Touring Holand

[storma63]

Hi All. We are planning to visit Holland at the end of May. Does anyone have any recomendations for attracions and campsites. We're sailing from Newcastle to Amsterdam but no other plans as yet.

Steve and Norma.

 

[bvddobb]

Give us some idea of the kind of things you like, and we could give some suggestions. We live there.


Verzonden vanaf mijn iPhone met behulp van Tapatalk

 

[storma63]

Hi Bart & Marga, We like historic villages, museums, mills, marinas, anything really but not big towns. We prefer small campsites.

Thanks Steve & Norma

 

[storma63]

Apologies for the misspelling of Holland in title, not a fan of predictive text..

 

[marshian70]

We were there last summer. The campsite we stayed at was large, so perhaps not to your taste, but a few must see places (there are lots depending on how long you plan to stay):
Zaanse Schans (village of windmills)
Volendam & Marken
Den Haag
Delft
Take your bikes - you can cycle everywhere!

 

[calibusje]

Hi Steve and Norma

Do you also like a car museum? At Den Haag: http://www.louwmanmuseum.nl/?sc_lang=en One of the best I've seen.
Maybe you can visit poptop in Noordwijkerhout, near the coast and left of Amsterdam http://www.poptop.nl/ They have many useful stuff for westfalia's and T5 california's. And a lot of second hand vans to look at. Some very old.
Also nearby poptop: Keukenhof, beautiful and very large garden with flowers: http://www.keukenhof.nl/en/

Didn't do a lot of campsites but the ones we've seen and visited were all small ones and there were a lot of them so that should be fine

Greetz
calibusje
Belgium

 

[bvddobb]

Let us suggest something away from the obvious (Amsterdam, The Hague, Delft, Gouda).

(small note: we will underline terms and names that you can easily look up on Google and Google Maps to orientate yourselves).
If you like small historic villages, and you arrive in Amsterdam, then we would suggest a round along the old coast of the Zuiderzee (now IJsselmeer, since it was closed off early 20th century with the Afsluitdijk). You will be visiting lots of small 16th/17th-century harbour towns that are now mostly very quiet, but were once lively and rich towns, all supporting the big Amsterdam sea trade industry of the 17th century. Make it a point to take the old dyke roads where you can. We have done that tour ourselves, and it is beautiful and mostly surprisingly quiet.
From Amsterdam, roughly do: Durgerdam, Uitdam, Marken, Monnickendam, Edam (forget Volendam - it's a tourist trap, Marken is, too, but more charming), Warder, Hoorn. (Close to that route you may want to visit the Beemster polder, it is an old polder, UN Heritage).
Then Enkhuizen (you may want to visit the Zuiderzee museum there, or take a ride on the old steam tram to Medemblik), Medemblik, Wieringen, Den Oever, Afsluitdijk. Depending on your time, you may want to do a round of Harlingen, Franeker (visit Eise Eisinga's Planetarium there!), Bolsward, Makkum. Or go directly to Makkum, and from there Workum, Hindelopen, Stavoren. Follow the coast to Oude Mirdum and then Lemmer.
From there to Kuinre and Blokzijl. Leave the old coast shortly for Giethoorn, and then through the Beulaker/Belter Wiede to Vollenhove, Zwartsluis, Genemuiden, Kampen and Elburg.
Once you are in Elburg, from there you may want to visit the Kröller-Müller museum. Then Amersfoort, Naarden, Muiden (visit the Muiderslot) and back to Amsterdam. We think you can plot most of this on Google Maps.

If you want to visit larger towns such as Amsterdam, Delft or The Hague, indeed do bring your bicycles. Park on the outskirts, and cycle wherever you want to go!

You should know that wild camping, or sleeping in your car when parked, is NOT allowed anyhere in The Netherlands! Only on designated areas such as camper sites or campings.
There are many camper sites around the country, but we never stay there. They are most times a sort of car parks, with lots of those big white giants in rows and rows next to each other. We wouldn't want to be found dead in such a place, but each to his own.
If you like to stay on smaller camp sites, you may want to look at 'Camping at the Farm'. Many farmers have small camping facilities. You can join their organisation SVR Foundation for € 10 a year, and then you can use their website and guide to find participating farmers and use their facilities. When in NL, we do that all the time.

If you decide to visit Utrecht, give us a shout! We could meet up for a drink and a beautiful medieval town visit.

 

[storma63]

Hi, thanks for all the information. Marshian70 and Calibusje your recomendations look really good. we will try to visit them at some point In the trip. We're there for two weeks!

Bart & Marga you have given us a lot to look at, your time and effort is much appreciated. Thanks for the invite to come and see you, we will let you know if we are close by.

Steve & Norma


 

[storma63]

Beware holland here we come! Cali secure on car deck.....both Norma and myself secure in aft bar on ferry. Set sail at 17.00 ...Let the fun begin!!

 

[Hotel California]

Nice , enjoy Holland !
It is a top country to camp , lots of free campspots ,very good roads, nice people !

 

[Skylark2.0]

We had a fabulous time in Holland at Easter.
We loved the Keukenhoff you'll need all day for that.
We bought Gouda in Gouda which is a lovely non touristy town. We drove from there via Vlist on a lovely back road past moated houses and impromptu windmills to Schoonoven. We then surprisingly drove straight on a roll on roll off ferry and drove down the south bank of the huge river Lek to Katwik. Katwik has 17 windmills, maybe more, we got to 23 once but think we may have double counted some we had a lovely boat trip and saw some archimedes screws that must have been 10 ft diameter and 3 times that tall.
We stayed in a cc site at Konigshof using camping cheques which were extremely cost effective.
We had a train trip into Amsterdam and went on a city sightseeing boat. When we bought the boat tickets we also got discounted tickets to the museums which meant we didn't have to queue to get into anything. We also saw Amsterdam from boat level which is a different experience to walking it. Another great day.
We loved it and will definitely go back. Preferably when there aren't gale force winds, rain and snow

 

[storma63]

Thanks Hotel california and Skylark2.0, We're having a great time, First night stayed in a small campsite in Edam, and tonight we're in Sneek, after a leisurely drive up to and across the Afsluitdijk, Stopping in Hoorne on the way. Lovely, altough the weather today is just like home, high winds and heavy rain but we don't mind. The heater is on...got free WiFi and later will watch a movie on the TV.

 

[travelrobrob]

Nice thread. Thanks for taking the time to post it. We just moved to Holland and are new owners of a Cali so this is perfect info. My goal is to figure out a perfect Cali cheese tour so this is really helpful!

 

[Ant Clerici]

I loved this thread - any recommended campsites in NL?
Preferably quiet and close to a National Park
Having been to Friesland (and really liked the area) its a bit far for our plans this July....so campsites to the southern half of the NL.....

 

[sapto]

Great thread! I love this country! My first visit was in 1999 for a boat/sail turn ariund the Wattenmeer.

Returned a couple of times since then. Friendly people and lovely country!

I loved this thread - any recommended campsites in NL?
Preferably quiet and close to a National Park
Having been to Friesland (and really liked the area) its a bit far for our plans this July....so campsites to the southern half of the NL.....

2 years ago we stayed in Harlingen Camping De Zeehoeve: Good Base for trips to Vlieland/Terschelling. Nice camping with everything we needed (incl nice sunsets)

Last year we stayed for half a week Katwijk Recreatiecentrum De Zuidduinen: Next to rabbits and deers! It was crowded however it didn't bother us. The sea was quite cold and the beach windy.