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Bike Tour: Tulip Tour - 5 days
This wonderful trip to the Bulb Flower district is recommended from April to mid-May; the period you’re most likely to strike lucky and see the tulip fields in full bloom (although nobody can predict exactly when spring will set in). Opening times for world-famous Keukenhof park vary each year but fall roughly within this timespan.
Also take a look at our Tulip tour in North Holland.
Route
Day 1: Arrival Amsterdam
Day 2: Amsterdam - Haarlem
Day 3: Haarlem - Leiden
Day 4: Leiden - Amsterdam
Day 5: Return home
Day 1: Arrival Amsterdam
Get here early and opt to wander around the gorgeous and surprisingly peaceful seventeenth century canal ring area (World Heritage Site). If you like bustle, make your way to the city’s famous squares: Dam, Rembrandtplein and Leidseplein. Should you prefer to roam off the beaten track, saunter up Brouwersgracht or hire a canal bike and find out what the city looks like from the water. Parking in Amsterdam is difficult.
Day 2: Amsterdam - Haarlem
53 km
It may be tempting to linger in Amsterdam, but today is the day you get to see your first tulip fields! Set off early to leave behind the hustle and bustle of the lively capital and enter a region called South Kennemerland.
Firstly, head for Cruquius, a steam-driven pumping station for a lesson in Dutch water management. The steam mill Cruquius, Haarlem, is itself a Netherlands 'Rijksmonument' for the steam history of the engine within, and it has also been declared an Anchor Point of ERIH, The European Route of Industrial Heritage. It is thought to be the largest steam engine – and certainly the largest beam engine – ever built. The reclamation of Haarlemmermeer by means of steam power marked the breakthrough of the Industrial Revolution in the Netherlands. You cycle from Cruquius in a loop around Haarlem and just after the village of Bennebroek you can catch your first short glimpse of the tulip fields.
Top off your day roaming lovely downtown Haarlem, from impressive Grote Markt square, to the white drawbridge on the River Spaarne. Idyllic courtyards, known as ‘hofjes’, will set your heart a-flutter. Haarlem is home to the oldest hofje dating from 1395.
Day 3: Haarlem - Leiden
38 km
Downtown Haarlem deserves to be explored thoroughly. We recommend a city walk to discover the city’s hidden "hofjes”. A hofje is a square of tiny almshouses set around an idyllic courtyard, often built by the church or by private charity to house single older women. Also dating back to the Dutch Golden Age, the works of Haarlem painter Frans Hals (group portraiture) and his townsmen including Jacob Ruysdael (land- and seascapes) and Pieter Saenredam (church interiors) are on display at the Frans Hals museum.
In the afternoon get set for a colourful bike trip through the Dune and Bulb Region. Try to time this holiday before mid-May to capture the bulb flower fields in their full splendour! Tulips, crocuses, daffodils and hyacinths are grown here commercially (for bulb export) and temporarily transform the landscape into one of the country’s best-loved tourist attractions. Should www.keukenhof.nl you want to spend a day at world famous Keukenhof flower exhibition, we recommendyou book an extra night in Leiden. Leiden is our oldest university town It has a very busy cultural events calendar and a friendly city centre with canals, monuments windmills and museums. The historical botanical gardens get special mention. The route back to Amsterdam takes you past several lakes, across rural ‘Green Heart’, to the River Amstel.
On the banks of this lovely river, you will encounter pretty villages and grand country houses. This is one of the greenest routes there is to get you right into Amsterdam back to your hotel. As you may have guessed the city is named after the river. In the 13th century, Amsterdam started out as a fishing village by a dam at the mouth of the river. The oldest part of Amsterdam is around the Oude Kerk (Old Church). Known as Amsterdam’s living room, it’s the oldest building in the city.
Day 4: Leiden - Amsterdam
63 km
The route back to Amsterdam takes you past several lakes, across rural ‘Green Heart’, to the River Amstel. On the banks of this lovely river, you will encounter pretty villages and grand country houses. This is one of the greenest routes there is to get you right into Amsterdam back to your hotel.
As you may have guessed the city is named after the river. In the 13th century, Amsterdam started out as a fishing village by a dam at the mouth of the river. The oldest part of Amsterdam is around the Oude Kerk (Old Church). Known as Amsterdam’s living room, it’s the oldest building in the city.
Day 5: Return home
After breakfast your cycling holiday has come to an end.
