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With thousands of kilometres of bike trails, beautiful scenery and so many cultural sites to explore, Europe is a bikers paradise. So no wonder that many cycle groups choose to go on trips by bike and barge. They can indulge in doing what they love best with the added pleasures of sailing and discovering a new country. We interviewed Mary Maraggio, a member of Bay Area Senior Cyclists in Cape Cod, about her and her club’s experiences of cycling through Europe with Boat Bike Tours.   When did you first…

When we look at the ocean, it seems so mighty and powerful that we can’t possibly imagine the landscape changing. Yet, that is exactly what happened in the Netherlands when the Dutch used impressive engineering systems to convert the bay of the Zuiderzee into the IJsselmeer, a lake that is now a beloved sailing channel bordered by picturesque villages.   A catastrophic flood forced the Dutch to create the enormous Afsluitdijk On the night of 13th of January in 1916, a fierce storm battered the coastline along the Zuiderzee, destroying…

Taking a vacation isn’t only fun, it’s also one of the best ways of learning about other cultures and histories that you may not normally be exposed to. Many charter groups choose to sail with Boat Bike Tours for just that reason: they want to give their students a unique experience that combines learning with pleasure. Last year, we had a great time hosting a group from the University of Alaska Fairbanks as we explored the rich cultural history of the Netherlands together. Here we interview Michelle Bartlett, director of…

Shortly after we started offering our trips again, Els van der Drit joined one of our tours from Bruges to Amsterdam. She works in health care and had had an intense period in the first months of the corona outbreak. Els really needed a vacation, but was hesitant to travel by plane. Boat Bike Tours seemed like the perfect solution. Flying to another country? A beach vacation? I don’t feel up to it, even though I really need a holiday. Then I see an advert about Boat Bike Tours. I…

Cycling from Amsterdam to Maastricht through beautiful Dutch countryside, Frederike would normally be found helping the marketing team as an intern, but in June she experienced one of our trips firsthand. Here’s her account of what tours are like as a solo traveler.   Hello Frederike! As an intern at Boat Bike Tours you’re normally in the marketing department. Did you gain many new impressions during the trip? Yes, definitely! Since the tour only took place at the end of my internship, I’d already gained a lot of theoretical insights…

Some say that the Netherlands is a cycling paradise on Earth. Of course, at Boat Bike Tours, where we organize the most beautiful cycling cruise vacations, we tend to agree! Cycling is such a strong part of our culture that we’ve compiled some fun facts about why we love it so much. We hope you find it an inspiring read! See our tours in the Netherlands 1. Cycling is a cherished part of daily life In the Netherlands we really love riding our bikes. The average adult pedals about 1,000…

Kris and her friends have been sailing together every year for nearly a decade. Here she tells us about how she got inspired to organize her first trip, and how it launched adventures all over Europe, along with lots of new friendships.   Planning a tour with friends We did our first [boat and bike] trip in 2011. My friend’s husband was organizing one and we were invited to come along. It was wonderful, but we didn’t have a perfect fit with the group, they were quite different from us.…

In 2019 Boat Bike Tours started a journey to become carbon-neutral by 2021. Here’s the story so far – as told by our sustainability coordinator Margriet Lakeman. At an annual meeting in October 2019, we were brainstorming how to make our tours more sustainable with tour leaders, skippers and office staff. Ideas were noted down on a big sheet of paper: Avoid food waste No disposable plastic on board Reuse cycling maps Slower sailing More suggestions were made until a skipper grumbled, “What’s the point? We did this last year.”…

Summer is just around the corner and the Netherlands is in full bloom. After weeks of being confined at home, we’ve just heard that restaurants, cafes and museums will reopen from June 1st, and from July 1st, campsites and hotels will also open their doors to visitors. We, too, will be hitting the waterways from June 17. For those of you who are yearning to have an adventure but care about safety, Boat Bike Tours offers a great way to travel while avoiding the crowds. Read about why our tours…

What is it that makes the combination of biking and sailing so addictive? Over the years, Boat Bike Tours has noticed that once people go on one trip, they usually come back for more. Some of them have even been coming annually for over a decade! So what is it that makes our tours so popular? Here are just a few of the reasons:     1. Enjoy luxury and adventure in one Often when you’re planning a holiday you have to make a choice: do you go stay at…