Full Itinerary and Tour details for
Wadden Sea 8-day Sail and Bike island-hopping Tour (LFF)
Prices starting from. Trip Duration. Max Passengers. 969 € 8 days 25
Start and Finish. Activity Level. Enkhuizen to Enkhuizen 1
Experience. Tour Code. Sail & Bike Tours Europe #B1/2578 Wadden Sea 8-day Sail and Bike island-hopping Tour (LFF)
Tour Details and Description
Sail and bike tours are something very special. Feel the freedom the wind and salt on your skin! It’s a little bit like discovering the seas and new areas as a modern-day explorer. Aboard one of the most comfortable sailing ships, you will experience pure nature while enjoying water, sun and a stiff breeze on the big inland lake IJsselmeer and the so-called “Wadden Sea”, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage biosphere reserve. During this Sail & Bike tour, you can explore the beautiful and unique Frisian Sea and some of its islands. It is a world with two faces, where sand and water dominate during the changeover from low to high tide and where islands of all sizes line up like pearls on a chain. There are tidal channels, seagrass meadows, mussel beds, sandbanks, mudflats, salt marshes, beaches and dunes.
The Frisian Sea is the habitat of marine mammals, such as seals and porpoises, and the breeding ground and wintering area for millions of birds. The area is one of the last remaining large-scale, low-tide ecosystems where natural processes continue to function. Furthermore, you will visit the famous (freshwater lake) IJsselmeer and its beautiful coastline with many fishing villages and old trading harbour towns.
Highlights:
The North Sea islands of Texel and Terschelling and their beautiful natural areas, small villages and long sandy beaches that you can explore by bicycle. Highlights on the coasts of the mainland in the provinces of North-Holland and Friesland are a combination of rural areas, small villages and picturesque harbour towns: a true “El Dorado” for cyclists. If you like, onboard, you may be instructed by the experienced crew lend a hand during navigating and raising the sails. Sailing experience is not necessary. But of course, you are also very welcome to just relax and enjoy the sailing and
Check Availability Book Online Now Send an Enquiry 2/7 Wadden Sea 8-day Sail and Bike island-hopping Tour (LFF)
scenery. Since the ships are very large (up to 55 and the time spent on the water and even the order of meters/60 yards) and very stable, there is almost no the program itself may be adjusted. Enjoy the ride risk of seasickness. If you still would like to take and let yourself be led by the elements! Whenever precautions, we advise regular seasickness possible, various passages will be undertaken fully medication. rigged and anyone who would like to help the crew to sail and steer the boat is welcome to do so. This is of Accommodation: course absolutely up to you and no sailing experience is necessary On the lower deck, the ship has twelve well-appointed twin cabins (10 m² – 107 sq.ft.), with two single beds, which can be set together in most Included in the Wadden Sea cabins and 1 single cabin (8 m² – 86 sq.ft.). Some of Sail and Bike Tour: the twin cabins can be booked as a three-bed cabin • 8 days/7 nights (the third bed as bunk). Each cabin has an en-suite • Breakfast bathroom with a shower, toilet and basin. All cabins • 5 x packed lunches & 1 x lunch on board have ventilation and heating, portholes and a hatch • 6 x 3-course dinner on board & 1 x packed dinner that can be opened. Furthermore, in each cabin you • Coffee and tea on board till 4pm will find a hairdryer and a mini-safe. • Welcome drink You will find the restaurant in nautical style on the • Use of bed linen and towels lower deck, where the carefully prepared sumptuous • Daily cleaning of the cabin meals are served. In the wheelhouse on the upper • Daily briefings by the crew deck, is a cosy lounge equipped with large panoramic • Maps and notes for cycling tours (1 set per cabin) windows, a well-appointed seating area, TV and a • GPS tracks well-equipped bar, Wi-Fi is also available. The best • Use of a waterproof pannier bag views over the water are available here and on the • Wi-Fi deck, where you can also have a seat when the weather is fine. Not included in the tour: • Drinks Important observations on the Sail and Bike • Coffee and tea on board after 4pm program: • Bicycle rental or E-bike rental A little bit of adventure is a part of every Sail and Bike • Helmet rental tour: the departure/arrival day and the location – • Personal insurances Enkhuizen are a certainty, 100%. The planned daily • Gratuities (at your discretion) sailing routes are partially dependent on the strength • Entrance fees and excursions and direction of the winds and on the Wadden Seas high and low tide. The skipper decides the best route • Fees for ferries to be taken day by day, and discusses the options • Transfers to/from the docking place with his guests. The crew does everything in its • Parking fees power to enable the program to run according to plan, to offer you as fascinating, varied and active week as Notes: possible, in which nature and culture play a major part. It is, however, also possible that departure times
Check Availability Book Online Now Send an Enquiry 3/7 Wadden Sea 8-day Sail and Bike island-hopping Tour (LFF)
• All distances are “approximate distances” of recommended bike tours. • The daily bike tours are individual, conducted at your own pace and without a tour leader. There are daily briefings on board and detailed bicycle maps and route notes are available. GPS tracks will be sent to you 4 weeks before the start date of the tour. • During the days when 2 bicycle options are possible, you can make a choice for the longer or the shorter option. • Not all mentioned highlights will be visited during the short bike option. • In case you prefer a day of rest, you can skip the bike tour and relax on board while cruising to the next town. • On the arrival day is it possible to bring your luggage on board from 11am • The planned itinerary is subject to change due to
nautical, technical or meteorological reasons and other unforeseen circumstances. If there is low or high water and a route cannot be shipped, the Itinerary captain reserves the right to change the route in view of your safety (this cannot be accepted as a reason for free withdrawal). Day 1 Arrival/parking/departure: Enkhuizen Embarkation and check-in where the crew • Parking behind the NS-train station in Enkhuizen will welcome you onboard is from 2pm near the is free, but can be very crowded beautiful centre of Enkhuizen and close to the railway If you would like to rent a bike (85 EUR) or e-bike station. After unpacking your luggage the skipper will (185 EUR) helmet (10 EUR), please contact our join you for an aperitif before giving you a rundown of office when booking: [email protected] what to expect on the journey, details about the ship and also about safety measures to be taken on board. In the evening take a stroll through the historical centre of Enkhuizen, a quaint town that was the home of the Dutch merchant fleet during the Golden Age of The Netherlands. Enjoy your first night onboard in Enkhuizen on the western bank of the lake IJsselmeer.
