cycling through the Netherlands and Belgium

[Maggie]

in the process of planning my trip - any advice on must-sees and must-dos?

[Emy]

Hi

I'm Belgian, two cities in belgium you must see is BRUGGE (Bruges) and MECHELEN, also antwerp is beautiful and in the south of Belgium you can find a lot of beautifull villages!

there is something new for cycling in belgium and the netherlands, maps with points and you can plan your trip according to these points
on the road you can then find signs like these:

to guide you to the right points

here you can buy all the maps but I haven't found any translations in english.
http://www.fietsvakantiewinkel.nl/2www/knooppunt.php

what language do you speak? may be I can keep looking or help you out myself

[Emy]

here you van find an example of these maps:

http://www.gastenkamerneerpelt.com/fiet ... uceerd.jpg

[Miek]

Hai,

If you are in Holland you must visited Utrecht. It's the most central city and really nice. Not very touristic, which is strange because the canals are far more beautifull then in Amsterdam.

There is a lot to do, you even can visit the Nijntje Museum (Dick Bruna rabbit, you cal it 'Miffy' if I'm right). It's the biggest studentcity in the Netherlands. Lots of bikes

[Mathilde]

Ofcourse you have heard of the bike theft problem in the Netherlands. In (what we call) big cities bike theft is no joke. It also concerns bike parts.

If you take a bike with don't save on the bike lock. You need two; A serious ring lock under the sadle (AXA is recommended). Or any serious lock to keep back wheel to frame. And a heavy chainlock to lock frontwheel and frame to object that is not removable from the earth.
The chainlock should be the size of a female handpalm. Any lock that looks like punk neck jewel is only good for Belgium country side. In short in case of doubt shop in Amsterdam for a decent lock at a cyclist store (not at the market, those locks are chocolateware for thiefs)

And if you go to Amsterdam you will like that cyclists are almost king of the road. You will not like the behaviour of fellow cyclists; zig zagging in mobile phone conversation, ignoring red traffic light, and so on.

But where ever you go in Belgium and Netherlands are cyclist nations.

[Maggie]

Good advice on the bike locks, Mathilde! We took our lock from home and then bought a second one when we arrived so that we could lock both wheels and the frame. We also locked our bike indoors every night.

We had a thoroughly enjoyable trip. The cycling paths are fantastic and once we figured out the maps and signage, found it very easy to tour around. It was a fantastic way to see that part of Europe - a loop from Amsterdam - Bruges - Brussels - Luxembourg - Thionville - Mosel Valley - Koblenz - Koln - Maastricht - back to Amsterdam. 1000 km by bike and a few legs by train. I highly recommend it to you other cyclists out there!

[careau]

The highlights of my biking trip through the Netherlands were:
-Alkmaar Cheesemarket (on Friday mornings only)
-Blooming tulip fields around Leiden. (Keukenhof was nice but the "wild" fields were breathtaking)
-Cheese farm & windmills in Uithoorn.
-Flower Auction in Aalsmeer (even if you have no interest in flowers, that operation is a logistics marvel! Get there early...it`s all over by 10:00 am)
-Delf was an interesting laid back city.

And Amsterdam is a great place to hang out for a few days too.

I wish I could have gone to more places, but that`s all I got around to seeing.

Happy travels

[nroekel]

Hi Guys,

I would like to travel from Amsterdam Schiphol to London. I am planning to go by car to Schiphol. Do you have any idea where I can find a cheap parking? I found this site Parkeren Schiphol, but they don't have an English version and the official parking of Schiphol is really expensive.

Regards,

Nick.