Super Tulip Tour

From: € 1930

8 Days / 7 Nights
Type: Guided
Level of Difficulty: Easy

Imagine Yourself…

Wandering through bright gardens of different tradition and style at the Keukenhoff
Learning how icons of Holland are made – including cheese, chocolate, and clogs
Cycling through flat, impressive polder landscapes

Overview

Between April and mid-May we offer special Tulip Tours. The program of this Super Tulip Tour is totally dedicated to this beautiful flower. You’ll cycle through hectares of spring flowers and tulips, learn all about growing tulips in a tulip park, and, of course, you’ll visit the Keukenhof. The first part of your week will take you through the Dutch Waterland region with a characteristic and age-old Dutch landscape. Today The Netherlands controls a market share of 44% for the turnover of bulbs and tulip flowers. The tulip originated in Turkey and reached the Netherlands at the end of the 16th century. In 1634 there was one single bulb that was so expensive it cost the same as an entire canal side house in Amsterdam. You’ll also visit the world-famous 32-hectare park Keukenhof, where you can admire wonderfully colorful fields with flowering bulbs in peace and quiet. Finally, you’ll return to Amsterdam where this tour ends.

Daily Itinerary

Today you’re expected between 12:30 and 1:30 pm on your boat at its mooring, located across from Amsterdam Central Station. After storing your luggage and meeting your cycling companions, guide, captain, and crew, you can relax on board with a coffee, tea, or Heineken.

You will first cruise through Amsterdam and over the North Sea Canal before reaching the village of Spaarndam. Here you can find the statue of Hansje Brinker on the IJdijk. Hansje is a character from an American novel. The brave boy saved the country from flooding by putting his finger in the dike. From here we make an easy ride into the beautiful city of Haarlem and you will see the first of many windmills.

Haarlem, which rendered its name to Harlem, New York, is a lively city. The barge is berthed in the city centre, with a view of St Bavo’s Church and with easy access to the Grote Markt with its many outdoor cafés.
During dinner aboard the ship, the program for the next day and the global planning of the week are discussed. Instruc- tions on cycling and safely procedures will also be given. As on most evenings the tour guide will take you on a walk around the city after dinner.
Today’s bike route will take us through the oldest tulip fields of Holland, including a visit to the Keukenhof gardens. This is the most beautiful bulb park in the world. Keukenhof has an overwhelming blaze of colors: seven million flowering tulips in a magnificent background of 80 acres of traditional and modern gardening architecture. You can also admire hyacinths, narcissi, and many other colorful flowers. For more information about the Keukenhof you can check the following website: www.keukenhof.nl. After exploring the tulips, we’ll spend the night in Leiden.

Leiden is a historic city with many little courtyards, façades, and historical buildings built between the 15th and 18th cen- tury. It also is the birthplace of the painter Rembrandt van Rijn. Leiden houses the oldest and most prestigious university of the Netherlands. All members of the royal family have studied here in the recent past. The right to found a university was given to Leiden after the city broke the Spanish siege in 1574. Still today this event is celebrated each year on the 3rd of October. The ship is moored near the Zijlpoort, a gate that once formed part of the city walls.
Today we’ll bike from Leiden to Kudelstaart, a small town bordered by the Westeinderplassen. We’ll go right through the green heart of Holland, an area with small cycle paths, lakes, small rivers, and lots of cows and sheep. Imagine that this Haarlemmermeer polder once was the biggest lake in Holland and nicknamed ‘the waterwolf’. Your destination for today is Kudelstaart: a small town bordered by the Westeinderplassen.
We’ll have breakfast while sailing in the direction of Amsterdam. From the lock at the Nieuwe Meer we’ll cycle along the borders of the river Amstel into the city, then take the ferry to the Zaanse Schans, a unique hamlet where locals work, with original houses and windmills from the river Zaan area. The hamlet is dominated by operating windmills, the oldest built in 1673, for grinding mustard, spices, paint, and oil, and for sawing wood into planks. As we walk through the village we’ll see a clock museum, an old-fashioned grocery store, a house with period furniture, a clog maker’s workshop, and a cheese farm. Afterwards, we’ll move on to Wormerveer.
From Wormerveer we’ll cycle to and through the most beautiful dunes of the Netherlands and, if weather permits, you may like to swim in the North Sea during your lunch break at the beach. Today’s overnight stay will be in the cheese town Alkmaar, a lively historic city with a variety of shops. Just under 400 heritage sites, canals, and harbors dominate this beautiful townscape. An ideal place for the tour guide to take you on an evening walk and perhaps have a drink on one of the many outdoor terraces.
Today you can discover the origins of Beemster cheese and the birthplace of the man who defeated ‘the waterwolf’. The Beemster Polder, dating from the early 17th century, is an exceptional example of reclaimed land in the Netherlands. It has preserved intact its well-ordered landscape of fields, roads, canals, dykes and settlements, laid out in accordance with classical and Renaissance planning principles. This unique features earned Beemster a UNESCO world heritage listing Around the Schermer and Beemster polder a lot of the original windmills used for pumping out the water are preserved. There will be time to visit the windmills and museum at Schermerhorn and walk around the iconic village de Rijp to see the house where mr. Leeghwater was born. The day ends at the former market town Purmerend.
Purmerend is at the edge of an area called “Waterland” where roads and water lie next to each other on the same level. We’ll visit the nice villages of Zunderdorp and Ransdorp. The better cyclists can cycle the long route to Edam and Volendam and, time permitting, cross the lake Gouwzee to admire the traditional fisherman’s village Marken with its typical wooden houses. When we’ve returned to Amsterdam, we can look back over seven days of cycling and enjoying a rich variety of typical Dutch landscapes, traditional towns, and local culture.

