Springtime Tour: Tulips and Dutch Highlights

While the exact field locations shift every year, the “West-Frisian” area is known for being the second biggest tulip region in the Netherlands. We’ve planned two different bike routes through the fields for you to choose from. Due to the semi-guided concept on this tour, you can cycle at your own pace and stop for photos as often as you’d like.

Early in the morning, your floating hotel will set off to take you to the famous village of Volendam. This is where today’s bike ride will start. You’ll cycle through “Waterland,” just north of Amsterdam. Hundreds of small canals and plenty of bridges make up the landscape as you cycle from one picturesque village to the next. The cycling tour ends at Zaanse Schans, an old Dutch village with beautiful windmills, still in use, and traditional wooden houses. There, you can visit artisans like a cheesemaker and a clog maker. Yet Zaanse Schans is more than just an open-air museum, because the people you see are actual inhabitants! Around dinnertime, your cruise continues on to Alkmaar.

Today’s bike tour brings you to lovely tulip fields north of Alkmaar, then to seaside resort Egmond aan Zee, pleasantly situated in the dunes near the North Sea. The sandy beach is one of the most beautiful of the Netherlands and great for a walk, a swim or simply for enjoying the view. Close by, the pretty artists’ village of Bergen is definitely worth a visit. Both Egmond aan Zee and Bergen are close to the North Holland Dune Reserve, a 5,300-hectare (2.5 square miles) forest and dune area with unique landscapes. Return to the ship in Alkmaar for dinner.

This morning you cycle to Egmond-Binnen and then to Limmen. In this village you’ll visit the Hortus Bulborum, a unique garden museum dedicated to the preservation of rare and historic bulbs. Some of the over 3,500 tulips, daffodils, hyacinths and other flowers planted here are nearly extinct in the rest of the world. Your cycling tour continues through colorful tulip fields and brings you to Zaandam. The ship will be waiting for you to take you to Haarlem on a leisurely afternoon cruise. It will dock for the night within walking distance of the city center. Grab the chance to visit the exceptionally beautiful historical inner city at the end of the afternoon or after dinner. The Grote Markt (central market square) and St. Bavo church are impressive indeed.

Today’s trip leads you through the oldest tulip fields of Holland to the Keukenhof Gardens. This flower bulb park is an overwhelming blaze of colors with seven million flowering tulips in a magnificent 80-acre setting of traditional and modern garden architecture. You can also revel in the beauty and fragrances of various hyacinths, daffodils and many other colorful flowers. In the afternoon you’ll cycle back to the ship in Haarlem. (Keukenhof tickets not included. You can book them directly online at the Keukenhof, time slot from 11 – 11.30 am. The bike ride from Haarlem to the Keukenhof is about 25 km.)

Your last bike tour brings you back to Amsterdam. You’ll enter the city from the west through a pleasant green area. You can use the afternoon to discover more of this amazing city: visit the inner-city flower market, go to the Vondelpark, enjoy a museum, or just look at life in this city that never sleeps. There is something interesting to do for everyone. For those who want to do an end-of-day canal tour, we offer tickets at a reduced price.

End of your tour. Enjoy a good breakfast before disembarkation by 9.30 am.