Full Itinerary and Tour details for

Sail & Bike Tour 8-day Tulips of Holland (Mff)

Prices starting from. Trip Duration. Max Passengers. 1079 € 8 days 41

Start and Finish. Activity Level. Amsterdam 1

Experience. Tour Code. Sail & Bike Tours Europe #B1/2709 Sail & Bike Tour 8-day Tulips of Holland (Mff)

Tour Details and Description

Enjoy Holland in the springtime in an unforgettable way, exploring enchanting Dutch landscapes by wheels and water during our Tulip Sail and Bike tour. Smell the tulips when cycling through the countryside, feel freedom in the breeze while sailing across the Wadden Sea and Lake IJsselmeer, and enjoy comfort and camaraderie on a beautiful sailing ship.

Accommodation:

On the lower deck, there are fourteen comfortable cabins. Twelve twin cabins (9 m² – 97 sq.ft. ) with two single beds which can be set together, one junior suite (11 m² – 118 sq.ft.) with two single beds which can be set together and a small sitting area with a flat-screen TV and one single cabin (6 m² – 65 sq.ft.). In all the two-bed cabins a Pullman bed/fold-down bed can be arranged. Each cabin has an en-suite bathroom with a shower, toilet and basin. All cabins have ventilation, central heating and portholes that can be opened. Furthermore, each cabin has a mini-safe and a hairdryer.

The cosy lounge/restaurant area on the lower deck with wooden panelling and air conditioning and a nice and warm atmosphere. From here you can reach the wheelhouse on the upper deck, fitted with a large seating area, a well-equipped bar, music & video equipment and TV. The large, panoramic windows offer a breathtaking view over the water. Wi-Fi is available. The wooden upper deck offers adequate seating, the steering unit, space for the bicycles, an outdoor bar with a draught beer tap and a grill, and even a Jacuzzi. When the weather is nice you can relax here or enjoy the scenery while sailing.

Best tulip areas of the :

During this fascinating Sail and Bike tour, you will discover the best tulip areas that the Netherlands has to offer. Not only will you visit the famous Keukenhof

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gardens, known for its hundreds of thousands of scenery. blooming tulips, hyacinths, daffodils, and other bulb flowers. You will also bike through less famous, but Included in the Sail and Bike equally gorgeous areas where tulips bloom in the Tour: spring months. A visit to the Hortus Bulborum is also • 8 days / 7 nights on the program, giving you the chance to ramble • 7 x breakfast through this unique garden museum, dedicated to the • Packed lunches preservation of rare and historic bulbs. • 1 x 3-course lunch Polder landscapes: • 6 x 3-course dinner • Coffee and tea on board till 4 p.m. But it is not only about tulips; during your week-long • Welcome drink Sail and Bike tour, you will spend plenty of time in the historical cities of Alkmaar and Enkhuizen — gems • Use of bed linen and towels hidden from mass tourism. You will discover typical • Daily cleaning of the cabin Dutch cultural highlights and cycle through pleasant, • Daily briefings flat polders, the result of centuries of extensive land • Fully guided cycling tours reclamation from the North Sea and the former • Some short walking tours Southern Sea (now IJsselmeer). The region you will • Full-day bus excursion including Keukenhof cycle through has undergone such extensive Gardens impoldering, that you will soon realize the truth • Maps and notes for cycling tours (1 set per cabin) behind the proverb, “God created the earth, but the Dutch made Holland”. • GPS tracks • Use of a waterproof pannier bag Highlights of this tulip tour: • Wi-Fi

Given the Dutch love for cycling, the region is Not included in the tour: crisscrossed with many quiet cycle tracks that stretch • Drinks from one end of the region to the other. You will be • Coffee and tea on board after 4 p.m. amazed by the beauty and expanse of the North Sea • Bicycle rental or e-bike rental beaches, the extremely bicycle-friendly island of • Helmet rental , the splendid flat landscapes, small dreamlike • Personal insurances farm villages, and romantic, picturesque harbour • Gratuities (at your discretion) towns. And all of this completed with the occasional fields full of beautiful flowers. • Entrance fees and excursions • Fees for ferries Lend a hand or relax onboard: • Transfers to/from the docking place

You will also sail across the large lake IJsselmeer to • Parking fees Enkhuizen and Hoorn. If you like, you may — If you would like to rent a bike (85 EUR) or instructed by the experienced crew — lend a hand e-bike (185 EUR) and helmet (10 EUR), please during navigating and hoisting the sails. Sailing contact our office when booking: experience is not necessary. Of course you are also [email protected] very welcome to just relax and enjoy the sailing and

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Volendam – Hoorn 28km | Hoorn – Enkhuizen On this first cycling day, a tasty breakfast will be followed by a bike tour to Hoorn, the former Dutch East India Company town, which was in the 17th century, one of the world’s foremost harbours. Along the way, you will pass Edam, which is known for its famous Edam cheese, covered in red or yellow wax. While this adorable village is now renowned for cheese, it was once an industrious shipyard and port. That’s why, in the 17th century, the town’s specialty became one of the most popular cheeses in the world. Sailors took wheels of Edam on their voyages – the cheese doesn’t spoil easily and could be traded for spices and other riches of the East. Later in the afternoon, you will join the ship for an afternoon sail to Enkhuizen, an old city with many centuries of maritime tradition. You can spend some time exploring here— “the herring city” boasts a beautiful old harbour and an old town full of history.

