Cycling in Amsterdam

iAcesHigh

Going to Amsterdam with my lady in something like a month and think it would be great to spend some time together on the bike there - it's cycling metropolis after all, right? Either way, I was wondering do they have "public city bikes" for rent (either free or pay) or would we need literary rent a bike for a day at MacBike or some other company? If so, which one would you recommend.

Also, after some googling I found Yellow Bike city and countryside tours and both seemed quite cool - anybody done these and would/wouldn't recommend?

MacBike - LINK
Yellow Bike - City Tour - LINK
Yellow Bike - Countyside Tour - LINK

monument

Also look at http://www.black-bikes.com/

There is no Dutch public bicycle share open tourists (there's a mainly rail-linked one for residents only).

Idleater

iAcesHigh wrote: »

- it's cycling metropolis after all, right?

It's cycling _in_ a metropolis anyway, I wouldn't exactly call the amsterdamers model cyclists. There's more death wish cycling going on there than anywhere else in the Netherlands that I've been.

Having said that it's nice to get out in the open air and if you can't beat them join them :-)

stoplooklisten

There's a place to hire bicycles at the train station

iAcesHigh

thx. all - with this in mind we'll probably end up taking both above tours and that could be it - there is safety issues with renting bikes on day-to-day basis and I don't want to think about locks and where is safe to leave a bike when on a vacation :P Will write my summary once I'm back

stoplooklisten

iAcesHigh wrote: »

thx. all - with this in mind we'll probably end up taking both above tours and that could be it - there is safety issues with renting bikes on day-to-day basis and I don't want to think about locks and where is safe to leave a bike when on a vacation :P Will write my summary once I'm back

Locks are permanently a fixed to bikes, no need to carry around etc. If you have the key of the lock and the bike gets stolen, you're grand - once you have the key

Enjoy

moggie123

Just back from Amsterdam yesterday evening and bike hire places are everywhere. No need to prebook . They run about 14 euro for 24 hours . Company I used was greenbikes but blackbikes is another company .
Enjoy but they re a bit mad especially tourists on bikes after a 'coffee' .

iAcesHigh

Time to write a short review - we ended up taking only Yellow Bike Countryside tour due to weather and time problems, but that ended up really nice. The tour is something like 4 hours long (30-ish km in a bit less than 4 hours) with lunch break included (time-wise, not money-wise - eg. you pay for it ) and it's a nice, easy stroll through North Amsterdam countryside. We had several really old people on the tour which just proves it's appropriate no matter what your fitness level is. The guide was really nice and knowledgeable and the views you get on the tour are well worth the price (round €30-ish). Would recommend to anybody.

P.s. seeing how people ride around the city I don't think I would be taking city tour with my wife even if we had time :P

terrydel

Lucky the title didnt say 'riding in Amsterdam' :P