Routes

Six rides across the lowlands

Sorted roughly from easy to long. Every one starts somewhere you can reach by train with a bike, and every one has a café at a sensible point.

• Along the Amstel

  Amsterdam south to Ouderkerk aan de Amstel · Out and back

  The short easy one: rowing crews, riverside cafés and a village church for lunch.

  28KM

• Hoge Veluwe forest and sand

  Gelderland, inside the national park · Loop

  The one route here with hills, although the sand drifts are the real surprise.

  30KM

• Kinderdijk and the Alblasserwaard

  South Holland, between the Lek and the Noord · Loop

  Nineteen windmills in a row, then the quietest polder lanes in the west of the country.

  38KM

• Waterland loop

  North Holland, across the IJ from Amsterdam · Loop

  Ten minutes from the city by free ferry and suddenly it is all dikes, ditches and wooden villages.

  42KM

• Friesland lakes

  Friesland, between Sneek and Grou · Loop

  Sails on the horizon, tiny ferries and villages where the church is the tallest thing for miles.

  48KM

• Zeeland sea dikes

  Zeeland, Schouwen-Duiveland and Noord-Beveland · Loop

  The big one: a bridge, a storm barrier, and wind you can lean on.

  72KM

Which one first?

With children or a rental bike, ride the Amstel. For a first taste of polder, Waterland. If the forecast says wind from the south-west and you like a challenge, Zeeland clockwise. The planner turns any of them into a time and a break plan.