Biking in Amsterdam
A truly stunning, almost surreal aspect of Amsterdam’s urban fabric is the extent to which bikes have replaced automobiles as the primary means of daily travel. Many cities have bike lanes these days, but usage is spotty and the car still dominates, with cyclists a tiny minority facing a precarious journey aside zooming traffic. Amsterdam has somehow accomplished the trick of making the bike king. It’s a remarkable experience to stand on the sidewak of one of the city’s busy main corridors, such as Sarphatistraat (“Straat” = street), with the equivalent 4-5 car lane, but virtually no cars. Instead it is a quiet and steady procession of the distinctive Dutch bikes (known as Omafiets, with higher handlebars and a step through frame), bearing cyclists of all ages and attire, with only the occasional tram, and even more occasional car.
You might think that bikes, like windmills, have always been a part of the city’s character. In fact, however, by the 1970s Amsterdam had become bogged down by congestion and loud traffic in the same way as many other cities. City officials and planners then the undertook a concerted, decades-long campaign to change all that, recognizing that the flat topography combined with the Dutch commitment to fitness and the outdoors created a unique opportunity for a successful transition to cycling. The result has exceeded even the most optimistic projections, with Amsterdam now boasting the highest number of cyclists per capita in Europe. The bike movement has been spurred on in more recent decades by the shared commitment to reduce the city’s overall carbon footprint. Today immaculate bike lanes—marked by their mauve/pink color and often at a different grade than the car lanes—are everywhere, with the network growing it appears by the day (we saw several under construction on a recent visit in the summer of 2023). And Amsterdamians take to those lanes with astounding zeal for all aspects of daily life—commuting, grocery shopping, exercising, even it appears bar-hopping! We noticed that City residents have also uniquely mastered the art of socializing while biking side by side, hands often off the handle-bars for conversational gesturing, even into the wee hours of the night. The only exception is that we did not see a single bike going to a gas station to fill up! For a list of practical tips on biking, visit our Getting Around on Bike in our Amsterdam Destination Guide. In addition to those practical tips, here are four additional tips based on our observation.
(1) Before starting on your bike, learn the basic hand signals and special traffic signalization scheme for bikers (separate from the signals for cars and pedestrians), so you’re confident making the basic moves.
(2) Almost no one wears helmets, perhaps as badge of pride that the City is so safely dedicated to bikes that this extra layer of hardware is simply unnecessary. We did see a few shops that include helmets with the bike rental, but not all of them!
(3) Biking in the City’s most inner core can be slow-going and tedious to navigate due to the cobweb of streets and sheer number of tourists during peak season. For us, the easier and more satisfying experience is to bike slightly on the outskirts of the City, starting at perhaps the 3rd or 4th canal (or in Dutch “Gracht”) outside the core, and going in all directions from there, such as east to the Eastern Docklands or KNSM Island, or southeast to Oosterpark where biking is allowed along the main trails (unlike, we should note, the nearby Artis/Plantage park where it is not).
(4) Although Google maps is sensationally helpful in using the City’s trams and Metro, it’s a little less successful in aiding the cyclist. It tends to provide routes for other walking or driving, which overlap for sure with good bike routes, but not always. We found that the best course is to just use Google maps to chart a general route and use that as a guide rather than following it exactly as you might if driving.
Biking in Amsterdam
That said, BIKE IN AMSTERDAM, the undisputed Cycling Capital of world. It’s a fantastic way to see more of the City, to stretch your legs in a different way after perhaps many days of walking, and to simply feel for a few hours like a true Amsterdamian!
Happy Travels!
Zellie, your forever a traveler
