As a family, we spent the summer camping in France. We love the great outdoors and the French seem to deliver this in a way which is unrivalled by any other country. As part of our journey home, we wanted to tick off a key bucket list item. Cycling in The Netherlands.
As a family, we love cycling and enjoy this from both a recreation and active travel perspective. The latter in the UK requires careful planning and parental safety guidance at all times.
The Netherlands is lauded for its cycling infrastructure and Twitter (X) is rife with videos of those from all walks of life and ability levels cycling. These videos tend to however be city orientated where cycling is the primary mode of transport. On our visit we wanted to see other sides of the Netherlands; particularly the suburbs and how cycling was in these locations.
We spent 5 days in the Netherlands; two of which were spent camping on the fringes of the city of Valkenburg and two days in the village of Zevenhuizen. We also visited Rotterdam and the city of Delft which has long been on my list of places to visit. I believe this gave us a good grasp of cycling with children in the Netherlands vs. the UK. It’s hard not to be downbeat about what we have in the UK vs. the Netherlands but I also want to be objective.
If you are in the UK I will say that cycling is a fantastic way to spend time together as a family, enjoy the outdoors, and stay active.
However, the experience is vastly different to the Netherlands and other mainland European countries. Let’s dive into the differences, challenges, and what families can expect when pedalling through these nations.
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Hello. I am Ryan and along with my wife Beth and our two children Matilda and Barney, we love all things cycling and exploring. We spend our weekends exploring fun places to cycle and discover and wanted to help other people do the same too. There’s no better way to travel than via bike and it’s an amazing activity for the whole family to enjoy.
