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Ideas for getting to & from barge trip to sites during tulip season April 2023

Posted by (Bay Area SF & Uppsala Sweden) on

One of my BF's is looking for some advice regarding transport & suggestions along the way during a barge & bike trip in the Netherlands April 26th - April 29th 2023, from Amsterdam to Oude Wetering & back to Amsterdam. I offered to post this on her behalf as she's not familiar with the forum, but she would love any suggestions you may have! She's 80-years young & walks 3-5 miles a day & traveling with her 2 grown daughters, who will be biking each day. She's NOT going to bike, as she has no experience & doesn't want to start now, & won't want to just sit on the barge during the longer days. She's happy to pay for a private guide, possibly on Day 3 which is the furthest distance traveled & would include getting to & from Keukenhof. She's been to Europe a number of times, but first trip with daughters & taking a barge. She won't want to take buses unless they're REALLY easy & the best alternative, as she says, "this is a once in a lifetime trip with her kids". I've already pinged the tour company, they of course would prefer she just stay on the barge, but that's not happening.

  • Day 1: Boarding in Amsterdam | Amsterdam - Zaandam
 - Short cruise to Zaandam, famous for windmills. Looks easy enough, she would probably stay on the barge until Zaandam, but suggestions welcomed.

  • Day 2: Zaandam - Zaanse Schans to Haarlem, 14 mi. (24 km) 
 The tour company recommends a 5-min taxi to meet the biking daughters for lunch at Zaanse Schans, Best way to book that second taxi from Zaanse Schans to Haarlem? Haarlem in evening & barge is berthed not far from center of town.

  • Day 3: Haarlem - Keukenhof - Oude Wetering, 24 mi. (39 km) Suggestions on private tour guide from Haarlem to Keukenhof to Oude Wetering? Her preference is to have a private guide, rather than take the bus, unless the bus is REALLY EASY. And she would still need to get from Keukenhof to Oude Wetering. She can book Keukenhof entrance ticket herself, if that is best.

Day 4: Oude Wetering - Amsterdam, 18 mi. (28 km)
 Optional visit by bus (6.30 a.m.) to the flower auction in the world at Aalsmeer. I recall being underwhelmed by this flower auction when I was 20 years old & visiting Dutch friends, did some of you love it? Arriving early afternoon in Amsterdam, spend last night on barge. She's also wondering how many tulip fields she would see if she does stay on boat for most of the trip, except the 5K to Zaanse Schans, and 3rd day to Keukenhof? Many thanks for suggestions, I will forward her a link to this thread & hopefully she'll be watching the replies along with me, so thank you!
Here's a link to the tour they've booked.https://www.tripsite.com/bike-boat/tours/tulip-tour-five-day/ . PS, the adult daughters are biking between the locations, distances are indicated for each day, so the idea is basically to see what else my friend who doesn't bike would like to do along the way. Has anyone taken one of these barge cruises? Thanks

Posted by
1587 posts

I really appreciate you trying to help your friend, but it’s a shame you or they didn’t come to this forum before committing to this bike&barge trip. All the things they will see along the way would have been easily doable as a day trip from a fixed base in Haarlem or Amsterdam. From Haarlem or Amsterdam you can take direct busses to the Keukenhof. The train will get them to Zaanse Schans. By staying together in 1 base, they can explore things together and the daughters could help their mum get around. Should the daughters wish to bike, they could have rented bikes at the Keukenhof and bike around the tulip fields while mum stays behind to enjoy the flowers in the Keukenhof.
I’m trying my best to not be too negative here, but they’ve created quite a complicated scenario. The only easy solution I can think of are private taxis to get your friend around. Another complication is that their trip coincides with our national holiday Kingsday on April 27. Tourist sights remain open, but it will be crazy busy everywhere as most people will have the day off from work and school. Since April 27, 2023 is a Thursday most people will take Friday off too, thus creating a long weekend. Hotels, museums, restaurants etc will be busy. So they should make sure to book time slots for museums well in advance. And by well in advance I mean weeks or months rather than days, especially for popular sights like the Van Gogh museum, Anne Frank House and the special Vermeer exhibit in the Rijksmuseum.
With regards to being able to see the tulip fields from a boat. In that particular part of our country, the waterways are there to drain water away from the land. In order to achieve that, the waterways are at a significantly lower level than the fields (water can’t flow upwards). So unless you’re on a very high boat, you won’t be able to see much of the tulip fields. And unfortunately your friend won’t be on a very high boat, because these barges are built to be able to pass under the many bridges.
I’m sorry I can’t be of more help here. For information about the busses to the Keukenhof, should your friend wish to try that, see the website of the Keukenhof. https://keukenhof.nl/en/
There are direct busses from Haarlem and there will be taxis waiting at the entrance of the Keukenhof to take her back.

Posted by
996 posts

Hi Dutch traveler, THANK YOU! Actually this is great information, I appreciate the frankness, and the reminder about Kings Day, making it a 4-day weekend for most. I've suggested they 'do' Amsterdam for a few days before the trip starts, as I saw the following week includes Liberation Day, May 5th. And is May 1st a semi holiday? It's a national holiday in most of the EU, so was wondering.... I will forward your thoughts & suggest they book the museums in Amsterdam & Keukenhof asap. I suspect they may just want to mosey through the countryside anyway & hang out together, but your ideas are not only valuable, I will definitely post my own questions before my next trip to the Netherlands!

Posted by
1587 posts

I’m glad my post was of some help.
With regards to your questions about the holidays in May; May 5th, Liberation day, is a bit of an odd holiday. Only once every 5 years (2020, 2025 etc) does everyone get the day off. So in 2023, most people will have to go to work. You might notice some festivities or flags, but that’ll be it.
May 1 is not a holiday in the Netherlands at all, not even a half or a quarter one. However the fact that it is a holiday for our neighbors to the south and east, means that it still has an impact on tourist numbers in the Netherlands. But everything a tourist might want to see and do, remains open for business.

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