or e mail me and I'll point you in the right direction. We booked our last trip entirely on line, by the way.

John

Hi!
I had to drop my planned trip to Netherlands a few years ago. I was leaving on September 14, 2001. It didn't seem like a good idea to fly so close to 9/11.
I can share a few sites with you that I've kept on my favourites.

Friends of Cyclist will put you up for the night in a members house
http://www.vriendenopdefiets.nl/


Cycling in the Netherlands has useful links.
http://www.hsa.lr.tudelft.nl/%7Ebvo/fiets/nlbybike.htm


VVV is the national accommodation group
http://www.noord-holland-tourist.nl/uk/accommodations/welcome.html


Here is a circular tour in the north:
http://www.hsa.lr.tudelft.nl/%7Ebvo/fiets/nedtour.htm

I hope you have a great time. As others have stated, the Dutch are among the most friendliest people in Europe, and for the most part (except near the German border) it is flat.

As a matter of interest everyone tells me English is spoken everywhere in Holland. From my experience it is spoken in cities and tourist areas. In rural areas I'd carry a translator.

In August 1991 my two daughters and I biked through Holland for 9 days. We registered with "Vrienden op de Fiets" and had a fantastic time - a highlight of my life. The people were exceptionally friendly, the biking a pure delight. We started in Amsterdam and went clockwise around the Ijsselmeer ending back in Amsterdam. We stayed two nights on the Island of Terschelling. Other highlights were 2 nights in Urk, cycling the Afsluitdijk (with the wind at our back and eating up KM at the rate of 20/hr., and quaint fishing villages on the coast, and of course raw herring with a Hieneken!. I dream daily of returning, this time with my wife and doing it all over again.

John

Hello;
I did Holland / Belgium in 2000 and it was like cycling heaven to me, it was AWESOME. Some of the cycling pathways were as wide as the highways here. We started in Harlem and rode around for 3 weeks to return to Harlem.The only hill we encountered was in Arhem.

At some "traffic circles" the cyclists have their own pathway around and they have the right of way over all traffic in the circle. Watch out for "wild roosters" (the name given to metal gratings to keep cattle and hoofed animals off the pathways).

I hope to do it (Holland/Belgium) again in 2004 and also visit Normandy as well.

Originally posted by toolfreak
There are many cycleroutes through Holland, they are documented by the SLF (Dutch National cylcenetwork)

Unfortunately its only in Dutch; http://www.fietsplatform.nl/

You can also check; http://www.holland.com/ for the more general info

You may want to PM Chewa, he and his wife cycled through Holland many times, i`m sure he can give you some good info.

Hope this works, otherwise feel free to ask!


cheers :beer:

Thanks so much for your information even if my reply is late. I checked out the Dutch website which seems like a Dutch bikeforum. I know a little bit of German so can make a tiny bit of sense out of it. I am going to post a message in English and see what replies I get.
I would appreciate the e-mail address of Chewa. I want to get information about (1) renting a bike in Holland, (2) renting paniers, (3) some day trips in the Eastern part of the county, (4) places to stay.
Look forward to hearing from you. Thanks again, Joel

Lo

Joel,

Just hit the email link at the bottom of this post and it will get to me.
John