Bruges to Amsterdam Bike Tour

What I am left with is the memory of the wonderful people I met on the trip. People from all over coexisted, braved some very wet weather, adapted to continuous itinerary changes due to weather conditions and still had a lovely experience. Food and accommodations were excellent. Kudos to the guide Peter who spent hours on his computer sleuthing out alternate routes for cycling as our itinerary continually changed. We missed some cities and had little time in others but you can't control Mother Nature or "traffic control" on the canals. All in all we had a great time and I will definitely book another B & B trip.

Bruges to Amsterdam Bicycle Trip
I can’t recommend this trip highly enough—it’s a truly unforgettable experience. The bike trails in Belgium and the Netherlands are exceptional, offering a picturesque ride through beautiful countryside.

Our journey lasted seven days, with six days of riding. We spent an extra day in Bruges at the start and two extra days in Amsterdam at the end. The cycling route took us from Bruges, Belgium, to Middelburg in the Netherlands on day one, followed by stops in Zierikzee, Willemstad, Papendrecht, Gouda, and finally Amsterdam. Most of the ride wound through the Dutch countryside, with stunning views at every turn. We chose the A-level hotels. All accommodations were excellent. Breakfast was included and excellent at every stop.

Arriving in Amsterdam was an adventure in itself. By then we were grateful for five days of practice with the bikes—and with Dutch cycling culture—because biking in Amsterdam is intense. With bicycles being the primary mode of transportation, the bike traffic is constant and fast-paced.

Our group consisted of four riders, ages 76, 72, 70, and 32. Three of us started with e-bikes, while the lone standard cyclist switched to an e-bike by day three. We had hoped for tailwinds by traveling from Bruges to Amsterdam, but instead faced headwinds every single day—making e-bikes an invaluable choice.

The trip covered just over 200 miles. We rode more than 40 miles on two days, about 26 miles on one day, and in the 30-mile range on the other three.

Tips and Recommendations:
• Phone holder: Bring one for your mobile phone. The navigation app is essential, and you’ll want your phone mounted securely.
• Navigation: Before your first ride you’ll receive maps and route details, and you’ll need to download GUIBO, the navigational app used for the trip. It’s excellent—providing real-time, detailed route guidance. On days with route options, you can select your preference directly in the app.
• Bikes: The rental e-bikes were well-used but reliable. We had no mechanical issues or battery problems during the trip. If you’re accustomed to using mirrors, consider purchasing handlebar clip-on mirrors in advance, since the rentals didn’t have them.
• Ferries: Some routes require short ferry or water-bus rides. While most accepted contactless payments (Apple Pay or credit card), it’s wise to carry a little cash since not all ferries do.

All in all, this was an amazing trip—scenic, well-organized, and absolutely worth doing.

The trip from Bruges to Amsterdam was outstanding. The countryside in Belgium was beautiful. The bike paths were all safe, wide, and well marked. Arriving in Amsterdam during Friday rush hour was a bit of a challenge but not overly stressful. The accommodations were all very nice and centrally located in the towns/villages with the exception of Dordrecht.
We have recommended this trip to 3 different groups since we got back and they are all very interested.

Very easy to follow as Belgium and Holland are sooo geared up for cyclists.
Thoroughly enjoyed the whole trip. Organisation was seamless.

Bruges was a very cool city, lots of culture and beautiful architecture. The paths were well laid out and easy to follow.

One of our favorite vacations of all time. The route, although complex in some parts, was easy enough to follow using a special app (as mentioned by TripSite in pre-trip email). The tour sent us winding through beautiful farm country, tranquil villages, historic towns and some nice attractions along the way. And the e-bikes we rented had plenty of power and range so that the riding was effortless and we could add on extra distance without worrying about the battery running out.

The hotels they put us up at were fantastic as were the breakfasts. Overall it was a flawless trip and we look forward to do another trip next year

We are a family of 4 with kids age 12 and 6 and we bike regularly at home, including over longer distances. We had a wonderful time on this trip! The biking distances were just right for us, we enjoyed the solitude and self guided aspects, the maps and instructions were helpful, the hotels were great (including excellent breakfasts everywhere) and we loved the combination of the biking with exploring historical places and culture. We also opted to extend our stay in Amsterdam and keep the bikes, which worked out well for us. Everything related to luggage worked well.

The one thing that didn't go perfectly was the trailer bike for our younger son. The trailer was basically just old - it was giving out and even with my husband tightening it it was veering off to one side. This took away from some of the enjoyment of the rides on the last couple of days. We recommend the company overhaul their stock of trailers.

Great bike trip! Favorite city was middleberg! Be sure to enjoy the cheese in Gouda.

My wife and I immensely enjoyed the Amsterdam to Bruges tour. We'd do another Tripsite tour gladly. Great routes, terrific information packet with paper maps, nice hotels, incredible scenery, delicious food, beer. The starting hotel, the WestCord Art Hotel Amsterdam Art, was wonderful. The trip included breakfast at all hotels, a pleasure though it varied from hotel to hotel from great to just fine, but always with a coffee machine that made lattes!

I suggest getting to Amsterdam at least two days ahead, both to enjoy the city and to have sufficient time to check that the bikes fit you. We rented the e-bikes and that was great for the headwinds out of the southwest all week. For my part, I often used NO assist once getting the bike going. The Dutch bikes were surprisingly enjoyable to ride.

