Holland Beach & Dunes Tour

DAY TO DAY SCHEDULE

The first hotel you will be staying in is ideally located in the center of the Netherlands on the edge of the Rhine river. Utrecht has a wonderful old historic city center full of culture, shops and restaurants. Utrecht can be reached by train from Amsterdam Airport in approx. 45 minutes.

Your second day will start in Utrecht and continue to Harderwijk. The greatest charm of this route is the combination of woods, water and polders. A castle where former Queen Beatrix lives. Along the banks of the Randmeren you reach the old Hanseatic town of Harderwijk. Harderwijk has a harbor and a city square with plenty of restaurants to take a bite.

The third day you cycle past farms, forests and the farmlands of Flevoland to Lelystad, where you can visit an exhibition on how the polder came to be. You’ll cross Lake IJsselmeer via a 32 km dike from Lelystad to Enkhuizen, called the Houtribdijk. Enkhuizen is a major tourist center and was a very important port in the Golden Age (117th century), which is still clearly evident in the many historic buildings and homes you can find here. It was once the center for herring fishing. Dont miss the excellent Zuiderzee Museum! This outdoor museum gives a picture of how and where the native Dutch people formerly lived and worked in the Zuiderzee villages.

Today you bike from the IJsselmeer to the North Sea coast, where you bike through Alkmaar, the cheese city. You can visit a cheese market here every friday during the spring and summer. Heilo lies close to the North Sea Coast, which you will see tomorrow.

You’ll cycle from Heilo to Zandvoort through the beautiful dunes with its breathtaking nature and lakes. If it’s a hot day you can stop pretty much at any point during your trip to take a swim in the sea.

You continue to cycle through and along sand dunes and flower fields. On the coast lie the many well known beach towns like Katwijk, Wassenaar and Scheveningen, with large, lively beaches with hotels, but also small, cozy family beaches.

Along the North Sea dunes you continue your way through beach towns Kijkduin and Hook of Holland but also the old fishing village of Maassluis, Schiedam with its mills and distilleries, the former fishing village of Vlaardingen and then the large city of Rotterdam where you will stay during the night. Rotterdam offers plenty of museums, restaurants, shopping and entertainment possibilities.

You continue your way by bike to Dordrecht. Dordrecht is one of the oldest cities of The Netherlands which is evident from all the historical buildings and churches you will encounter here. Also lots of cozy squares and streets to eat and drink something.

Along the edge of the island of Dordrecht, you continue your way through a special freshwater area, National Park De Biesbosch. You’ll cycle through and along polders, mills, willows, green pastures full of cows, farms, quaint villages, historic towns and wide rivers.

In the towns Gorinchem and Woudrichem history is still vividly present. This is evident from the ramparts, city gates, armories and other monuments. A few miles late you reach Utrecht, the fourth largest city in the Netherlands, with its unique architecture, numerous museums, hundreds of years old canals with low yards full of restaurant terraces, nice shopping and nice cafes and pubs.

After breakfast you will return home. What a nice time you had! 🙂