Check Availability Book Online Now Send an Enquiry 4/7 Wadden Sea 8-day Sail and Bike island-hopping Tour (LFF)
Day 2 Terschelling roundtrip | cycling distance of your choice | sailing Terschelling – Harlingen While the Enkhuizen – Medemblik 24km or 37km | sailing previous day was all about sailing, today is all about Medemblik – Den Oever – Texel Today you can cycle cycling. Terschelling has plenty to offer cycle tourists: the first leg of the trip along the IJsselmeer coast nature and culture, 70km of cycling tracks and 4 through the beautiful polder landscape to Medemblik. beautiful villages. West Terschelling is the largest After the cycling tour, the ship will sail further to Den village on the island and features a number of lovely Oever. Depending on the weather in the evening the shops and pubs. The standout landmark on the island ship will take the lock and sail across the Wadden is the 400-year-old lighthouse “Brandaris” that can be Sea (part of the North Sea) to the island of Texel. seen from well off in the distance. Also worth visiting is the heathland of “Boschplaat” which will captivate Day 3 you with its mud, beaches and dunes. You might even spot ducks, black-winged stilts, large colonies of Texel, roundtrip from/to Oudeschild 43km or 49km spoonbills and great black-backed gulls. After a day The island of Texel is a cyclist’s dream destination of cycling, you can relax in comfort once you have with its varied scenery, well-signposted cycle tracks arrived on board. In the late afternoon the ship will and picturesque villages. Our suggestion is to cross the Wadden Sea sail to Harlingen, the most complete a round trip cycling tour of the largest of the important harbour city of the province of Friesland. Dutch North Sea islands that takes you via a number of villages, the seal sanctuary station “Ecomare” and Day 6 a traditional beer brewery near the harbour of Oudeschild. Harlingen – Franeker – Makkum 48km or 58km Via Franeker, with the famous planetarium of Eise Day 4 Eisinga, you cycle through the beautiful wide Frisian countryside along several rural villages to the small Texel – Terschelling | sailing about 5 – 6 hrs Today harbour of Makkum on the eastern bank of the lake you will enjoy sailing on your ship, when the tide and IJsselmeer. If you take the long cycling trip, you will the weather are right, to the island of Terschelling. As also visit Bolsward, one of the Eleven Frisian Cities. you sail your way through the sandbanks of the Wadden Sea, keep a lookout for seals on the Day 7 sandbars. In the afternoon the ship will arrive on Terschelling island, which features a number of Makkum – Stavoren 32km or 49km | sailing to picturesque villages situated between the polder and Enkhuizen From Makkum you will cycle to Stavoren. sand dunes along its 30km expanse. While sailing The short tour leads you via the old trading town of you will enjoy an extensive lunch on board. No dinner Hindeloopen. This local art of painting a type of will be served tonight, to enable you to explore the traditional decorative painting is quite famous. Apart island, but you can make yourself a picnic meal or try from this, you’ll find the First Frisian Museum of Ice one of the beautiful restaurants at Terschelling (not Skating in Hindeloopen. The long tour runs along incl.). several Frisian lakes and shows you a different type of landscape. From Stavoren the ship will set sail to Day 5 cross the IJsselmeer to Enkhuizen in the late afternoon.
Check Availability Book Online Now Send an Enquiry 5/7 Wadden Sea 8-day Sail and Bike island-hopping Tour (LFF)
Day 8
Enkhuizen End of your tour: Disembarkation after breakfast until 9.30am. The planned itinerary is subject to change due to nautical, technical or meteorological reasons and other unforeseen circumstances. If there is low or high water and a route cannot be shipped, the captain reserves the right to change the route in view of your safety (this cannot be accepted as a reason for free withdrawal).
Check Availability Book Online Now Send an Enquiry 6/7 WHY SLOW TOURS EUROPE?
Slow Tours offers a selection of tours in Europe for unique experiences, active or relaxed, so you return home feeling relaxed, refreshed & re-energised.
Connect with the locals, take time to genuinely experience another culture, relax with the easy flow of life, enjoy fresh air and freedom from crowds. Savour the experience of our hand-picked tours of Europe!
3 BIG BENEFITS OF BOOKING WITH US
Don't take our word for it Visit our Reviews page to learn why a Slow Tour is the Best Tour!
slowtours.com/blog/reviews
Have some questions? Find the answers on our Q&A page.
slowtours.com/questions-and-answers