Day 1 Arrival in Hoorn
Day 2 Hoorn – Medemblik – 45 km
Day 3 Medemblik – Makkum – 57 km
Day 4 Makkum – Lemmer – 49 km
Day 5 Lemmer – Lelystad – 55 km
Day 6 Lelystad – Amsterdam – 57 km
Day 7 Amsterdam – Hoorn and departure – 55 km

Day 1 Arrival in Hoorn
Free parking at the hotel (no reservation required).

Day 2 Hoorn – Medemblik – 45 km
You will cycle on bike paths over the dyke, along bird wetlands, to Enkhuizen. Here you should plan to take a city tour and a visit to the Zuiderzee Museum is also recommended. You will stay the night in the old and pretty town of Medemblik.

Day 3 Medemblik – Makkum – 57 km
Today you will cross the Afsluitdijk. With the completion of the Afsluitdijk the Zuiderzee (‘Southern Sea’) became the fresh water lake of IJsselmeer. On the other side of the dyke, you will find yourself in the province of Friesland. Your hotel is in Makkum, a town known for its pottery.

Day 4 Makkum – Lemmer – 49 km
You will cycle through the Frisian towns of Workum, Hindeloopen and Stavoren. Each one of these beautiful, little towns has its own rich history. In Gaasterland the open landscape gives way to gentle slopes with deciduous woods, hedgerows and even cliffs. Your hotel is in the port town of Lemmer.

Day 5 Lemmer – Lelystad – 55 km
From Lemmer you will cycle over the dyke between the lake and ‘the new land’, a only sixty years old polder landscape. By way of the fishing village of Urk, a former island, you will ride to the new city of Lelystad.

Day 6 Lelystad – Amsterdam – 57 km
Your route will take you past the Oostvaardersplassen. This unique nature reserve will give you some idea of how the Netherlands would have looked thousands of years ago. Following the southern shore of the IJsselmeer you will reach Muiden, where you will find the mediaeval castle of Muiderslot. From here, a short cycle ride brings you to Amsterdam.

Day 7 Amsterdam – Hoorn and departure – 55 km
After cycling through the city centre of Amsterdam and crossing the IJ by ferry, a pleasant cycle along the former estuary brings you to Waterland, with its bird-rich peat meadows, ancient canals and watercourses. In the island village of Marken, where the houses are built of wood, it almost seems as if time has stood still. Traveling by boat you will arrive in Volendam. Over the old Zuiderzee dyke by way of the town of Edam – famous for its cheese –you will return to Hoorn.