Prices
Starting dates:
Daily from March 29th till May 10th
Please note: a minimum stay of 2 nights in a row is required in the hotel in Amsterdam on the following dates (and a higher price will be charged):
March 29th, 30th and 31st 2024
April 20th 2024
April 26th and 27th 2024
May 9, 10th and 11th 2024
May 17th, 18th and 19th 2024
| Price pp | € | |
| Double room, breakfast | 599.00 | |
| Single room, breakfast | 879.00 | |
| Extra night double room, breakfast only | 80.00 | |
| Extra night double room, breakfast only Amsterdam | 100.00 | |
| Upgrades pp/night | € | |
| Landgoed Duin & Kruidberg, Santpoort | 70.00 | |
| Westcord Art Hotel, Amsterdam | 10.00 | |
| Surcharge per person | € | |
| Stay in Amsterdam on Saturday | 25.00 | |
| Stay in Amsterdam from:
29 Mar 2024 - 31 Mar 2024 20 Apr 2024 - 20 Apr 2024 26 Apr 2024 - 27 Apr 2024 09 May 2024 - 11 May 2024 17 May 2024 - 19 May 2024 |
40.00 | |
| Rental bike | € | |
| Child bike | 44.00 | |
| Hybrid | 52.00 | |
| E-bike | 108.00 | |
| Extra services | € | |
| Bike Breakdown pass | € 4.00 x 4 | 16.00 |
| Child seat | € 5.00 x 4 | 20.00 |
| Bike theft insurance | € 3.00 x 4 | 12.00 |
| E-bike theft insurance | € 6.00 x 4 | 24.00 |
| Extra luggage | € 5.00 x 4 | 20.00 |
| Tag-along bike | € 6.00 x 4 | 24.00 |
| Child trailer | € 17.50 x 4 | 70.00 |
| Bike helmet | per piece | 10.00 |
| SGR | per piece | 5.00 |
Starting Point:
Amsterdam
Accommodation
The hotels and the B&B on this trip have been carefully selected for their location, atmosphere and/or unique services. All rooms are en-suite. A list of the accomodation we work with appears below. If a certain accomodation is unable to confirm due to lack of availability, we will try to request a comparable alternative if possible.
When selecting the accomodation, we try to take into account as much as possible a safe and closed bicycle shed. However, we cannot do this with all of them guarantee and this partly depends on the number of bicycles of other guests.
Westcord Art Hotel ***/**** (Amsterdam)
Hotel Lion d'Or **** (Haarlem)
Tulip Inn Leiden Centre *** (Leiden)
Bikes
If you don’t bring your own bike, you can rent one from us. Our touring bikes are 24-speed gear. You can find all the information regarding our rental bikes below.
You will find your rental bike waiting for you at your first hotel. The hotel reception staff will give you the keys for your bikes and direct you to the bicycle shed. All bikes are provided with chain locks.
Why the Dutch don't wear helmets!
Instruction video hybrid bike and e-bike
Our hybrid bikes have 24-gears with hand brakes.
The hybrid bikes are circa 16,5 KG.
The e-bikes have a small electric engine and battery, which can be charged at the hotels. You still have to pedal: it just makes pedaling much easier. Some experience with e-bikes is recommended, as the bikes accelerate faster and are heavier than regular bikes because of the electric engine. The weight of the e-bike is ca. 25 KG. We recommend a minimum height of 160 cm for the e-bike.
For children who are at least 125 cm, we can also arrange bikes (these are 24”or 26” for children that are bigger than 140 cm).
The child bikes come with at least 7-gears and hand brakes.
The maximum body height for a child’s bike is 155 cm.
24" child bike:
26" child bike:
Bell
Brakes
Childseat
GPS
Helmet
Lights
Locks
Pannier
Pedals
Quickrelease
Repairkit
Saddle
Waterbottles
All our rental bikes come with a bell.
Brakes
All our adult bikes come with hand brakes.
Childseat
For children up to 30 months old (max. 15 KG) it is possible to rent a front child seat. This is not possible with e-bikes, due to the display.
For children older than 30 months (max. 22KG) it is possible to rent a rear child seat. This is also possible with e-bikes.
Both front- and rear child seats are €5,- per day.
GPS
It is possible to rent a GPS device when you start your tour in Amsterdam, Bruges, Utrecht, Huizen or Bunnik for €20,-.
Helmet
Helmets are not mandatory in the Netherlands, but can be rented for €10,- per piece.
Available sizes: Adult: 54-61 cm, Child: 50-55 cm.
Lights
All our bikes come with both front- and rear lights. You need to push the button on the lamp and it will flash three times. This means that the lights will automatically start working when it gets dark.
When you push again, the lamp will flash one time and the lights will be turned off.
Locks
Our bikes come with a defender lock with plug in chain (cable lock that is attached to the regular lock, see picture).
You need to turn the key a bit, take out the pin from the cable lock and attach it to a pole/other bike/fence etc.
When you push the pin back into the regular lock, you need to lock the regular lock as you always do, and both locks will be secured.
