Outside Amsterdam, Amsterdam

Just a few miles to the east of Amsterdam, you’ll find a beautiful countryside stuffed with small fortified towns, castles and fortifications of all sorts and ages. A perfect destination for a relaxed day sightseeing, and finding out a thing or two about Dutch history.

Starting point for example at the train station in Weesp, just 15 minutes from Amsterdam Central, 4 trains per hour.
The ideal way to move around on these country roads is by bicycle. This is Holland, so of course, plenty of bicycle paths around here. Bikes can be rented at the station in Weesp.

The small town of Weesp has a fortified centre. Narrow streets, a Gothic church with 13th century tower, a City Hall dating from 1776 and a couple of windmills. There’s a weekly market on Tuesday morning in the centre.

2 miles north of Weesp : fortified Muiden with it’s impressive castle Muiderslot (www.muiderslot.nl) . From Easter till October a falconer with various birds of prey. Around the medieval castle fortifications from later periods, and historic herbal and vegetable gardens (in the past the castle had to be self supporting).

Naarden (5 miles east of Weesp) is one of the best preserved fortified towns in Europe. One of the forts now houses the Fortress Museum (www.vestingmuseum.nl). You can walk through a network of underground tunnels and bastions.

The countryside between these towns is classical Dutch, with rivers, canals and lakes, cows and windmills. As the region was the key to Amsterdam, you’ll see forts and bunkers all around when you cycle along these green meadow-lands.

On the site www.guideholland.com you can find tips, routes and a lot of practical information on this beautiful region just outside Amsterdam.
There is also a Google-map with images of this region. Look on Google-maps for "Places of interest, just east of Amsterdam" in "user-created content".

Just a few miles to the east of Amsterdam, you’ll find a beautiful countryside stuffed with small fortified towns, castles and fortifications of all sorts and ages. A perfect destination for a relaxed day sightseeing, and finding out a thing or two about Dutch history.

Starting point for example at the train station in Weesp, just 15 minutes from Amsterdam Central, 4 trains per hour.
The ideal way to move around on these country roads is by bicycle. This is Holland, so of course, plenty of bicycle paths around here. Bikes can be rented at the station in Weesp.

The small town of Weesp has a fortified centre. Narrow streets, a Gothic church with 13th century tower, a City Hall dating from 1776 and a couple of windmills. There’s a weekly market on Tuesday morning in the centre.

2 miles north of Weesp : fortified Muiden with it’s impressive castle Muiderslot (www.muiderslot.nl) . From Easter till October a falconer with various birds of prey. Around the medieval castle fortifications from later periods, and historic herbal and vegetable gardens (in the past the castle had to be self supporting).

Naarden (5 miles east of Weesp) is one of the best preserved fortified towns in Europe. One of the forts now houses the Fortress Museum (www.vestingmuseum.nl). You can walk through a network of underground tunnels and bastions.

The countryside between these towns is classical Dutch, with rivers, canals and lakes, cows and windmills. As the region was the key to Amsterdam, you’ll see forts and bunkers all around when you cycle along these green meadow-lands.

On the site www.guideholland.com you can find tips, routes and a lot of practical information on this beautiful region just outside Amsterdam.
There is also a Google-map with images of this region. Look on Google-maps for "Places of interest, just east of Amsterdam" in "user-created content".

Just a few miles to the east of Amsterdam, you’ll find a beautiful countryside stuffed with small fortified towns, castles and fortifications of all sorts and ages. A perfect destination for a relaxed day sightseeing, and finding out a thing or two about Dutch history.

Starting point for example at the train station in Weesp, just 15 minutes from Amsterdam Central, 4 trains per hour.
The ideal way to move around on these country roads is by bicycle. This is Holland, so of course, plenty of bicycle paths around here. Bikes can be rented at the station in Weesp.

The small town of Weesp has a fortified centre. Narrow streets, a Gothic church with 13th century tower, a City Hall dating from 1776 and a couple of windmills. There’s a weekly market on Tuesday morning in the centre.

2 miles north of Weesp : fortified Muiden with it’s impressive castle Muiderslot (www.muiderslot.nl) . From Easter till October a falconer with various birds of prey. Around the medieval castle fortifications from later periods, and historic herbal and vegetable gardens (in the past the castle had to be self supporting).

Naarden (5 miles east of Weesp) is one of the best preserved fortified towns in Europe. One of the forts now houses the Fortress Museum (www.vestingmuseum.nl). You can walk through a network of underground tunnels and bastions.

The countryside between these towns is classical Dutch, with rivers, canals and lakes, cows and windmills. As the region was the key to Amsterdam, you’ll see forts and bunkers all around when you cycle along these green meadow-lands.

On the site www.guideholland.com you can find tips, routes and a lot of practical information on this beautiful region just outside Amsterdam.
There is also a Google-map with images of this region. Look on Google-maps for "Places of interest, just east of Amsterdam" in "user-created content".

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The Defense Line of Amsterdam is an UNESCO World Heritage Site. See for more info about the Fortresses of the Defense Line:

http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/tp/1aa8ba/

This 8-10 km marked hike takes you along two fortresses of the Defense Line of Amsterdam:

Fortress along the river Drecht (http://www.fortaandedrecht.nl/)
Fort De Kwakel (http://www.stelling-amsterdam.nl/forten/kwakel/)

The walk starts and finishes in the village De Kwakel, at the bus stop (bus 147) at the crossing Drechtdijk-Kerklaan. The route is marked with red/yellow stickers on signposts. Some parts are unpaved, so wear good shoes and avoid this walk after a very rainy period.

