Northern Holland and Friesland by Boat and Bike

Day 1: Amsterdam – Zaandam
You will board in Amsterdam between 2 p.m. and 3.30 p.m., where the crew for the week will be waiting to welcome you. Around 4 p.m. the ship casts off for Zaandam. A welcome drink and the safety instructions come first, then a three-course dinner and the briefing for tomorrow's ride.

Day 2: Zaandam – Zaanse Schans – Alkmaar (44 km)
Your first day in the saddle will lead you through small villages and the flat green polder landscape that defines this corner of Holland. You will stop at the Zaanse Schans open-air museum, free to enter, where old Dutch timber houses stand beside working windmills, a cheese dairy and a clog workshop. From there you will ride on across the Land of Leeghwater, the green polder country between Amsterdam, Alkmaar and Hoorn, through the former whalers' village of De Rijp and past the windmills of Schermerhorn. Your ship will be waiting near the historic centre of Alkmaar.

Day 3: Dune round trip from Alkmaar (33 km or 40 km) | Alkmaar – Den Helder
Today you will discover the North Holland Dune Reserve, five thousand three hundred hectares of forest and dune where the drinking water for almost the whole province is drawn. You will reach the beach and the artists' village of Bergen before turning back to Alkmaar, with time to wander its handsome old centre. In the afternoon the ship sails up the North Holland Canal to the navy harbour of Den Helder.

Day 4: Texel round trips from 't Horntje (34 km or 51 km)
After breakfast a twenty-minute ferry, ticket included, will carry you from Den Helder to Texel, the largest of the Dutch North Sea islands. You will ride through meadows, nature parks and dunes to small villages, with the chance to stop for a swim on the wide sandy North Sea beach or to visit the Ecomare seal sanctuary. Late in the afternoon you will take the ferry back to Den Helder.

Day 5: Den Helder – Stavoren | Southwest Friesland round trip (43 km or 55 km)
The ship will cross the great inland lake of the IJsselmeer to Stavoren, in the province of Friesland. You can take the shorter or the longer ride, or combine the two: the nature area of Gaasterland on one side, and on the other a stretch of the wide lake district for which Friesland is known. The night is spent in the small harbour of Stavoren, one of the eleven historic cities of Friesland.

Day 6: Stavoren – Medemblik | Medemblik – Hoorn – Enkhuizen (39 km or 51 km)
The ship crosses the IJsselmeer again while you have breakfast. The shorter route runs from Medemblik straight along the IJsselmeer shore to Enkhuizen, leaving you the whole afternoon in this old city of maritime tradition, with its beautiful harbour, its historic centre and the Zuiderzeemuseum. If you prefer the longer ride you will first cross to Hoorn, in the seventeenth century one of the leading harbours of the world and a town of the Dutch East India Company, then continue to Enkhuizen through picturesque rural villages. In the evening you can join a short city walk.

Day 7: Enkhuizen – Volendam | Volendam – Waterland – Amsterdam (28 km or 50 km)
During breakfast the ship will sail to Volendam. Your last day of cycling will take you through Waterland, a region of hundreds of small lakes and narrow canals. Near Volendam you can visit a cheese farm, and the longer route adds the former island of Marken before winding back through the water country to Amsterdam. The afternoon and the evening are yours: if you did not take the canal cruise at the start of the week, this is the moment.

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