Springtime in Holland : EASY BIKE & BARGE incl. Keukenhof visit

Amsterdam to Utrecht

The IRIS is welcoming you at around 1 pm. You meet your fellow travellers, guides and crew while we start sailing toward the Amsterdam Rhine Canal.

The afternoon will mainly be filled with introductions and talks from the guides about cycling!

There will be a short 10k test ride today. Our docking for the night will be in Utrecht.

Castle De Haar, Oudewater and Gouda

Our day starts with a ride to the most beautifully built castle in the Netherlands. There are local guides to welcome you to the castle. After this visit, we will cycle to Oudewater, a medieval town with a Heksenwaag: a place to determine whether a woman could be a witch by measuring her weight! Our goal for today is Gouda. Yes, the one that gave the cheese the name. For sure, the most exported kind of cheese the Netherland produces. So yes, you will find many cheese shops here, and also stroopwafels. Also known as a product from this town: Goudse Stroopwafels. Taste one!

The picture shows the Townhall of Gouda

From Gouda through the Green Heart to Leiden

Today is a great ride through the agricultural green heart of Holland. Although the bigger cities are pretty close, this part remains protected and serves as a great green area with grazing cows and ducks and willow trees. Amidst this beauty, we will visit a cheese farm and get to know everything about cheese making. Of course, you can taste it as well. There is a little shop as well, so you can already shop for sealed cheese to take home.

Keukenhof Day!

It needs no further introduction: today it’s the Keukenhof visit.

How about 7 million flowering tulips in a traditional and modern landscape. Enjoy the tulips, hyacinths, narcissus…

These gardens are visited by millions of guests every year. So be prepared to hear every foreign language you can imagine.

We also will cycle through a landscape of tulip fields and end in the heart of Haarlem (yes, again: Harlem was named after this town).

Haarlem is a lovely city and is often called little Amsterdam. The guide will show you around

Beach, Hortus Bulborum and Alkmaar

From Haarlem, we will cycle through the nature reserve area behind the dunes of the North Sea. Great cycling paths! We will have lunch at the beach, and if you dare you can go for a swim or just put your toe in the water. We follow the paths and ride a bit more inland to our very precious and special gem:  the private gardens Hortus Bulborum. A historical garden is preservating the old varieties of tulips. Take a tour with the local volunteers who are, and they should be, very proud of their unique work. Have a cup of tea or coffee at their local shop and enjoy this hidden garden.

Alkmaar to Zaanse Schans

The first stop of the day is the windmill in the Schermer. An area laid dry by using windmills. Learn all about this at this preserved windmill. The visit is included, of course.

Our lunch stop will be in De Rijp, another lovely little village, on our way to the Zaanse Schans, an open-air museum that welcomes many tourists during the daytime. You can enjoy this, and even better, walk through it after all tourists have left! It is a magical place, so tranquil at that time.

Back to Amsterdam

We can cut it short or have a longer ride, we will tell you about the options for the day. The short option will arrive in Amsterdam at lunchtime, and you can then spend the afternoon on your own!

Book tickets for the museum if that is on your bucket list!

Amsterdam: end of our tour

After breakfast it is time to say:

“Tot ziens!”      ” Goodbye”