By far the most famous tourist attraction in and around Zaandam is Zaanse Schans. This neighbourhood of Zaandam is an open air museum featuring a collection of old Dutch building, windmills and museums. While it looks like it’s been here for centuries, the buildings were actually relocated here between 1961 and 1974, from all over the region.
Continue reading “Netherlands 22: The route to Zaanse Schans”
Definitely one of the reasons for choosing Zaandam for the second week of our trip was its proximity to Amsterdam. Getting to Amsterdam from our holiday home is a relatively short 12 km cycle ride, with a free ferry journey in the middle. While that may be a little too much cycling for some, Zaandam is also well connected to Amsterdam by bus and rail.
Continue reading “Netherlands 22: The route to Amsterdam”
When we decided to stay in Zaandam, one of the first places we wanted to visit was NSDM. We’d been to NDSM once before, back in 2009 when it looked very different to now.
Continue reading “Netherlands 22: The route to NDSM”
On our Netherlands trips, we usually try to go somewhere new for a week, in addition to the week at Duinrell. For 2022, we found a lovely old Dutch house to stay at in Zaandam, in the Zaanstad region, near Amsterdam.
Continue reading “Netherlands 22: Around Zaandam”
Since we’ve been going to Duinrell, we usually try to fit in a ride to the city of Leiden when we stay there, and 2022 was no exception. I’ve previously written about our trips there back in 2015 and 2017, so this might be quite familiar. Though with this being The Netherlands, there’s always one or two new things to see along the way.
Continue reading “Netherlands 22: The route to Leiden”
After another day of hanging round the rides and pool at Duinrell, I was keen to get out for another ride. This time, I decided to head north, initially to Katwijk and then on to Noordwijk. In terms of distance, Katwijk is about a 9 km cycle ride from Duinrell, and Noordwijk another 6 km.
Continue reading “Netherlands 22: The route to Katwijk and Noordwijk”
Now, we’ve been meaning to go back to Rotterdam for some time. It turns out we’ve not been there for a while, not since 2013 in fact, so we were definitely due another trip. Seeing Bicycle Dutch’s post on the improvements to Rotterdam’s Coolsingel definitely made me want to go back for another visit.
Continue reading “Netherlands 22: A multimodal trip to Rotterdam”
After riding to Vlietland earlier in the day, we decided to make the most of the good weather and head to the beach at Wassenaarse Slag. Now, I’ve covered this route previously, in 2017 and 2018, so this will be a relatively brief post.
Continue reading “Netherlands 22: The route to Wassenaarse Slag”
By the Monday of our first week, the weather was brightening up. So after having a day on the rides in Duinrell, I persuaded the family to get out on the bikes to Vlietland, not too far from Wassenaar.
Continue reading “Netherlands 22: The route to Vlietland”
2022 saw us return to The Netherlands and Duinrell for the first time since 2019. We had planned to go in 2020, then 2021, but as with everyone’s plans, that all went out of the window, with the pandemic.
Continue reading “Netherlands 22: Around Wassenaar and Valkenburg”
Dom Cycling 