See http://www.9292ov.nl/ for public transport information. It e.g. takes 60-90 minutes by bus to get to De Kwakel from Amsterdam Central Station.

We had a good day out at the Zuider Zee open-air museum at Enkhuizen. Trains run from Amsterdam Centraal station to Enkhuizen every 30 minutes and the adult fare was 17.80 euro for the day-return ticket. The journey time is 65 minutes each way.
The harbour at Enkhuizen is just across the road from the station and a (free) ferry takes you from the harbour to the museum, which was about 15 minutes on the ferry.
The museum has been created by moving many old buildings from elsewhere in the Netherlands and rebuilding them, and re-creating the interiors. Many of the buildings have volunteer people working in them to explain about the building and the way of life.
There is a school, a chapel, a post office, sailmaker, blacksmith, laundry, coopery, fish curing (which you can eat), brushmaker, farmhouse etc - probably about 23 buildings total. And there is a reconstruction of Marken harbour, with a netmaker and ropemaker working.

Tickets to the Zuider Zee museum are 12.50 euro for adults, 7.50 euro for children 4-12, younger children free, family ticket 27.50 euro. The free ferry operates 29 March to 26 October 2008 - don't know the extent to which the museum is open outside those dates

We spent a little time afterwards in Enkhuizen itself - nice harbour and many traditional boats. We also went to the ship-in-bottle museum which is an interest of mine.

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If you are an aviation enthusiast or just enjoy watching planes take off and land then Schipol Airport is the place to be. As well as a massive observation deck called the Panorama Terrace which runs the length of the main terminal building there are a number of parking places close to the runway. At any time of the day you will see locals setting up beside the tarmac for a few hours of plane spotting and a picnic. Easy directions on how to access these areas can be found on the airport website. Schipol is one of Europe's busiest airports using five runways so there is something to see every couple of minutes. Schipol airport is a few minutes by train from Amsterdam Centraal. Alternatively, there is plenty of car parking available (charges apply) and of course a bike track runs around the airport perimeter.

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This marked walk of the Dutch Touring Club ANWB takes you through a polder (Middelpolder), located south of Amsterdam and east of Amstelveen.

The walk is about 10.5 km on paved road and passes mainly through pasture and along the river Amstel.

Along the way, next to the river Amstel, you will find a so-called "banpaal", a banning pole from 1625 AD that was used to mark the territory of Amsterdam for those banned from the city. Along the Amstel there are also some magnificent country houses.

The route is well marked with hexagonal signs with "Middelpolderroute", see the pictures. You can print the map that is among the pictures for reference.

Possible starting points:

The official starting point is close to Restaurant 't Klein Kalfje (http://www.restaurantkleinkalfje.nl/), Amsteldijk Noord 355, Amstelveen. You can go here if you have a car or a bike.

By public transport, you can pick up the route at point 3 (Bankrasweg, Amstelveen) on the map. Take tram 5 or metro 51 (GVB) direction Amstelveen from Amsterdam, get out at stop Zonnestein. Follow the Straat van Messina to the east, walk via Oostelijk Halfrond and the Machineweg to the Bankrasweg, which you follow to the south.

Another option is to take bus 165 (Connexxion) and get out at stop Machineweg. Bus 165 commutes between Amsterdam Zuid Station and Amstelveen bus station.

Please note that if you are between point 1 and 2 on the map (Kalfjeslaan) you have to take the bridge to the left just after the sports fields, this is not clearly marked.

When you reach the river Amstel, you have to go left to follow the route. However, you can make a little detour by going right, to the scenic village Ouderkerk aan de Amstel. There are many restaurants in Ouderkerk aan de Amstel, some of them with a nice terrace at the Amstel river.

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The Diemerbos (Forest of Diemen) is located in the (south)east of Amsterdam, where the highways A1 and A9 meet, close to the suburb Diemen. Sinds 1993, when fast-growing trees were planted, this has been a literary growing recreational area.

You can do a nice 9 km, 2 h long, marked walk through this unique piece of nature, that is surrounded by highways. Especially after wet periods it can be a very muddy walk since parts of the route are unpaved, so take good walking shoes!

The hike starts at the end of the Muiderstraatweg in Diemen, close to the junction of the Muiderstraatweg with the Weteringweg. There is a big parking here. The closest public transport is the last stop of tram 9 in Diemen. See www.gvb.nl for details.

From this point you enter the forest and follow the hexagonal signs "Diemerbosroute" of the Dutch Touring Association (ANWB). Also a shorter, 3 km, 50 min long, marked walk from Staatsbosbeheer starts here, with red marking, see the pictures.

The Diemerbosroute also takes you along the Amsterdam-Rijn Kanaal (Amsterdam-Rhine Canal), that connects Amsterdam with the important shipping artery the river Rhine.

You can print the map that is among the pictures and take it with you for the unlikely case that you get lost in this small forest.

Follow the link below for my Netherlands page if you are interested in more hiking information.

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The windmills are not used as much as in the past, but still do serve some for water flow and control. Used in milling and crushing grain, more modern methods are used, you think?
The tour of a windmill is really fun, however.

Not far from Amsterdam you will find the charming village Ouderkerk aan de Amstel. The village is divided in two parts by the river Amstel.

Ouderkerk aan the Amstel is a small village, about 200 years older than Amsterdam. It has many excellent restaurants, and some of them have their terraces at the waterside.

It is a good idea to escape Amsterdam for a moment and have lunch or dinner in this beautiful quiet village.