If you have ever read a guide book on Amsterdam, you will know that there are more bicycles than people in this city. There is a reason why Amsterdam is called the Bicycle Capital of the World… the locals just love to ride bikes here and as we stepped out of the main train station, the bicycle parking lot validated the above statement!
As romantic as it may sound, we felt that cycling in Amsterdam is no child’s play. Even though bikers have their own marked lanes it can get confusing and terrifying for a first timer as you will find tourists jay walking all the time. Also, locals sometimes ride their bikes really fast and we noticed that some of the bicycles don’t even have brakes! The first thought that came to our mind was Joseph Gordon-Levitt saying “Breaks are death” in the movie Premium Rush… Ermm, I guess they take that theory pretty seriously here! ??
I know all this sounds distressing and you’re probably thinking we never ended up riding a bicycle in Amsterdam…but no, we were not ready to give up on the idea of cycling in the Netherlands just yet! So, we had two options – (A) to take a city tour with a group or (B) hire bikes outside Amsterdam and enjoy riding a bike in the Dutch countryside. Well, as you would have guessed by the title of this post, we decided to go with option B and rent bikes to explore Volendam, a beautiful, quaint town in North Holland just half hour away from Amsterdam Central station.
Volendam has a perfect setting to explore the Dutch country side on two wheels. This postcard pretty town is absolutely stunning. It literally looks like the pages of a fairytale have come to life ?? Not a lot of people know about this fishing village, so there is far less traffic, hardly any pedestrians to watch out for and beautiful scenario all around waiting to be explored. We fell in love with the harbour, the windmill and the colourful houses that look like Lego houses!
Once we had decided that this is the countryside we wanted to explore on two wheels, we started planning and looking for a company where we could rent bikes from. We came across Volendam Rent & Events – a rental bike service and got in touch with them. Everything went on smoothly and as planned, however the day we were supposed to visit Volendam, it turned out to be an overcast day. For a minute we thought of cancelling our day trip, but something in our heart told us to be brave & step out of our hotel ??
By the time we reached Volendam, it was raining heavily… we headed to the Volendam Rent & Events Office and were greeted by the friendly staff who showed us our bikes and told us which routes we could explore. He was also kind enough to give both of us raincoats to protect ourselves from the rain and then went on to tell us how to operate our bikes. Karan opted for the E-fat bike and I choose to go with the E-scooter
Just before we left to explore, he also told us that they might be closing early that day as it was raining and there weren’t many people renting bikes to explore the town but as we stepped out the rain stopped and the sky started to clear … and by the time we reached our first pit stop it was already sunny!
It was such a fun experience to explore the typical Dutch landscape at our own pace, we clicked several photos with the windmill, visited a cheese farm, marvelled at some really pretty country houses and later chilled at a local brewery. We didn’t complete the full loop as it had again started to rain and hence missed out on visiting Marken, another picturesque town on the other side of the lake. Usually people ride their bikes till Marken and then take a ferry back to Volendam from there.
We were back in Volendam with enough time to explore the charming town on foot and enjoyed some great sea-food, waffles, beer and coffee. Right before we headed back to Amsterdam we walked around the harbour one last time to soak in the beauty of Volendam
Reaching Volendam is very easy – there is a direct bus (316) from the Amsterdam central station with a good frequency. The entire ride lasts less than half an hour.
We used the Amsterdam & Region Travel Ticket for this day trip. It not only allows you unlimited public transport for adjoining areas of Amsterdam but also within Amsterdam.
Exploring Volendam was one of the most beautiful and memorable experience. If you’re ever in Amsterdam for a holiday, definitely put this quaint fishing village in your itinerary
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