Bike tour advice: Nederlands (Keukenhof/Tulips content)

Planning a wee tour in the Netherlands at Easter. This will involve overnight DFDS ferry from Newcastle-IJmuiden, likely 3 days pedalling.

It must involve Keukenhof garden and tulips. We will be hotel / B&B staying. It will be fun and involve as much beer, cheese and laughs as actual riding, so maximum of @50km a day. We are not really into cities, so happily head to towns and villages instead, unless there is a good reason to be in the city….

Seems that a loop from Ijmuden through the Hague to Rotterdam, then on Utrech, Amsterdam and Utrecht. Happy to use a train or tram to fill in gaps if needed.

Thoughts, advice, ideas of places to go?

I found using this to get around was good.  It tends to be indirect routes but once you get the hang of it its great.  check a map board, remember the numbers of the next few junctions you want.  Before each junction there will be a small sign on a post telling you which direction for which numbered junction

https://holland-cycling.com/tips-and-info/finding-your-way/numbered-cycle-network

Sounds lovely.

Leiden and Delft are nice sized historic towns, definitely worth calling by.

There have been a few threads on NL cycling on this forum which will have useful info.

Vrienden op de Fiets is a source of cycling friendly B&Bs: https://www.vriendenopdefiets.nl/en/

It’s dead easy to find your way about on the cycle routes using the Fietsknoop app, or just Google Maps, and you can’t really go wrong, whatever path you choose. In terms of cycling, Amsterdam is very different from the very relaxing experience you will find everywhere else . I would consider staying somewhere outside and just hopping the train for a day in Amsterdam. Last time we were in NL, we decided on a day trip to Haarlem instead of Amsterdam, which we really enjoyed. Lots of interesting things to see, but much smaller and less hectic. Very close to IJmuiden as well.

If you want an alternative to the buffet on the ferry on the way home, there are lots of fish restaurants around the docks at IJmuiden. We had a really nice meal here: http://www.meerplaats.nl/

If you are driving to the ferry, the on site parking is quite expensive, but I got 12 days for £18 at the Beacon Centre in North Shields, a short cycle ride from the harbour on Your Parking Space. Car was still there when we got back!

Cycle.travel does a pretty good job in the Netherlands. I’ve not really used the number system but there are soooo many junctions I wouldn’t be without a decent GPS. As others have said you can’t really go wrong. The delta SE of Dordrecht is a quiet impressive nature reserve.

If you are driving to the ferry, the on site parking is quite expensive, but I got 12 days for £18 at the Beacon Centre in North Shields, a short cycle ride from the harbour on Your Parking Space. Car was still there when we got back!

Train at our end, friends who are joining us will likely drive but we know friends in North Shields with a big driveway…

Look out for the grandmas on ebikes!  ruddy lethal.

grandmas on ebikes!

Is that a dating site you are on?

As mentioned above.Leiden and Haarlem. Both lovely places with things to see and do. Amsterdam is ok for a visit, but is very busy. Rotterdam is good, the Markthall there is very impressive, its near the cube houses, which are quite nice to visit, but I woudlnt want to live in one. Will the bulbs be flowering at easter? Maybe a need to go into the greenhouses?

Lols @ stevie

I used to go to Ijmuiden for work a fair bit and we often stayed in Haarlem as it’s quite a nice town.

If early for the ferry there are some nice bars by the beach in Ijmuiden or better North of the harbour in Wijk aan Zee.

Top tip if you don’t want to use the ferry catering is Lidl in Ijmuiden for pre made salads and fresh bread rolls.

In Newcastle it is quite a way from Central station to North Shields. Cycle paths most of the way but not all well way marked. If taking the Metro be aware that the peak periods for not taking bikes start quite early in the afternoon and in theory it’s only 1 bike per carriage.

Will the bulbs be flowering at easter? Maybe a need to go into the greenhouses?

Apparently it both varies and likely yes… Seems the garden is open March-May, so our plan for second or third week of April should be fine….Whether the weather plays nicely though – I was in Belgium that week this year and it was cold and wet.

If you are reasonably fit on good touring bikes, 50km is about 2 hrs cycling in the Netherlands.

Sounds perfect, when does the cafe open?

for the Netherlands, if you’re interested in history and like maps, this is worth a look:

https://www.esriuk.com/en-gb/map-gallery/dutch-cadastre

lots of historic maps of the country 🙂

hours of entertainment!

eg the side by side map viewer–https://www.topotijdreis.nl/vergelijk/kaart/2006/kaart/1925/@86002,418190,8

We were there last week, camping on the islands and beaches S and W of Rotterdam. We did Delft, The Hague, Leiden and Amsterdam last year, following advice from this forum. It’s all easy, just do it. TJ’s advice re. the weird numbers is correct. It sounds daft but it works. And even when it doesn’t, you’ll still get there.

This year we bought a map from this series

https://www.holland-cycling.com/extras/reviews/125-anwb-fietskaart-series-reviewed

It was nice to not look at phones, and to get lost, and to arrive at a town hoping there’d be accommodation, just like the olden days. An eye-opener for our teenager, I think he liked it.

Over there now – 580ish km in!

The Fietsknoop app is an incredibly quick and easy way to plot routes which I’ve then been sending the gpx to my watch (watch still gives you the junction numbers as you arrive and leave each point). But as TJ says, it can be a bit circuitous – e.g we were hiring MTBs today and Google gave a good 10km cycle route to the hire place. Following Fietsknoop numbers would have been 14.5 km and no easier.

50-70km is probably about right if you want some stops to explore. Panniers, Marathon plus tyres and wiggly routes seem inexplicably slow going. Longest days have been 100-110 km which has been fairly steady pedalling 9:30 to 16:30 with a few food stops.

Don’t dive right into a city as the flow of routes and junctions takes a bit of getting used to. Also needs some observation to work out which bits of fietspad are dual direction and which are one way. Back tracking on a one way bit is not tolerated!

If you need somewhere for a night at the southern end of your route then we can highly recommend Villa Augustus in Dordrecht and Fort Vuren / Vurig as amazing places to stay.

E bikes are EVERYWHERE. In the Veluwe it was a near constant stream of ebike pensioners. Staying in a camp site cabin the last 2 nights and they have a full barn for bike “stabling” and think we are the only non powered ones in there.

Tractionman, thanks for that historic map viewer link – amazing to see all the bits of land they have created. In the rail museum I saw a not very old map with Elburg on the coast. A day later we were there looking at the very big chunk of land now opposite the harbour.

Moab – as you aren’t city people, unless there are specific things you want to visit then I’d skip stuff like Utrecht and look for some smaller towns. Google maps is a good guide – anywhere surrounded by a star shaped moat might be small and interesting. Also if you want cafe stops, places off the main tourist routes are often shut Monday Tuesday. Jumbo is your friend on those days. And you need to scan the receipt to exit NL self checkouts…..