Arrive at your hotel in Purmerend where you will be based for the duration of your cycle trip. The Hampshire Hotel Waterland is set in wonderful quiet surroundings and just 25 minutes from the centre of Amsterdam. After check in your are free to relax and enjoy your surroundings.

Today’s cycle ride takes you to Edam and Hoorn and along the way you will cycle through the Polder Zeevang, a polder landscape which was once totally surrounded by the sea. Edam is mostly known for Edammer cheese, but it has so much more to offer. Perhaps visit St. Nicolas church, which was built at the beginning of the 15th century and is one of the largest 3-ridged churches in Europe, containing wonderful stained glass windows. Besides the church, you have the Town Hall and also the museum as well as the Gothic Carrilon tower whose tower bell still rings out a short melody every 15 minutes. Hoorn, the pearl at the Ijssel lake has several museums, 4 harbours, many galleries and several dining options and cafes.

During this cycle tour, you will discover the Beemster with the beautiful village Rijp. The Beemster is the first so-called polder in the Netherlands that was reclaimed from a lake, the water being extracted out of the lake by windmills. Around the lake a ring dyke was raised and on the outside of it, they dug a canal. You can clearly see the difference in height from the ring dyke of the Beemster. Beemster is more than two meters lower than the surrounding land. Furthermore, there’s the Fort van Spijkerboor built between 1880 and 1920 and which formed a 135 km long defense line around Amsterdam. The wonderful village Rijp was a fisherman’s village on the banks of the Beemster and you can admire about 400 houses with 17th century facades. Leaving Rijp, you will pass the windmills of Schermerhorn, which were used to drain the lake, then just before Middenbeemster, you will see a flour mill set in a beautiful spot with lots of monumental buildings. Slightly south of Middenbeemster, there are several monumental traditional farmhouses near each other. The farms were built by wealthy landowners, mostly merchants from Amsterdam.

We suggest an early start today as there is much to see. Cycle to Volendam, a unique little place with its own dialect and traditions. From here you can choose to either take the ferry out to the tiny former island of Marken where you can visit the lighthouse and admire the views before riding back to the mainland on the causeway, or you can ride along the lake shore to the pretty town of Monickendam with its canals and wooden houses.

Both options deliver you to the same point from where you can continue along the lake shore to Amsterdam. The list of things to see and do in the vibrant, cycle-friendly city are too numerous to list here but some popular options include the Rijksmuseum, where famous works by Van Gogh and Rembrandt are on display, a visit to the Anne Frank Museum or a boat tour of the city’s canal network. Alternatively, just soak up the atmosphere watching the locals pedal by as you sit at one of Amsterdam’s many bustling street cafes. Afterwards the route leads you back to your hotel in Purmerend.

Today’s ride takes you through the vast agricultural landscapes of the Wijde Wormer to the Zaanse Schans museum. This open air museum offers insights into the way life used to be here many years ago. You can visit several working windmills as well as the traditiona, green-painted wooden houses which were once the norm. A working clog workshop is fascinating as is the cheese farm. The route then leads you back to your accommodation in Purmerend.