Amsterdam, Netherlands: Dynamic, cosmopolitan, multicultural and fun! fun! fun! Any foray into the land of cheese is bound to result in a good time being had by all. No matter what makes your toes curl, Amsterdam will deliver. The city is simply gorgeous. The web of over 60 miles of canals is serviced by 1000 quaint little bridges oozing with greenery and flowers.
And, of course, when in Amsterdam… do as the Amsterdammers do! This means BICYCLES!
The very first thing anyone should do upon arriving anywhere is to get a map and (being a tourist friendly city) you can pick up a map of Amsterdam from shops, stations and tourist information centers. The next best thing is to take a half day boat cruise as it will give you a chance to orient yourself and get a feel for the city. It’s a great way to find things which you would like to see, especially if you have a limited amount of time. Once you have your bearings, its time to get a bike!
1. Find a bike rental shop in Amsterdam
You can rent the bikes and buggies from a rental shop. You won’t walk far to find a bike rental shop and it’s the easiest, healthiest and jolliest way to get around town. You can also try Bike City - Bloengracht 68-70 (take trams 13, 14, 10 or 17), Damstraat Rent-A-Bike in Damstraat 20-22, MacBike Amsterdam at the Central Station or Mikes Bike Tours at Kerkstraat 134 (Trams 1, 2 and 5).
Be careful of dodgy characters offering bikes for sale - they are usually stolen and you can incur a hefty fine for buying one.
2. Make your bicycle ride comfortable
The locals make bike riding look effortless and often fit entire family units on a single bike with the help of buggies, carts and baby seats. They may say riding a bike is something you never forget but the red plague (as the endless waves of tourists on their red rentals are called) is often behind the many fender benders which pepper the city. Before you boldly sally forth, take a few minutes to make friends with your bicycle. A bit Wonky? Take a few trips around the block until you feel comfortable. If you are riding on the back of someone’s bike, take some cushioning to avoid bruising your derrière.
3. Respect road signs and avoid getting stuck in tram tracks
Remember to obey all the road signs and stop at red lights as the local police will give you an on-the-spot fine. Avoid (at all cost) getting your wheel stuck in the tram track - it will never end well.
4. Always lock your bike
The first rule of bike club is always lock your bike. The second rule of bike club is always lock your bike to something. There are more bike thefts in Amsterdam daily than you can shake a fairly sharp stick at. Bikes which are not locked to something may find themselves unwilling participants in the national sport of canal tossing. In fact, so many of the poor little things end up in the drink that they have a special claw boat to fish them out!
Biking is a healthy, exciting and fun way to see your city, so saddle up and enjoy yourself!
Photo of Amsterdam originally posted by ms.Tea
Topic: Tips and Ideas |
3 Comments
Tags: amsterdam, transportation
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About the author
Nikki Slabbert is currently lecturing English at the University of Sur, Oman. She was born in Africa and has lived in 7 different countries and traveled to over 40 with her husband, Ian.
3 responses to “4 tips for traveling Amsterdam by bike”
Report an inappropriate commentMarch 26th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
It’s also important to remember the colour of your bike “was it the gray one or the green one?”, and exactly where you parked it, Amsterdam canals all look alike. Also, make sure you park it in a legal zone, they give bicyle parking tickets and it’s a real pain to find out where they’ve impounded your bike!!
March 31st, 2008 at 8:00 am
That sounds like a marvelous way of seeing Amsterdam.
When would be the best time of year to visit if you were going to tour Amsterdam by bicycle?
Thank you for an amusing and informative article
July 3rd, 2008 at 2:22 pm
Watch out for bicycles - they are everywhere in Amsterdam and you are supposed to step aside. As long as there is no snow (which means most of the time) there is no bad time for going on a bicycle tour. However, I prefer walking as the center of Amsterdam is not that big anyway. It takes less than hour from Amsterdam Sentraal train station to Van Gogh museum on foot.
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