Cycling in the Netherlands : day rides

When you want to cycle just for a day or a couple of days the routes of the Dutch Railways are excellent. Main advantages: it is easy to hire a bicycle at the railway station. The route is always signposted and makes a nice day of cycling. An overview of these 30 routes you’ll find on the Dutch Railway website or in their guide (“de Er-op-Uitgids”) that is for sale at the railway station.

ANWB Bike routes

Another option is to try one of the about 300 (!) cycling routes which are signposted by the ANWB (the Dutch Automobile Association). A nice selection of these routes is available in a booklet, produced by the ANWB, called “de fietsgids Nederland; 50 fietsroutes door landschappen van 12 provincies”. These 50 cyclingroutes are spread all over the country and are crossing all possible landscapes. The information is all in Dutch, but you’ve got a map, know how many kilometres it is, the illustrations give a nice indication of what to expect. The distance to the nearest railway station. with bike rental is indicated.

Bike routes on the WWW

The Internet is also a source for cycling routes. Cycling routes in English are available at fietsen.123 (choose fietsroutes and scroll down to cycle-routes) and holland.com . There is also a site specialised in routes in and around Amsterdam.
Hundreds of GPStracks are available at GPS-tracks (choose fietsroutes, Nederland, and the informaion by province)

The cycle networks also provide nice day rides.