One of the highlights of our month-long trip to Europe last year was taking it slow and getting to bike around Amsterdam, the cycling capital of the world. The capital and largest city of the Netherlands is well-known for its vibrant biking culture. Cycling isn’t just merely a tool for transportation, exercise, or leisure. It’s a way of life.

In fact, there are more bicycles than people here and this wonderful cycling city boasts extensive bike infrastructure and prioritizes sustainable transportation. With hundreds of kilometers of bike paths throughout the city, bikes are practically synonymous with Amsterdam. Old Dutch bikes are featured prominently in all tourist souvenirs, magnets and postcards.

With everyone biking in Amsterdam and bikes parked everywhere we looked, we immediately felt at home. Cyclists rule the road and they’re not afraid to let everyone know. They’ll ring their bike bells and nearly run over pedestrians or slower cyclists who accidentally block the bike lanes. Don’t get offended if you get yelled at by local bikers. It’s all part of the cycling culture.

Biking in Rome was great but biking in Amsterdam was an even more amazing experience, especially compared to what it’s like biking in car-centric cities like Manila. Below are some travel tips for first-timers based on our experience biking there.

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Where to rent bikes in Amsterdam

Many hotels and shops in Amsterdam rent out bikes for tourists. Just walk around the Amsterdam Central Station and you’re bound to come across a rental place.

Most charge €10-€20 per day for a standard bike and offer luggage storage, so you can stash your stuff while biking for the day. There are options for shorter rentals (e.g., 3 hours) and electric bikes, which cost more. You can also book bicycle tours and other guided tours online via Klook.

Where to stay in Amsterdam

For convenience, we rented bikes from the hotel we were staying in: Conscious Hotel the Tire Station. This is a boutique hotel in a quieter part of the city, with the nearest tram line about a 4-minute walk away. From there, you can transfer to a train line directly to the airport.

The hotel has several other branches (including in the Museum Quarter), but I booked this mainly because they offered bikes for rent and are located near Vondelpark, a sprawling urban park. Conscious Hotel offers a wide range of bikes, including those for kids, some with cargo seats, and regular bikes starting at €18 per day.

The rooms are modern and clean and the hotel staff were all very friendly and helpful. They have a secure basement parking area where they keep all the bikes. They’re a cashless hotel, so bring a credit card for all your transactions, including bike rentals.

The hotel had good WiFi and offered luggage storage, which you can avail of before or after check out. The room we stayed in didn’t come with breakfast, but the hotel has a on the ground floor and you can easily buy food and drinks from a deli 5 minutes away.

Book stays at Conscious Hotel The Tire Station via Agoda here.

Top Sights in Amsterdam

Windmills
Vollendam
Monnickendam
Canal cruises
Heineken Brewery Experience
Red Light District
Vondelpark
Zaanse Chans
Anne Frank House
Van Gogh Museum

Possible cycling routes

There are plenty of stunning bike routes in and around Amsterdam to choose from. You could plan your route around several of Amsterdam’s scenic green spaces, including Vondelpark, Rembrandtpark, Sloterpark, Eendrachtspark, and Westerpark; you can bike to windmillls; ride through a scenic forested park; bike to a castle; or bike to the beach town of Zandvoort.

But even if you don’t plan out long rides, simply biking in and around the nearest park or next to canals can feel so rewarding. The great thing about exploring on two wheels is the freedom to explore various neighborhoods, cafes and restaurants or head out of the city for a day on pure pedal power.

Our bike itinerary

After arriving from Brussels in Belgium, we spent an afternoon exploring on foot and booked museum visits on the day of our flight, so we only had one full day to bike around Amsterdam.

We ended up on an 80-kilometer ride to check out the iconic windmills of Zaanse Schans and crossed over to the coastal village of Marken and back the same day. It was a long ride, but the summer season meant long daylight hours, with sunset at 10 pm, so we maximized the ride.

Zaanse Schans

Our first main destination was Zaanse Schans, a historic neighborhood that has the look of an 18th/19th-century village. With picturesque windmills next to canals, this Dutch countryside is the postcard-perfect epitome of the Netherlands. It’s where you can see old-style working windmills, go cheese tasting, have picnics and enjoy gorgeous natural scenery.

Zaanse Schans is located in the North Holland region about 20 km from the city center, but is a worthwhile destination. Most tourists visit here by bus or car, but it was great to travel to this iconic spot by bike. We plotted Zaanse Schans on Google Maps and followed the bike lanes towards that destination.

After breakfast and securing the rentals, we got a bit of a late start around 10 am. Our bike route started from the central Amsterdam area following scenic bike lanes, some of which passed modern windmills.

It was a straightforward route through the city before crossing the IJ (a body of water) by ferry. While waiting for the ferry to arrive, we took photos with the Kissing Couple statue by the River IJ. This towering sculpture, located along the bicycle route between Amsterdam and Zaandam depicts a larger-than-life couple in traditional blue and white Dutch Wear, about to kiss.

Crossing the IJ is free, quick, easy and convenient. Ferries that depart behind Amsterdam Central Station shuttle pedestrians, cyclists and mopeds to destinations across the water in Amsterdam Noord.