Pannier
1 pannier is included at the 'standard' bikes and the e-bikes.
Height: 42 cm
Depth front to the side: 17 cm
Wide top: 32 cm
Wide down: 23 cm
Volume: 20 liters
It has an easy click-on/click-off system. The panniers are water resistant, so everything will stay dry.
Pedals
The rental bikes come with regular pedals, so no click-in/SPD pedals.
Quickrelease
All our bikes come with a quick release system, which makes it very easy to adjust the height of the saddle and the handle bars.
Repairkit
There is one small puncture kit included, which can be found in the pannier. In case a rental bike has another problem, we always advise you to go to a bike repair shop or call the bike breakdown emergency number which is provided in the travel documents when you book this extra service.
Saddle
Saddles can be adjusted in height without using any tools, see ‘Quick Release’.
Our saddles don’t come with a gel cover.
Waterbottles
Dutch Biketours does not provide water bottles. We can also not guarantee that there are bottle holders on the bikes. You will always receive 1x pannier, so you can always store your water bottle in your pannier.
We have a limited amount of tandem bikes available on request.
Tandem bikes are suitable for two adults only.
The tandem bikes have a frame size of 48 cm.
We mostly use the Victoria Spezial 8.7.
This tandem bike comes with 24-derailleur gears or nuvinci gears.
The height of the handle bars on a tandem bike cannot be adjusted.
We have limited family tandem bikes available on request.
The family tandems have 7-gears and can be used for one adult and one child with a minimum body height of 125 cm.
A tag-along bike is a good option for children between approx. 100 cm and 125 cm, as they can pedal themselves and on their own pace but don’t have to worry about other traffic.
Child trailers can be rented for a maximum of two children who are up to 100 cm (max. 35 KG in total).
We mostly use the XLC Duo 2 child trailer.
Child trailers are not possible in combination with e-bikes.
Mile after wonderful mile of untroubled cycling is what we would wish our clients. However there is a minimal chance of breakdown along the way. If this thought is a nagging worry to you, a Bicycle Breakdown Assistance insurance policy may ease your mind. If you buy this insurance from our partner ANWB pechhulp in advance, their service is as follows. The costs are €4,- per bicycle per day. If your bike breaks down by the roadside an ANWB bicycle repair man will drive to you in his repair van and fix your bike so you can continue your tour. You won’t have to pay him repair costs. If you are cycling on your own bicycle you will be charged for any new spare parts your bike may require. If you are renting a bicycle through Dutch Bike Tours any new parts are at our expense. If it turns out the bicycle cannot be repaired on the spot, or if you can't continue cycling, the repairman can drop you off somewhere in his van. One companion plus bikes may join you in the van.
Do you wish to insure your bike against theft? The cost is € 3,- per day per standard hybrid bicycle.
For an electric bicycle, premium bike or racing bike: € 6,00 per day per bicycle.
Please see the General Terms and Conditions for Bicycle Hire and Insurance.
If a rental bike gets stolen or damaged, we will hold the client responsible.
If your insurance does not cover this event, you will have to pay the costs yourself.
Article 1 Bike Rental Price
The bike rental price is determined by the rates mentioned on the Dutch Bike Tours website at the time of the booking; or as subsequently agreed.
Article 2 Payment
a. The rental price and any other due sums regarding the rental agreement must be paid before the bike is handed over to you.
b. If, for whatever reason, you cannot make use of the bike(s) you have rented, Dutch Bike Tours will not be held responsible for any resulting expenses or damage.
c. In the case of the article 2b, the client remains obliged to pay the full rental price and any other amounts mentioned in the invoice, in accordance with our General Terms and Conditions of Booking, unless the client can prove that his not being able to use the bike was the consequence of a defect that was already present at the beginning of the rental period.
Article 3 Rental Period
a. The rental period runs from the morning of the first cycling day (day 2) to the end of the holiday (the departure day), as stated in the booking confirmation.
b. Extension of the rental period is possible only after approval by us and according to the (extension) rates as mentioned in article 1.
c. No refunds are possible after the rental period begins. If you return the bike(s) to us before the end of your holiday, the rental agreement will automatically be terminated and you will not get any of your money back.
d. At the end of the last cycling day of your holiday, the bike(s) must be returned to the hotel from where it was/they were issued, no later than the time stated in the booking confirmation.
