Cycling in the Netherlands

musto_skiff

Anyone here done any riding in the Netherlands?

Any recommendations on good areas to ride or interesting things to see & do?

I'm off there for a week with my wife & we plan to take the bikes and would like to do a few day rides.

Not booked anything yet so would be good to get some recommendations.

ddraver

Erm...hmmm A lot of it is green and flat

Try the Groene Hart between Leiden, Utrecht and The Hague for canals, polders and windmills. Cycling through the dunes along the coast is also nice

Limburg is very pretty and Maastricht is well worth a visit

The Bulb region is beautiful for 2 weeks a year but I'm afraid you ve missed that now, to be honest I'd give it a miss.

The area up around the islands is supposed to be very nice as well but I ve not been there personally.

durhamwasp

I drove around Holland in the campervan a few years ago, didn't do any cycling due to having a 1yr old with us! Anyway, cycling is perfect there, tho obviously in the towns and cities there are a lot of red-light road crossings to slow you down on the cycle paths!

We went up to Harlingen and crossed the Afslutsdijk to get there, its a massive causeway (32km) over the sea and quite unique I suppose. You could then loop back around via the likes of Sneek, Lemmer and Lelystad on the way back. As has been said, its all flat, so I think you could do 100-140km/day without too much effort, and see a lot of the country.

Harlingen was a nice enough little town, personally I really liked Alkmaar and Hoorn, so i'd recommend looking at those. Could stay near Limburg and do some of the Amstel Gold Race route too perhaps?

musto_skiff

Thanks chaps ... what is the score about riding on the roads?

Are you expected to stick to the cycle network?

FJS

You're kinda expected to stick to the cycle pathes, which are normally brilliant. But if you're on a fast road bike, the cycle path is rubbish, and the road not too busy, nobody minds you being on the road. But the cycling infrastructure really is so much better than in the UK, there won't be many occasions you'd want to ride on the road (no weird angles, up and down pavements, sudden 'ends' to cyclepath, etc.)

For where to ride, the West is the most built-up, and the least scenically interesting. It does have great cities though: Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht, Leiden, Haarlem, Gouda, etc etc

The Veluw national park is nice, rolling moorland, and relatively quiet. It also has an amazing museum: Kroller Moller, specialising in Van Goghs, in the middle of nowhere. East of Utrecht there's pleasant rolling forrested areas too.
Friesland in the North is good for cycling, and relatively less built-up, with nice historic market towns such as Sneek, Franeker, Harlingen, and lots of lakes.

Holland doesn't have much spectacular scenery, more the gentle pleasant kind, and following rovers is always a good choice on the bike. E.g. Along the Ijssel (East of the Veluwe), Vecht (north of Utrecht), Amstel (South of Amsterdam), Hollandse Ijssel (between Utrecht and Gouda) or Linge (South of Utrecht).

The Dutch cycling network (or part of it) has been linked since a few years through a national system of interconnecting routes, covering the whole country, indicated on the road with numbers and maps on crossroads: http://en.routeplanner.fietsersbond.nl/

MichaelW

The Freisian Islands are great fun, car-light to car-free and a fav holiday spot for Dutch campers. Texel to Vleiland ferry/beach buggy ride is a blast.
Dan Helder is the ferry terminal to Texel and Harlingden for the return from Vleiland. I haven't explored any other islands.

blackpoolkev

I've been to the Netherlands lots of times.I've always hired the local bikes,except once when I took a Scott Hybrid (25mm tyres). The cycle paths are superb but they are best enjoyed at a leisurely pace on a sturdy comfy bike.
There's a nice route from Rotterdam to Amsterdam that tends to follow the coast and stays away from roads for long sections.

disquieting_museeuws

The paths around the area of Kalenburg, Blokzijl, Jonen and Giethoorn (known as the village with no roads, only canals and cyclepaths) are particularly nice and well worth exploring, though Giethoorn is touristy these days. Also the dunes north and south of Ijmuiden. The Afsluitdijk is a real experience, but try to arrange a tailwind!

As mentioned in FJS's post, Dutch cyclepaths have the national 'Knoopunt' system (numbered waypoints, literally knot-points) whereby each junction has a number and a signpost, and major ones have a map to tell you where you're going, so even if you don't carry a map it's hard to get really lost. Keep your eyes peeled for the signposts though.

One thing worth mentioning (and something I noticed at first) is that Dutch cyclepaths (fietspad) can be seriously busy - you can't stop in the middle of the path looking around you like you would in the UK without irate Dutchmen/women running up your rear. And for god's sake don't walk on a Dutch cyclepath!

Paths are generally good quality, not the mountain-bike-only rubbish we get over here, though there are also a few sandy tracks.

pscarratt

My girlfriend and I recently cycled from calais to Hilversum which was a nice ride. We did Calais to Brugge on the first day and then into Holland from Brugge to Rotterdam on the second day. For that second day we went out to the coast and went up over the dykes and dams (and a ferry from Breskens to Flushing) and followed some canals through very pretty towns, Rotterdam was different, cycling through the unbelievably big port and even taking a lift down (with bikes) to cycle through a tunnel under the river!

https://connect.garmin.com/activity/318109953