About the GPS tracks, here's what I urge you do. The provided GPS route are great but do NOT include CUE SHEETS. Although I have a Garmin, I really prefer using Ride with GPS (RWGPS) on my phone. So:

1. Download RWGPS to your phone and pay for a subscription so you can save the routes for offline use. That way even without cell coverage, they work.

2. When you click on the supplied GPS route links provided by Tripsite, they will open automatically in RWGPS. There is an option to generate a cue sheet. DO THAT.

3. Save the routes for offline use.

4. In your RWGPS settings, switch to metric units. We found it fun think in kilometers for the trip.

5. Purchase a phone mount. If you have one already it will likely not fit on the Dutch bike handlebars. I got two on Amazon for $16 each and my wife and I found it was fantastic for the riding. To get what we used, search for "TruActive Premium Bike Phone Mount Holder".

6. Bring a battery back and short cable for your phone. It will fit nicely in the front bag.

7. If using an iPhone, use low battery mode. There is no need to go to Airplane mode. With low battery mode, you get all phone features; the phone will however dim when not used. That's a minor inconvenience for the super battery life it will give you.

Thanks for the wonderful trip Tripsite.

O que mais gostei foi passar pelas cidades pitorescas e lindas do trajeto, ver o mar e a natureza singular dessa região. A manutenção das bikes deixou muito a desejar, por duas vezes tivemos que parar e buscar apoio para conserto, o que também ficou por nossa conta apesar de utilizarmos os telefones de apoio. Já tive outras duas experiências com a tripsite e as bikes eram ótimas, o que não posso dizer dessa vez.

Bikes allow a good level of immersion into local culture. The Netherlands provides a great example of a prosperous, healthy and environmentally aware society. My observations are purely anecdotal but we in the US could learn a lot by following the example set by these kind and thoughtful people. I would recommend the Tripsite unguided bike tour from Bruges to Amsterdam to anyone. All arrangements and accommodations were fabulous.

The route is carefully planned to include as much rural bike paths and beautiful country side. As someone who grew up in the Netherlands, I am very impressed in the careful planning of green and agricultural area versus urbanization. The route led us via these green parts of the Netherland I hadn't experienced before. The cultural aspect in the selection of stop=over cities is also noteworthy and admirable.

All in all a great trip and highly recommendable.

The biking routes were excellent! The recommended paths of the self-guided tour were well chosen, easy to follow, gorgeous and fun.

The itinerary for this trip was very scenic with a good mix of countryside and small towns. The hotels were nicely located and appointed.

Route: nice combination of countryside and small towns. The GPS tracks that were provided worked great on our Garmin device. Getting into Amsterdam was a bit unnerving so not sure if there would have been a little less busy route to the hotel.

Hotels: all were located near city center and within walking distance of town sites and restaurants. The Hotel Mondragon in Zierikzee was wonderful; the host at Hotel Loskade was very helpful and accommodating. The NH Bruges was an ‘upgrade’ and while the location was very good, the hotel itself was worn and in need of maintenance and upgrade. All hotels provided nice buffet breakfasts.

Bikes : the hybrid bike was comfortable and well maintained. The e-bike was comfortable and the battery had a very long charge time. The hybrid bike came with handlebars that adjusted with a lever however the e-bike did not. The e-bike required a multi-tool to make this adjustment. A crank arm and pedal fell off the e-bike while riding and the thread was stripped taking some expertise to repair. Thankfully, our travel companion brought a multi-tool otherwise we would have been unable to fix these two issues in the field. Our travel companions had a couple mechanical issues and were told to find a bike shop for repair. That is fine if you are in a large town during the week, but on the road there were very few. Highly suggest including a multi-tool in the repair kit that is provided.

We had a pleasant week exploring!

Your website should warn people if they choose a tandem bike, that only one pannier is provided for two people. No handle bar bag is provided.
An additional very low cost tool that should be included in every pannier is a bike multitool. You are riding a bike in the countryside and most times not near a bike store, let alone one that is actually opened when you need it. We had parts fall off bikes (e-bikes and tandem) that were not able to be fixed unless you had a multitool. A pedal fell off while riding, and of course no town in site for miles. We happened to have a bike multitool so we could continue on our ride.
The hotel provided in Willemstad was not satisfactory. We had low angled ceilings that you can easily bump your head on when turning around. The sky light leaked. The room had a bad smell.
The tour instructions for Amsterdam could have been updated to reflect all the bike path closures in the city. These paths had been closed for a long time, so alternate instructions to maneuver around the city would have been very helpful.

I loved the scenic routes through multiple towns every day. Take some time to stop and walk around in some of the along the way each day. The hotel accommodations far exceeded my expectations. They were all fantastic and in great locations. The staff at each were very helpful.

Be prepared for any weather. The weather can be unpredictable, so it's better to be prepared for anything!

Great to be able to see the sites at a manageable rate and to cover a lot of ground in doing so.

This is a tremendous bicycle tour. The coastal routes on the first two days were very nice, the small towns we stayed in were charming, and the ride from Gouda to Amsterdam on the final day was very memorable. The GPS routes were very reliable and the paper maps were helpful as well. The only negative was that the bicycles should have been in better shape.