If you book a one way tour tour you can leave the bike at the last hotel of the trip.
e. If the bike(s) is /are not returned by the return time stated in the booking confirmation, we will continue to charge you rent until such time as the bike(s) is/are returned to us or is/are received by us. In the event of late return, the rates as mentioned in article 1 will continue to apply, plus a fine of €25 per day. We also reserve the right to demand payment for any costs and/or damages suffered by us due to late return of our rental bike(s).
f. Notwithstanding the preceding paragraph, in the event of late return of our rental bikes, we reserve the right to dissolve the rental agreement without judicial intervention and immediately claim back our bicycles where ever they may be and from whomever has them. Dutch Bike Tours also holds this right in the event that the client does not comply with any of the other conditions stated in this rental agreement.
Article 4 Improper Use
a. The bicycle(s) may only be used for its/their intended purpose and only by the cyclists listed in the rental agreement.
b. The bike(s) must be returned to us in the same (clean!) state in which you received it/them.
c. You must take excellent care of the bicycle(s), as if it/they were your own. You must take every precaution against damage, loss or theft.
d. The bicycle may not be used on the beach; or on sandy paths in the dunes unless a paved path is unavailable.
Article 5 Damage, Loss and Theft
The renter will be held responsible for damages to or loss of the bicycle(s) or parts of it, as well as bicycle keys and chains and locks, for such an amount as is determined by us according to standard market prices. You must understand that you are not insured for damage to the bicycle(s) or for any damages to third parties.
Article 6 Theft Insurance
It is possible to purchase Bicycle Theft Insurance. Covered are: damages arising out of the theft of the bicycle; and damages to the bicycle as a consequence of the theft. Not covered are: theft of bicycle parts; and damages arising out of attempted theft.
Article 7 Theft Insurance Premium
a. The premium for Bicycle Theft Insurance is € 3,00 per day per standard hybrid bicycle. For an electric bicycle € 6,00 per day as well for a Premium bike and racing bike.
The number of insurance days is the same as the number of cycling days as stated in our booking confirmation.
Article 8 Liability in the Event of Theft
a. If you did not purchase Bicycle Theft Insurance from us before the start of the holiday, you will be held fully accountable for the sum determined by us according to standard prices.
b. If you did purchase Bicycle Theft Insurance from us, but you failed to lock the wheel lock and failed to produce the original wheel lock key and failed to produce an official theft report drawn up by the police, you will still be held fully accountable for the sum determined by us according to standard prices.
Article 9 Costs During the Rental Period
Any charges and taxes regarding the rental bicycle(s), such as fines and ferry tickets, are to be paid by you. You will also be required to pay all costs ensuing from the use of the bicycle(s) such as parking fees, maintenance and repairs.
Practical info
4 Nights included
3/4 Star Hotels
Tourist tax included
Breakfast included
Detailed roadbooks with maps and tourist information
The possibility of renting our bikes
7-days a week service-hotline
Luggage transport to your next hotel
Amsterdam Sloterdijk / Amsterdam CS
Parking possibilities at the hotel
GPS-tracks availible
Any ferry crossings are not included
Arrival info
Nearest Airport is Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS)
The train from Schiphol to Amsterdam Sloterdijk departs 6 times per hour. Travel time is about 10 minutes. A single ticket costs approx €4,- per person excl. bicycle.
For timetables and tickets, go to www.ns.nl/en. For bus details, how to reach the hotel, check : www.9292.nl/en.
Reviews
22-05-2023
We really enjoyed our tulip trip - the GPS made it easy for us to navigate and we really enjoyed the beauty and calmness of the routes. Keukenhoff was a must see and we particularly enjoyed our time in Haalem.
02-05-2023
Enjoyed landscape, wildlife, grazing sheep, flowers, canals, architecture, cleanliness everywhere, nice cyclepaths. Haalem and Leiden are lovely cities. Amsterdam is too big and crowded for me. Didn't explore the charms that it most certainly has.
25-04-2023
A rewarding but challenging trip in which we were able to really experience the Dutch way of life. The tulip fields themselves were less of a feature than we had anticipated.
01-05-2022
I went on a 3 days trip from Amsterdam to Haarlem to Leiden and back to Amsterdam. It was my first experience of a cycling holiday and I really enjoyed seeing the beautiful spring flowers, canals, attractive buildings and windmills in the dutch countryside. Relaxing in a quality hotel each night and having my luggage transferred for me enhanced the trip considerably.
28-04-2022
Outstanding trip and experience with the company. Very proactive and responsive, both timely and in quality of assistance to emails. The bicycles were great. I might suggest that if you are in your mid 60’s you go for EBikes. At 58, 62, and 63, we did fine, but if we do another trip, I think e bikes might be in order.
10-05-2019
...We particularly enjoyed the pumping station at Cruquius, and were pleased to arrive in Leiden by lunchtime due to the short cycle, as it was so pretty...
Maybe you also like these cycling holidays:
Tulip Tour
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6662 PX Elst
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info@dutch-biketours.com
+31(0)24 324 47 12
