By Karen Rubin, Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com
On Day 8 of our Boat Bike Tours’ Islandhopping Netherlands tour, we wake up in Enkhuizen, back where we started. We have breakfast and have to disembark by 9:30 am but we are able to leave our luggage on board for a couple of hours, giving me time to explore a bit before I need to take the train back to Amsterdam and the Schiphol Airport. I really appreciate this bit of time since I hadn’t a chance to explore Enkhuizen when we first arrived (I recommend coming a day before the ship sails so you have more time), and though I had some time to explore in the evening, i really enjoy myself wandering around this morning.
I find myself at the Zuiden Kerk (church) – magnificent yet simple and unpretentious, awesome yet approachable; ancient yet modern, the painted wooden ceiling shaped like the upside down bottom of a boat. It is Sunday morning and people are gathering for service as the organmeister plays Pacobel.
I find my way to the Zuiderzee Museum, an open-air living history museum village that re-creates daily life around the Zuiderzee before the sea was turned into a lake (the Ijsselmeer where we have just sailed) – when the dam was built in 1932. You stroll the cobble streets and explore 140 historic buildings collected from the former Zuiderzee region.
The outdoor museum was opened by Queen Beatrix in 1983 as an extension of the indoor Zuiderzeemuseum, which opened in 1950 (the indoor museum doesn’t open until noon so I have to miss it). Most of the buildings are authentic while others are reconstructed replicas of actual buildings. A complete village, you can wander around and visit a windmill, lime kilns, fish-smoking house, steam laundry, drugstore, pharmacy, basketmaker, blacksmith, cheese warehouse, school (where wooden shoes are lined up outside the classroom), even a hairdresser, and visit the working post office. The harbor is a replica of its layout on Marken. From April to November you can see life in the village of Urk as it was in 1905, meet residents and watch traditional activities, like games and building clog boats, and demonstrations of crafts such as rope-making, cooperage, basket making and herring being smoked.
The Indoor Museum, “a treasure house of the Zuiderzee,” consists of a string of 17th century buildings (original and replicated), some of which were used by the Dutch East India Company. Here, various collections are presented with a modern approach: you can dive into a ‘Sea of Stories’ and experience life on the former Zuiderzee in this interactive exhibition. A popular attraction is the ‘Schepenhal’ (ship’s hall), which allows visitors a close-up view of historic ships. The indoor museum also displays artifacts from the Zuiderzee cultural past, including paintings, furniture and traditional local costumes (‘klederdracht’). (Unfortunately, it opens at noon and I do not have the time to visit.)
Both indoor and outdoor museums have several restaurants located in National Heritage sites, like the Hindeloopen Pub, the Amsterdam House and the Pepper House on the Wierdijk.
Admission is 22E (56E for a family); plan to spend at least 3 hours at the outdoor museum. [Note: if you are extending the boat bike tour with a stay in Amsterdam, you may want to get the Iamsterdam city card (www.iamsterdam.com), which includes admission to the Zuiderzee Museum, https://www.iamsterdam.com/en/whats-on/calendar/museums-and-galleries/museums/zuiderzee-museum]
Zuiderzee Museum, Wierdijk 12-22, 1601 LA Enkhuizen, https://www.zuiderzeemuseum.nl/.
Getting to Enkhuizen
I am relieved to see how amazingly easy it is to get to/from the embarkation point in Enkhuizen from Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport (especially since I arrived by plane on the same day as the boat departed): just walk down to the train (every 15 minutes) to the Central Station, a quick switch to the train to Enkhuizen (every half hour) for the hour-long, comfortable and scenic ride. The trick is to “check in” with a credit/debit card using the app, or purchase a ticket (14-16E) before you go through to the train by tapping on a pole (a conductor will double check on the train), then when you depart the train, tap it on the pole again, and the correct amount is debited. (If you don’t pre-purchase, the conductor can charge you an extra 50E; I did forget but the conductor was extremely kind in helping me buy the ticket online.) Then it’s just a five minute walk from the train station to the ship. You can purchase tickets in the vending machines at the stations or online on https://www.ns.nl/en/journeyplanner#/. The website can also be used to check the timetable.
