friendly_fiend

Just wondering if anybody has any advice as to what would be the best map(s) for touring the Netherlands. I may be purchasing a satnav (something like a Garmin Geko) and would like something that has usable grid references. Also, I'm camping and it would be nice if I could find a map that shows campsites. I'm planning to travel from Hoek Van Holland up the LF1 and then across to Amsterdam then on to Nijmegen and the Rhine down through Germany.

Some I've been looking at:

Basic overview


Landelijke Fietsroutes deel 1:


And for the Rhine section:

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Northwestrider

You are going to have a great time. I've done only day trips from around the Amsterdam Airport over to Zanfort and along its coast, hope my spelling is ok for Zanfort. As for maps I had none, sorry, however would guess any bike or book store in the area will have a good selection. The Netherlands are really set up for biking, if you are coming from the states, you will be positively amazed. Good luck.

friendly_fiend

Cheers for the reply. I've managed to sort out my maps now. I'm from the UK and I've never cycled in the states before. Over here there are very few off road bike paths unlike the Netherlands. I've just done a test ride and camp this weekend and now I'm really looking forward to going.

zoltani

I found the tourist offices in holland to have a wealth of information and maps on cycling. It is a great place to cycle and I might head over there myself soon.

Metzinger

^^^Zandvoort.
The Dutch have such a well signposted route finding system that I very rarely ride with a map. Even when riding in areas I'm unfamiliar with.
Follow the LF routes, which are very good and scenic (I enjoyed a great ride along the LF4 along the Old Rhine to Utrecht last weekend.) But you can also branch out onto the Knooppunt Network (intersection network). A series of numbered bike route intersections covers the Netherlands like a web. Translate this page for a better description and photos. Turns between intersections are posted on rectangular signs with a number in a circle and an arrow. There are usually maps at each intersection, and it's a good memory test to try to hold a large number of intersections in memory as you ride. Enjoy your trip.

Metzinger

To add to the above: like the long distance routes, the Knooppunt network extends both into Belgium and Germany,
The LF1 in Holland is also called the North Sea Cycle Route. Here's a website.

flavio

Hi, I used these German atlases many times and found them perfect. Campsites are drawed on the maps. Yes texts are in German language (iI can't read anything of it), but maps are clearly understandable and useful.

In the next July I'll do something very similar to your trip: Rhine and Netherlands, but in the opposite direction (South to North). Some infos on my tour (maps and distances of the varios parts) are in this page:
Bicycle tour: Trento - Lake Constance - Rhine - Rotterdam - North Sea - Amsterdam

paulkal

I am using a free map on my Garmin oregon. It does shows campings and very good, updated weekly, but only Holland and small part of Belgium and Germany.
https://sites.google.com/site/openfietsmap/
Another one I use is https://www.openstreetmap.org/, this one has the whole of Germany.

Metzinger

Bookmarked and installed! Good one.

avatarworf

This is a good opensource map: https://www.openfietskaart.nl/

There are many similar ones. Type 'fietsrouteplanner' into Google and have fun

To buy maps, Falk have some decent regional maps. There's also the 'Sterkste Fietskaart Van Nederland' (10 euros from most bookshops, 2 will cover the country). Or, if you're lucky, when you get here Lidl will still have their very detailed bike books on sale for 10 euros each. Again, 2 books covers all over the Netherlands at a 1:75000 scale.

Also, don't forget about Paal Campings - free places to camp: https://travellingtwo.com/5233

And for very B&B cheap accommodation: https://www.vriendenopdefiets.nl/

friendly_fiend

Sounds good. The maps looked pretty good from the preview on stansfords.

friendly_fiend

Cheers for that. Definitely going to take a look at the free camping to save a few coins.

friendly_fiend

Cheers. From what I've been hearing the dutch cycle network should be pretty well signposted. I'm not going to bother with getting GPS now.

ScruffyChimp

I've taken the Harwich ferry and riden the North Sea Route north and south of Hoek. From the Hague onwards, the path runs through the dunes beside the sea at least as far as Noordwijkerhout (the furthest I went).

I liked Leiden, which is inland a little, but I think there's only one camping ground there.

friendly_fiend

I'm hoping to reach Zandvoort on the first day and then cut across to Amsterdam the next. How did you find the LF-1 route, was it just a continous path? Also, I've heard that it's easiest to ride north because of the south-westerly breeze from the gulf, did you notice much difference between heading north and south?

Cheers.

stevnim

If you get a chance, check out Kinderdijk. It's awesome!

https://www.kinderdijk.com/index.htm

avatarworf

The network is reasonably well signposted, but sometimes it can still let you down. I'd at least get a map. The "Sterkste Fietskaart Van Nederland" costs 10 euros for the northern half of the country and will be quite helpful for you. For the paal campings, a GPS is almost essential, because they are not well marked at all until you get very close to them. That's good in terms of security (no one passing on nearby paths knows they're there) but not if you're trying to find them without a GPS or without having looked on Google in detail beforehand.