Itinerary
Centre based tour North Holland - Alkmaar
Discover Alkmaar, the polder landscape and Zaanse Schans
Individual cycle tours from/to Alkmaar | 5 days / 4 nights
The province of North Holland offers a rich variety of cultural landscapes and sights. During this cycle tour, you will stay in the cheese town of Alkmaar, where you can savour delicious Dutch cheese and explore the history of the old trading town. On a cycle tour along the famous tulip fields, you will discover the beauty of the brightly coloured landscape in spring. You will visit the Zaanse Schans, the famous open-air museum. With its historic windmills, traditional wooden houses and craft workshops, the Zaanse Schans is an adventure museum with original buildings from the 17th century that have been rebuilt here. On the tour along the Zaanse Schans you cycle through a typical Dutch landscape with windmills, green meadows and picturesque waterways.
If you have an extra day in Alkmaar, you can take a cycle tour to the West Frisian town of Schagen, a historic town with beautiful old buildings and cosy pavement cafés. The West Frisian market is held here on Thursdays in July and August.
Highlights of this bike tour
✔ Zaanse Schans open-air museum
✔ Cheese town Alkmaar with cheese museum
✔ Tulip fields in April and May
✔ Land van fluwel(www.landvanfluwel.nl) - theme park about tulip cultivation
✔ Tuesday evening cheese market in Alkmaar in July and August
Itinerary
Day 1: Individual arrival in Alkmaar
Your hotel is located near the cheese town of Alkmaar. Alkmaar has an attractive centre with museums, restaurants and shops. Here you will find beautiful old buildings around the market square, cosy shopping streets and lovely terraces. The ideal start of your cycle tour in the Netherlands. The cheese market is held here on the last Friday of every month (March to September) and every Tuesday evening in July and August. In addition to the historic market, the small streets along the canals, the cheese museum and De Boom beer museum are also worth a visit in Alkmaar. You can discover the city from the water on a canal cruise or browse and shop in the historic and trendy alleyways of the Oude Stad neighbourhood.
Day 2: Sint Maartensvlotbrug - Land van Fluwel (approx. 56 km)
Today you cycle along many flower fields and the Schoorlsche Duinen to the Land van Fluwel, a theme park focussing on the cultivation of tulips in this region. At Land van Fluwel, visitors can take a tulip tour, among other things, which focuses on the many varieties of tulips, their cultivation and their importance to the Dutch economy. There is also a restaurant where you can savour local dishes and products. You can also take a detour to the beach and the dune landscape on the way there. The way back takes you along the canal on the route of the West Frisian ring dyke, a historic dyke that the Frisians once built to prevent constant flooding. Cycling along the water, you reach Alkmaar.
Day 3: Old Dutch ferry route: the Pontjesroute (approx. 56 km)
Today you cycle through the beautiful Old Dutch landscape, past many old watermills, nature reserves and cosy villages. The Pontjesroute is a popular cycling and walking route along several ferries in North Holland. From Akersloot, you cycle around the Alkmaardermeer and then along the Eilandspolder via the beautiful Westdijk. This former island between the Schermer and Beemster lakes was drained in the 17th century and is now a unique nature reserve. On the way, you will cross over several times by ferry, a unique and exciting experience, because you will experience Holland as the Dutch do: travelling across the water is simply part of it. The Pontjesroute is a great way to explore the region around Alkmaar and enjoy the tranquillity and nature of this region.
Day 4: From the cheese town of Alkmaar to the Zaanse Schans (approx. 50 km)
Today's destination is the Zaanse Schans, probably the most famous open-air museum in the Netherlands. You cycle along waterways and lakes for about half of the route: canals, the banks of the Zaan and the Alkmaarder Meer. Via Uitgeest, you first cycle to Krommeniedijk with its small village church and fort, which was part of the Amsterdam defence line (UNESCO World Heritage Site). You cycle through the huge polder to Zaandam. From here you cycle along the river Zaan and soon come to the windmills of the Zaanse Schans come into view. Here you can immerse yourself in village life on the Zaan in the 17th century. Watch the clog maker, taste cheese specialities and smell the aroma of freshly smoked eel. Workshops, houses, shops and historic mills can be visited. In an oil mill, a sawmill, a grain mill or a polder mill, you can see how the Dutch utilised wind and water in a variety of ways with the help of windmills. The return journey takes you along the Zaan to the south bank of the Alkmaardermeer and back to Alkmaar.
Day 5: Return trip or extra overnight stay
Individual return journey after breakfast.
Extra tour / extra day
Schagen
The famous tulip fields in North Holland stretch from Alkmaar to Schagen. Along the route between these two cities you can admire beautiful, colourful fields of flowers in spring. Schagen's history dates back to the Middle Ages, which is reflected in the well-preserved historic buildings and streets. There are regular events and markets, such as the West Frisian Market every Thursday in July and August. Other sightseeing tips in Schagen: the car museum, the white dunes in the area, the castle and the Grote Kerk.
Typical farms can be seen between Schagen and the coastal area behind the dunes, where the farms were built on mounds to protect them from the frequent flooding. Some of the terps were joined together to form the historic West Frisian ring dyke