Dates & Prices

Green = Open | Yellow = Limited | Red = Full

Prices are per person, in Euro’s and includes bike rental

2027

Departure	Barge	Twin/ Double	Twin Split-Level	Twin Single-use	Single
April 1	Elisabeth van Aemstel	€ 1430		€ 2090		Full label
April 1	Clair de Lune	€ 1430	€ 1430	€ 2060	€ 1490	Book here label
April 8	Elisabeth van Aemstel	€ 2060		€ 3010		Book here label
April 8	Clair de Lune	€ 2060	€ 2060	€ 3010	€ 2160	Book here label
April 15	Elisabeth van Aemstel	€ 2060		€ 3010		Book here label
April 15	Clair de Lune	€ 2060	€ 2060	€ 3010	€ 2160	Book here label
April 22	Elisabeth van Aemstel	€ 2060		€ 3010		Full label
April 22	Clair de Lune	€ 2060	€ 2060	€ 3010	€ 2160	Book here label
April 29	Elisabeth van Aemstel	€ 2060		€ 3010		Full label

- 7 nights on board the ship (sheets, blankets, and two towels)
- 7 breakfasts, 6 packed lunches, and 7 three-course dinners
- Coffee and tea on board
- Entrance to the Keukenhof garden
- Fees for ferries
- 11–speed bicycle, incl. helmet, pannier bag, water bottle, & bike insurance
- Multilingual tour guide
- Welcome drink
- Route information and road book
- Gps navigation
- Reservation costs
A well maintained, comfortable 24-speed touring bikeis available free of charge for each participant. These are well-suited for the flat Dutch terrain. All sizes appropriate to your height. The bikes come with helmets, grip shifters, hand brakes, carrier bag, water bottle, and bike insurance!

Electric bikes (brand KTM Macina Gran P510) can be rented for this tour (€ 110 per person). We advise you only to rent an electric bike if you have first tried one at home. They’re heavier than regular bikes and therefore can be difficult to maneuver. To rent an electric bike, you must be at least 5 feet 1 inch tall.
The cook prepares all meals: a substantial breakfast and a three-course dinner of very high quality. A packed lunch may be prepared after breakfast. Tea and coffee will be ready when you arrive on board in the afternoon. There’s a bar on board with reasonably-priced beer, wine, and soft drinks.

If you have special meal requirements, we ask you to mention this when booking. In the case of a Gluten- or Lactose-free diet there is an additional charge of € 100 per week per diet.

Due to the limited space in our boat’s kitchen, we’re unable to offer vegan meals on this tour.
- Airfare
- Drinks from bar on board or when cycling
- Admission fees to the various museums or places of interest
- Trip cancellation insurance

Accommodations

The accommodations listed below are examples of those usually used on the tour. Depending on availability, you may be booked in a different accommodation of equal quality.