From there, we followed the scenic bike paths to the town of Zaandam before reaching the polders, tracts of lowland reclaimed from the sea. Here, tourists can enjoy a taste of rural life with a stunning view of the Dutch-style windmills and distinctive green wooden houses.

From the city, it took us roughly 2 hours to cycle through the 20-km one-way route from Central Amsterdam to Zaanse Schans because of all the photo stops and figuring out the navigation. We got there around noon, in time for lunch.

The Zaanse Schans Park offers free access to the grounds and tourist shops selling cheese and several restaurants.

There are nature paths and viewpoints for hiking. There are also model cottages and a Windmill Museum, which you can enter for additional fees.

We opted for a picnic lunch, getting takeout from De Baleine, a stall that sells Dutch Savory snacks, pastries like Dutch Stroopwafel, coffee and cold beers.

We tried the Dutch ‘Bitterballs’ with Zaanse mustard, Fresh Fries with mayonnaise and ketchup, Anker Session Weizen from HOOP beer (a local craft beer brewery) and soft ice cream for desert in the company of some friendly ducks by the stream.

It was still early in the day, and it seemed like a shame to head back to the city, so at around 2 pm we decided to squeeze in another destination.

Marken

From Zaanse Schans, we decided to bike to Marken, a coastal village with a port and traditional houses. While it looked relatively near on the map, getting there and back to the city was an adventure through rural countryside, tree-lined lanes, fields, and some of the most scenic lanes I’ve ever experienced.

Situated 27 km northeast of Amsterdam, this picturesque coastal village with beautiful, brightly colored traditional wooden houses, is pretty quiet compared to other spots in central Amsterdam, which makes it a great destination for cyclists. We only encountered a handful of other cyclists along the same route.

Once an island before it was connected with a long raised roadway (with a completely bikable and safe bike lane), Marken is small and compact with less than 2,000 residents. We got here around 5-6 pm.

Marken lies across Volendam (which we had previously visited on a package tour to visit a clog and cheese factory) and it’s possible to cross from one village to the other by boat. The setting looks like a Hollywood film set or theme park rather than a real village.

Once an important fishing community, the main attractions are the typical colorful houses, well-kept gardens, farm animals, the port, canals, bridges, and the church.

We spotted a Wooden Shoe Steam Factory with an operating steam machine here and several souvenir shops. It won’t take you long to see all the sights once you get there, but the long route getting there makes it a great destination for those who like slow travel.

One of the main landmarks here is a lighthouse on the very tip of the island, which we no longer went to because we were starving by the time we got there and wanted to grab a bite to eat before cafes closed.

There are a few dining options here by the pier. Most spots were already closed, but we found one restaurant still accepting guests, so we stopped for early dinner, ordering a hamburger and a surf & turf meal to power up for the long ride back to the city.

While I enjoyed the ride and the scenery during the ride, I was worried that we’d underestimated the distance and the long ride back to the hotel. From Marken, we still had another 27 km ride ahead back to Central Amsterdam. Thankfully, the gorgeous fields lined with wildflowers made the ride back home worth it.

It’s amazing how well-connected the bike paths were back to the city, and soon enough we found ourselves surrounded by the familiar canals and buzz of other regular commuters going about their way. We stopped for a breather at Vondelpark, the huge urban park spanning 47 hectares where locals were hanging out.

I can’t help but be jealous of all the wide open spaces, parks and amazing cycling infrastructure that Dutch people enjoy every day. It’s such a parallel universe from what we have right now in most of our cities in the Philippines. I hope that bikers in Metro Manila will get to experience something remotely like this in the future.

Strava route

What sucks is that our GPS devices ran out of juice, so we had to switch to a smartphone on the ride back. This should show a continuous loop ride. If anyone knows how to combine Strava files, please let me know.

What to bring while biking

It was summer when we biked and the weather was great with long daylight hours and cool temps at night. We wore breathable cycling wear and brought windbreakers in case it got cold, but it got too hot, so we didn’t use them. Water tumblers were helpful to save costs. I wish we had brought more snacks or energy bars for the ride.

Helmets were not provided and are not required to bike in Amsterdam. Bring bike lights and blinkers for biking at night. Most places are well-lit though, so it’s not really needed. Bring a power bank since taking photos/videos and navigation can drain phones quickly.

Travel tips for tourists and first-time bikers in Amsterdam

You will want to ride as much as possible while you are there.
Allot enough time for the rides you want to do and plan your routes beforehand.
Avoid busy streets until you know what you are doing. If you’re not confident riding yet on the main streets, practice biking in parks instead.
Try to get away from the city center, especially if you’re traveling during the peak summer months. It can be more challenging to bike with all the people on foot, cars and tour buses in crowded areas.
Try to ride faster along the bike lanes and don’t weave around so much.
Don’t randomly stop in the middle of a bike path and block the way to take photos or check directions. Go off to the side of the bike path. Most locals bike very fast and are in a hurry, so randomly stopping can cause bike crashes.
Use hand signals to indicate if you’re turning or slowing down.
Make sure you’re clear of tram lines when you need to turn, stop or slow down.
Let local & faster bikers overtake you if they want to pass. Always move to the side if someone rings their bell behind you.
If you’re riding in a group, don’t bike all in a row and hog the whole lane. Bike single file behind each other.
Enjoy the ride!