Amsterdam Family Bike Ride Recommendations

Posted by JeremyAZ (Scottsdale Arizona) on 04/29/16 08:34 PM

We are a family of 5 (myself, wife, 3 boys ages 12,11,7) and I'm looking for suggestions/recommendations for either a bike route or a bike tour in early July. The only thing is my 7-year old ideally would be on a tagalong with me so we can go further. I was thinking possibly renting bikes near the city center and taking them north through Amsterdam Noord and into the countryside. Or do you have other suggestions, routes, places to visit on bike? The basis is to get into a less confined area, see the countryside, maybe find a cheese or clog farm and enjoy a peaceful bike journey.

Thanks in advance for any advice, bike shops, tours, routes or ideas.

Posted by tonfromleiden

the Netherlands

04/29/16 09:03 PM

2487 posts

Amsterdam Noord is indeed the place to start your bike trip.
The best route is Ransdorp - Holysloot (the pedestrian and bicycle ferry is operational in that time of year) - Broek in Waterland and back to Amsterdam. Starting point is where the Volendammerweg goes under the A10 motorway.
If the cycling goes easy, you can lengthen it somewhat by making a detour to Monnickendam from Holysloot.
I can't inform you on cheese farms, but I do know this is a wonderful ride.
This www.en.routeplanner.fietsersbond.nl/ of the Dutch Cyclists' Union is not the easiest to handle, but it shows in fine detail small roads and (in red) dedicated cycle paths.

Posted by Robert

Colorado Springs

04/30/16 01:51 PM

2811 posts

Agree that Amsterdam - Noord is the place to go for a pleasant family outing on the bikes. Unless you particularly want to ride around the city center I'd suggest renting from one of the places next to the central train station, from where you can ride or walk the bikes the short distance to the bicycle/pedestrian ferry across the river and then be on your way.
Here's a link to one of them: http://www.starbikesrental.com/
The bike shops all sell a very user friendly cycling map for about 2 Euros that highlights all of the dedicated bike paths in the area. It's well worth the investment in my opinion.
Also, unless you're frequent or experienced cyclists I suggest investing in a good pair of padded cycling shorts - at least for you and your wife. We've done this twice: the 1st time we rode all day - up thru Marken and Monnickendam and back to Amsterdam. Was a very pleasant ride but we paid the price for overdoing it and were sore for the next few days. The 2nd time, with the shorts, was a much more pleasant experience. (Trust me on this).
Good luck.

Posted by melissa

Austin

05/19/16 10:22 PM

973 posts

I would suggest that it is not easy to stay together on bikes on major streets in the city center . Very crowded in rush hours and sadly motorcycles will use the bike lanes- they aren't supposed to , but it happens and it's scary when they rush by.

Posted by Kim

San Francisco

05/22/16 05:41 AM

993 posts

We took the Waterland bus up to Edam and started there, and cruised around. We rented from Ton I think? Not sure if they had tagalongs, but I emailed them prior to trip and they were super nice.

Here is the waterland bus site:
http://www.localbus.nl/

Here is my blog from that day: warning, it was the last day of almost 3 weeks and my patience was getting thin! :)
http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gatorfreud/2/1439337600/tpod.html

Kim