Travel stories

One of the things we’re most proud of here at Boat Bike Tours is the number of repeat guests we have. Jim, 76, has enjoyed six of them! “You never know what’s around that next turn,” he says, as he describes his latest experience on the Historic Hanseatic Cities tour – Hansa tour, for short. “We’re biking through woody areas, hilly areas, parts of the Netherlands none of us knew existed. It was a real surprise!” Kit Parks, of Active Travel Adventures, interviewed Jim for her podcast and wrote about…

Fred van Leeuwen has been leading Boat Bike Tours for several years. A native of the province of North Holland, his favorite tours are tulip-centered ones, partly because they are the beginning of a new tour season, and partly because of the tulips! Here he describes the popular 5-day Tulip Tour: “For me, as a tour guide, who has done most of the tours in the Boat Bike Tours program, the “ Tulip “ tour is a very special one. For many reasons: the Dutch landscape, the history, the many…

Romy from the Boat Bike Tours team swapped her desk for a spot on the Magnifique VI to enjoy a break and experience a trip firsthand. On September 2nd it was finally time to board the Magnifique IV for our cycling vacation from Amsterdam to Bruges. Our group of four ladies could hardly wait! Once on board we were warmly welcomed and the special corona measures were explained to us. Everybody followed them carefully and we didn’t feel unsafe for a moment. Thanks to this there was a wonderful vacation…

I was booked by UkuleleAdventures.com to travel with, and teach ukulele to, a group of ukulele enthusiasts aboard the sailing ship Leafde fan Fryslân run by Bike-Boat Tours. The 3-masted ship was to chug her way along canals – eventually to sail on the open sea – as we pedalled along polders and cycled through villages to each new port of call – all under the guidance of Captain Eelke and Hugo, our multilingual tour guide. My job onboard was to lead ukulele time in the form of classes and play-along sessions. Preparation for…

Ursula from Germany participated in the Sail & Bike Wadden Sea Tour with her husband and two friends. It was a wet trip with many sunny highlights: Saturday – The departure “We got up at 6.30 am and left on our bikes at 7.30 am for the German town of Viersen. After crossing the Niers river it started to rain. On Friday we’d searched intensively for my rain pants but couldn’t find them. So we just had our raincoats. The rain stopped shortly before we reached Viersen. We waited on…

Sailing and cycling is an adventurous way to discover the Netherlands! On our Sail & Bike trips you will spend the night on a luxurious three-masted ship. A great chef sails along and a crew member shows you the ropes – literally – so you can lend a hand if you want to. Blogger Jessica de Korte accompanied us for a week. Would you like to learn more about our Sail & Bike tours? We’ve made an e-book of our sail & bike tours, containing plenty travel stories and the…

In July 2020 we booked the Sail & Bike tour which sails on the IJsselmeer and docks at Frisian towns along the way. The ship is called Wapen fan Fryslân. We sailed together with our two children, aged 12 and 15. At first we’d planned a relaxing vacation abroad, but because of the corona pandemic we searched for a vacation in our own country. A friend pointed us to Boat  Bike tours. Clicking on the website, we became enthusiastic. The reason we booked this trip is that besides cycling, we…

While it’s certainly not guaranteed, occasionally people are lucky enough to find a special someone on a Boat Bike Tour. Tour leader Fred tells the story of meeting his wife on the Gandalf: On May 7, 2016, I started my work on the Gandalf to lead one of my favorite tours along the IJssel River in the east of the Netherlands:  the Historic Hanseatic Cities Tour.   Meeting Kris During the boarding procedures, I met Kristine. She came on board with a local Dutch friend of hers, who, as a…

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…

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…