Day 3

Itinerary Enkhuizen – Oudeschild | Sailing day Today your ship will set sail to the harbour of Oudeschild on the island Texel. You may lend a hand during navigation and hoisting the sails. Previous sailing experience is Day 1 not at all necessary. Of course, you are also very welcome to just relax and enjoy the sailing and Amsterdam – Volendam You are welcome to scenery as you progress along the IJsselmeer. While check-in onboard between 1pm and 2pm, where your sailing you will enjoy an extensive lunch on board. In crew will welcome you with coffee and tea. At 2.30pm the afternoon, the ship will arrive in Oudeschild on the the ship leaves the harbour. While the ship sails to island of Texel, the largest of the Dutch Wadden Volendam, your tour leader will stoke your Isles. No dinner will be served tonight, to enable you anticipation by telling you about the tour, the cycling to explore the harbour. You can make yourself a and safety procedures. Upon arrival, you will have the picnic meal or try one of the nice restaurants of option to take a little test ride. After enjoying a Oudeschild. delicious dinner onboard, the tour leader will take you on a walk through Volendam, a small and picturesque Day 4 fishing harbour on the shores of Lake IJsselmeer. Oudeschild – | Wadden island of Texel: Day 2 round trip 43km or 48km Today you can choose to cycle a shorter route or to take a longer tour around

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the island. You will cycle through delightful natural hamlet where people live and work alongside original parks, and even on Texel, you will bike through fields houses and windmills built next to the river Zaan. This of blooming flowers! The signposts of which lead you tiny village is dominated by its operating windmills the through picturesque villages and landscapes, and oldest of which was built in 1673 and these were even to the Ecomare seal sanctuary. At the end of used for grinding mustard seeds, spices, and paint your cycling tour, you can enjoy a locally-brewed, components, extracting plant oil, and for sawing wood well-deserved beer during a visit to the small brewery into planks. As you walk through the village, you will near Oudeschild. Late afternoon, the ship will take see a clock museum, an old-fashioned grocery store, you back to the mainland, to the port of Den Helder. a house with period furniture, a clog maker, and a cheese farm. At the end of the afternoon you will find Day 5 the ship in Zaandam.

Den Helder-St. Maartensvlotbrug | St. Day 7 Maartensvlotbrug – Alkmaar 33km or 50km The first part of your bike tour leads through the northern part Zaandam– Keukenhof – Amsterdam | Full day bus of the province of . This piece of land excursion Today a beautiful bus ride leads you wedged between the North Sea and the IJsselmeer through the oldest tulip fields of Holland to the boasts the world’s single biggest flowering bulb field. famous Keukenhof Gardens. You will have plenty of In one word: spectacular! But also closer to Alkmaar time to discover the most beautiful bulb park in the you will find the most beautiful tulip fields on your way world -Keukenhof-the place where spring springs. It to the North Sea. The sandy beach here is one of the features an overwhelming blaze of colours: seven most wonderful to walk along in the entire million flowering tulips in a magnificent 80-acre Netherlands, the perfect spot for feeling the wind in setting of traditional and modern gardening your hair or simply enjoying the view. Close by and architecture. You also can admire various hyacinths, certainly worth a visit is the artist’s village of Bergen. daffodils, and many other vibrant flowers. In the The ship will be waiting for you in the historical city afternoon the bus will bring you back to Amsterdam centre of Alkmaar. This town is well known as a to spend a restful night here in your floating hotel. Dutch cheese city. As you wander through the streets, you’ll be amazed by the beauty of Alkmaar Day 8 old town, with its well-preserved 17th-century buildings and narrow, winding canals. Amsterdam End of your tour: after breakfast, you can disembark until 9.30am Day 6

Alkmaar –Zaandam 47km In the morning, you will bike to Egmond and Limmen and here again you have the chance to bike through colourful tulip fields. Nearby, you will visit the Hortus Bulborum, a unique garden museum dedicated to the preservation of rare and historic bulbs. More than 4,000 tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, and other special flowers are planted there. Next destination is Zaanse Schans, a unique

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