Thoughts from Jessi on bike touring in The Netherlands (for Americans):
So, you're thinking about doing a bike tour in The Netherlands? GO FOR IT! You've probably read the blog my husband & I kept during our twelve-day tour. It was an awesome experience, and we are very lucky that we got a chance to do it. There are some things that we couldn't get to in our daily blog that I wanted to write about separately for the large cadre of biking folks in my life. Here are just some of the thoughts I had, during our nearly two week bike tour! It was one of the best experiences of my life, and I want you to have that same experience, too!
Part 1: Getting around by bike
It is really, really easy to bike in the Netherlands! Routes are well labeled and easy to follow. The Dutch are serious about their biking.
1a. Infrastructure, Cities: The biking infrastructure is fantastic and really well marked - ESPECIALLY in big cities like Amsterdam, Rotterdam & Utrecht. Do a little basic research about the road signage and what it means before you leave. A couple of the signs looked to me like "don't bike here" but they actually meant "don't park your bike here." That's a big difference! The "fietspad" ("Bicycle Path") signs are important and you'll want to keep your eyes peeled for them as they sometimes change sides of the road, so you'll need to use marked crossings to get into the bike lanes at the appropriate times. This is an overview of the most common road signs that apply to cyclists. It's a great starter for what you will encounter on your trip!
It is also really easy to get confused when biking around traffic circles, especially the first few times you do this maneuver. I suggest watching a couple of YouTube videos in advance just to get the hang of it!
1b. Infrastructure, Travelling between cities & towns: The biking infrastructure relies on a comprehensive network of fietspads (dedicated bike lanes), on-highway bike lanes where there are marked lanes but you are directly next to cars, and sharing the road with cars (very occasionally). These difference types are very well marked. This webpage will explain the different types of signs you'll encounter as you move between places. There is a network of bike paths and fietspads that will take you anywhere you want to go.
The thing that blew my mind the most about biking in the Netherlands was how bikes are given priority on very narrow streets! There are roads that are used for two-way car traffic, but on either side of the road is a full-sized bike lane. In the middle of the road is a marked car lane. Cars going both directions share this single lane. When they need to pass a cyclist, the will wait their turn patiently behind you until all oncoming traffic has passed and then enter the car lane to move past traffic. We rode on a number of these types of streets on our journey and I was amazed EVERY TIME. The Dutch drivers were polite and drove at perfectly acceptable distances behind me. They passed me slowly and with care to make sure I didn't go flying off my bike. When it was not safe for them to pass me, they waited patiently, without hoking their horns or otherwise indicating any impatience with my presence. Welcome to an evolved biking culture!!!
1c. Organizing your tour: It is, of course, quite possible to organize and plan your routes by yourself with no input from a tour organizer. The routes are extraordinarily well marked and you will have no trouble getting from place to place with early planning and good maps. However, we STRONGLY suggest hiring a tour operator to help you organize this part of your trip if you are travelling from the US. We promise that you will have a fantastic experience - and having a rented GPS unit in the case that your cell phone battery isn't working, etc. will be life saving. Our tour operator made sure that our routes were scenic, safe, and off-the-beaten path. We visited places that certainly most Americans never see. We saw gorgeous Dutch landscapes on fietspads that we would have never taken ourselves, because the directional signs to our destination pointed the other way. We toured through Dutch National Parks and stopped in towns with scenic castles (surrounded by a moats!). There are a variety of tour operators we reviewed before settling on ours, who was fantastic. We are happy to refer you to ours, but you can certainly find plenty of others!
2. Drivers: Again, Dutch drivers are extraordinarily courteous to cyclists - in a way that we are not accustomed to in the US. There are markers for where bikes have right of way and markers for where drivers have right of way, and you should look up the difference. It is almost always the case that a Dutch driver will yield to a cyclist if he or she can. Still, I recommend reading this page and getting familiar with cycling laws. There is a long Word Document at the end in English with all applicable laws. You may want to considering reading it for further information.
3. Pedestrians: Side note: Because the Dutch have allocated SO MUCH SPACE to dedicated biking lanes in very old cities, the room remaining for pedestrians is limited. If you find yourself out and about in the cities, keep your head on a swivel. Bikes very often have the right of way. You should be watching out for them and ensuring they can safely make their way through the bike lanes. This is fun when YOU are the cyclist! Be sure to afford the same courtesy when you are out on foot exploring.
Conversely, there are some parts of town, where you are NOT allowed to ride your bike. This is usually due to volume of pedestrian traffic in a particular area. Be aware of signage, which prohibits bicycle riding in busy parts of the city. Busy shopping districts and certain alleys in Amsterdam are examples, which we found in our travels. Also, be prepared - sometimes these areas where bikes are not allowed are based on time of day. We had an experience where bikes were allowed down the street early in the morning when we arrived in town but by the time we were leaving in the afternoon, foot traffic had dramatically picked up - and a very kind Dutchman told us that we couldn't ride along the street. Sure enough, the signage prohibiting riding down the block was time sensitive!
Part 2: Getting Resources (Water, Bathrooms, Laundry, etc.)
1. WATER: For a very developed European country with one of the best and cleanest water supplies in Europe, don't expect to find water easily accessible. You will not find water fountains readily (we saw two places to get water in public outside of Amsterdam). You should plan to carry enough water to sustain you for your entire day without a refill. If you do need a refill, know that you will need to spend up to 4 Euro on a very small bottle of water if you are lucky enough to find a shop that is open AND sells water (not just sodas) in a town you arrive in. You may also be able to use tap water in the toilet (wc) and refill from the sink. Be aware that you will pay at least 50 euro cent to use a restroom (next point). We filled water bottles every morning from the hotel sink and a camel-back on the longer mileage days and made it work. There were a couple of close calls when we both ran out of water 10-15 miles from our destination. BE CAREFUL and carry enough water for your entire journey on the bike. *Also of note: You cannot get tap water for free at a restaurant. No matter the cost of your meal, if you want water, you will pay for bottled water. Often, they will take the lid away with them, so you cannot even reuse the bottle.
2. BATHROOMS: Like in most of the rest of Europe, using a restroom in public in The Netherlands does not seem to viewed as universal public right. Most public toilets charge a fee of a minimum of 50 Euro Cents, up to 1 Euro. Some towns have an easy to find public toilet in a central square or nearby to the "centrum" or downtown area. However, in our experience, most towns in the Netherlands disguise their public WCs and it is often difficult to find a public bathroom. We got into the habit of stopping midday to have a coffee and bathroom break. In some establishments in The Netherlands (but not all), you may use the WC without the fee, if you are also a paying customer. Just be prepared to do everything you need to do in the WC in one visit - take your water bottle with you if you want to top it off in the sink, and bring your chamois cream if you want to re-apply. This way, if you find out that there is a fee for visiting the toilet, you don't have to pay it twice. Be sure to carry change with you in case you need to visit a WC somewhere along your route. On the same note, don't pass up a WC on the trail if you think you might need to stop. It can sometimes be an hour or more before you can find the next establishment that is open with a usable toilet.
3. Laundry: Unlike touring from hotel to hotel in the US, you won't find laundry facilities in The Netherlands. The laundry in Dutch hotels is done by a service, so if you are planning to do laundry on the road, either plan to stay two nights in the same hotel so that you can use their service or do your own "bathtub" laundry like we did. Just be prepared for the lack of hotel laundry facilities!
4. Bike Shops: Because biking is such a part of life in The Netherlands, we had no problems at all finding bike shops along our route. Folks were kind enough to help us with tire pressure checks and even greasing a chain. It was easy to communicate with bike shop staff in English everywhere we went.