Cycling from Amsterdam to Brussels

Today's route takes you through the Green Heart of Holland, a true cycling paradise, with characteristic peat and polder landscapes, small farming communities and picturesque historical towns such as Oudewater. It was to this place that women who had been accused of witchcraft fled from all over Europe to try to have their innocence proven by weighing. Finish your ride in medieval Gouda, discover this beautifully preserved town centre, visit the Gothic town hall and St. John's church. Stop off at a bakery to buy fresh syrup waffles (Gouda is the hometown of the famous stroopwafels) and pick up some Gouda cheese. If 49mi/79km is a little too far for you to cycle you can take the train for the last section reducing the route to 35mi/56km.
Stay at the Best Western Hotel Gouda with breakfast.

Follow today's route past one of the few remaining freshwater tidal areas in Europe: the Biesbosch National Park. Crossing a one-kilometre-long bridge high above Holland's Diep river, you arrive in the south of the Netherlands. Continue through village after village, with Brabant hospitality enticing you in to stop for a cup of coffee and a big slice of fruit tart. Bergen op Zoom, today's destination, is 800 years old and the town's narrow streets, old squares and hundreds of monuments testify to a rich and dramatic past. Be sure to feast your eyes on Markiezenhof, a late-gothic mansion built by the local noble family in 1485, that now serves as a museum and archive, before you settle down at one of the many pavement cafes.
Please note you will only be able to cycle through the Biesbosch park on days when the ferry is running, which is not daily. An alternative route will be provided for days when there is no ferry service.
Stay at the Grand Hotel De Draak with breakfast.

After a short stretch on the banks of the River Scheldt, change course to follow the River Rupel, the shortest river in the country (nearly 10 km long). Along the way you'll see abandoned brick works and chimneys as silent witnesses of a tough industrial past. A good place to stop for lunch is the old town of Mechelen, within sight of the church tower of 13th century St. Rombold's cathedral or the Grand Place with its fabulous architecture. Continue along the River Dijle to end your day in the delightful university town of Leuven, where the oldest houses date back to the 14th and 15th centuries. Discover the Grand Beguinage, a community for spinsters, set up in 1234, it consists of 100 houses and is now part of the university campus. Also visit the early-Gothic church of St. John the Baptist (1304) and the Old Market Square (Oude Markt), nicknamed 'the longest bar counter in the world' due to the enormous number of bars and cafes on the square.
Stay at the Radisson Park Inn Leuven with breakfast.

Leave Brussels