Netherlands Island Hopping Premium by Boat and Bike

Day 1: Enkhuizen – Medemblik
You will board at 2 p.m. in Enkhuizen, a short walk from the railway station and from the old centre, where the crew will be waiting to welcome you (check-in is at 4 p.m. on 3 May 2026 and 2 May 2027). Once everyone is aboard the captain will introduce your sailing hotel and the tour leaders will run through the week ahead, and after the safety instructions the ship will cast off for Medemblik. After dinner your tour leaders will walk you through this historic harbour town, today known above all for its sailing culture.

Day 2: Medemblik round tour | Medemblik – Den Oever – Texel (28 km or 40 km)
After an extensive bike fitting you will set off on your first ride. The group splits in two, one tour leader taking the longer route and the other the shorter one, and both pass through Twisk, a former peat-cutting village that never knew real poverty and has kept its historic centre intact. Later the ship sails on to Texel, the largest of the Dutch islands in the North Sea. If the weather does not cooperate, a night in Den Oever may be necessary instead.

Day 3: Texel, round trip from and to Oudeschild (43 km or 49 km)
Texel is a cyclist's island: varied scenery, small villages and a dense web of dedicated cycle paths. Your guides will take you right around it. The day includes a visit to Ecomare, the seal sanctuary and nature museum, whose work is to rescue and treat seals and birds and to explain the area and its wildlife to visitors.

Day 4: Texel – Terschelling (full sailing day, about 5–6 hours)
Today is a full sailing day. The captain and the sailor will introduce you to the art of sailing while the ship works her way north to Terschelling. The Wadden Sea and its shifting sandbanks are a UNESCO World Heritage site, and seals like to rest on the bars, so keep watching the water. An extensive lunch is served on board during the crossing. In the afternoon you will reach Terschelling, thirty kilometres of dunes, polder and picturesque villages. Dinner tonight is ashore and not included, so you can pick one of the island's restaurants.

Day 5: Terschelling round trip | sailing Terschelling – Harlingen (42 km)
Yesterday was about sailing; today is about the bike. Terschelling offers seventy kilometres of cycle track, four villages, and a great deal of nature and culture. West Terschelling is the largest of them, with shops and pubs, and the four-hundred-year-old Brandaris lighthouse stands over it, visible from far out at sea. The Boschplaat, at the eastern end, is mud, beach and dune, where you might spot ducks, black-winged stilts, large colonies of spoonbills and great black-backed gulls. In the late afternoon the ship will cross the Wadden Sea to Harlingen, the main harbour town of Friesland.

Day 6: Harlingen – Franeker – Makkum (48 km or 58 km)
Today's ride goes by way of Franeker, where a visit to the UNESCO World Heritage Planetarium of Eise Eisinga is on the programme. From there you will cycle on through the wide Frisian countryside and its rural villages to the small harbour of Makkum, on the eastern shore of the IJsselmeer. If you take the long route you will also see Bolsward, one of the eleven Frisian cities.

Day 7: Makkum – Stavoren | Stavoren – Enkhuizen (32 km or 49 km)
From Makkum you will ride to Stavoren. The shorter route passes through Hindeloopen, an old trading town famous for its own tradition of decorative painting and home to the First Frisian Museum of Ice Skating. The longer route runs along several Frisian lakes and shows you a different landscape altogether. In the late afternoon the ship will set sail from Stavoren to cross the IJsselmeer back to Enkhuizen.

Day 8: Enkhuizen
End of your tour: disembarkation after breakfast, until 9.30 a.m.

Good to know
Cycling distances are approximate, and on the shorter routes you may not be able to visit every highlight mentioned. If you would rather not ride on a given day you are welcome to stay on board and relax while the ship cruises to the next landing place. This is a sail and bike programme: embarkation and disembarkation in Enkhuizen are fixed, but the daily sailing route depends on the strength and direction of the wind and, on the Wadden Sea, on high and low tide. The skipper decides the best route day by day and discusses the options with his guests, so departure times and even the order of the programme may be adjusted. Whenever conditions allow, passages are made fully rigged, and anyone who would like to help the crew sail and steer is welcome to do so — entirely optional, and no sailing experience is needed.