An entire visit to Amsterdam could easily be filled with visits to the many world-famous museums, experiencing the vibrant local nightlife or even just relaxing in the many parks throughout the city. What lies beyond the city borders may surprise you…
Filled with seemingly endless green pastures, magnificent water views, little brick houses and old-world charm, a visit to Waterland is a must-do for anyone visiting Amsterdam. The best part? The region easily accessible from the city, and especially fun by bike!
Located right beside the central station, we chose to rent our bikes with Starbikes. It cost 7 euro per day (9 euro with insurance) for a sturdy bike that suited our trip perfectly. They also provided us with a map of various bike paths depending on what we wanted to see such as the “windmill route” or “water route” and gave us recommendations for their favorite journeys.
The first step is to take the ferry from the central station. It leaves from the same location I noted in the previous article about Amsterdam NDSM, but in this case, we went towards the direction Ijplein, which took about 5 minutes. Upon arrival in Amstedam Noord, it was a little difficult to find the exact bike path we were looking for. We rode along the eastern coast as much as possible, until we finally found route “55”. All of the routes have specific numbers such as “45” and you get from place to place by following the various routes like on a highway.
Once we found our route, we decided to drive along the coastline on an elevated bike route. This wasn’t listed as a designated route, but following advice from our bike rental place that this was the most beautiful, we decided to try it. It was SO windy, and was quite the workout, with the wind pushing against me the whole time. Nevertheless, the scenery was stunning, with blue water to the horizon on your right and endless green pastures with grazing black and white cows, horses and sheep on your left.
After visiting the small villages, we decided to take the inland route home. Firstly, it was definitely less windy than the water route, and absolutely as picturesque. Winding through the fields and the charming farmhouses felt like looking through a looking glass to the past. You were close enough to the animals to smell (and not to fear, they did!) but it only added to the feeling of being with nature.
Overall, it took about an hour and half to bike from the city center to the most northern village of Edam. It was a bit more strenuous than I had originally expected though the route was relatively flat, mostly due to the wind. At the end, it was one of my favorite experiences that I had during my trip to Amsterdam and wouldn’t hesitate to take this day trip again.