Getting back to the airport is equally easy – we are asked to leave the ship by 9:30 am (but I am able to store my luggage there, so I could visit the city until 11).I time my touring to get back to the ship, pick up my stuff to get the 11:39 am train to Central Station in Amsterdam, then a quick switch to the train to Schiphol with more than the three-hours before my flight at 7:05 pm.
Boat Bike Tours
This was my second trip with Boat Bike Tours (I had the best time on their Bruges-Amsterdam boat-bike-tour – utter perfection with the biking, the boat, the sights along the way; be sure to plan to spend at least a day in Bruges before the bike tour to appreciate its enchantment).
Boat Bike Tours, which is based in Amsterdam, got its start when Channel Cruises Holland, a barge tour operator founded in 1977, added biking to its itineraries in response to guests asking for traditional Dutch activities. The new cruise-and-cycle concept was so successful that it was spun off as its own brand in the mid-1990s. Between 2000 and 2020, the company added more itineraries and ships. Last year, Boat Bike Tours merged with Islandhopping, a Croatia-based operator which also specializes in cruise-and-cycle travel (I loved the boat-bike trip in Greece that I took with Islandhopping some years ago). Together, the merged company, while operating under their own names, offers more than 70 itineraries in 15 countries, and has opened a North American sales office in Fairfield, Connecticut.
“With half of our guests coming from North America now, it makes sense to have an office here,” said Jana Tvedt, Director of Sales, North America for Boat Bike Tours. “We’re available when needed and familiar with what Americans and Canadians are looking for in destinations, experiences and ships. And we’re always happy to work with travel advisors, groups and charters.”
Each season, the company contracts some 50 ships including barges, motor yachts and sailing ships, ranging in category from comfortable to superior. Biking styles include guided for casual riders and independent (self-guided) for seasoned cyclists, with touring bikes, e-bikes and mountain bikes available depending on the destination.
Itineraries range from five to 15 days, with most being eight days, and cater to a variety of budgets and interests, from historic cities and landmarks to picturesque natural landscapes and the world’s best wines. The Boat Bike Tours concept is to enable guests to connect with local people, culture and nature, while traveling by smaller boat and by bike also takes guests beyond tourist hotspots and minimizes environmental impacts. (Our sailing ship, Leafde fan Fryslân, uses biodiesel.)
The big news is that Boat Bike Tours will be offering a newly built ship for 2026, Magnifique X, an all-suite ship accommodating 32 passengers, giving the company a new deluxe, superior category. In addition to the bigger cabin, the itinerary is also enhanced with upgraded amenities, support van, included lunches, and more sightseeing inclusions. The itinerary goes from Amsterdam to Paris with one night hotel stay in Amsterdam, then biking to Bruges, then a motorcoach transfer to Paris where there is a hotel stay. (Bookings are open.)
Among its most popular itineraries for North American travelers:
Amsterdam to Bruges: Cruise and ride through the Dutch countryside of Zeeland and western Flanders in Belgium. Tour world-famous cities such as Amsterdam, Antwerp, Ghent and Bruges, as well as picturesque villages, a Dutch cheese farm, the windmills of Kinderdijk and the magnificent natural landscape along the Schelde River.
Split to Dubrovnik: Hop from island to island in the South Dalmatia region of Croatia by boat and e-bike. See the town centers of Split and Dubrovnik, and experience the culture and nature of more sparsely populated islands like Brač, Hvar, Korčula, Lastovo, Mljet and Šipan. E-bikes help with hilly and mountainous terrain.
Cochem to Metz: Follow the Moselle River through Germany, France and Luxembourg, passing endless vineyards and stopping to taste local wines. See enchanting old cities like Cochem and Bernkastel, the once-imperial Roman Trier, the stunning waterfalls of Saarburg, the Gothic cathedral of Metz and welcoming villages in between.
The merger of the Boat Bike Tours and Islandhopping means that clients of either one can take advantage of a 3% loyalty discount when booking. Notably, bike tours prove superb for the burgeoning number of solo travelers, and each departure offers at least one cabin with a reduced single supplement.
For more information, contact Boat Bike Tours, 203-814-1249 or visit https://www.boatbiketours.com/.
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