Netherlands
Hi
Looking at the Netherlands spring this year.
It will be our first trip there. Choosing it as hubby now better on his e bike than walking.
Any info. for campsites / areas would be good.
thanks
Comments
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The display garden at Keukenhof is a must for many people in the Spring - but where would you like to go after that ? A good guide book will help you , as it’s 200 miles from the top to the bottom of the country . And there all sorts of sites - some farm based, a bit bigger than CLs, and some which are big, busy and smart. Your move!
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We are off to NL in May. First thing I'd ask is where are you travelling from as the Harwich to Hook of Holland crossing is excellent value if booked through the club. We are paying £147 for car and caravan, having paid extra for a cabin as we will be driving through the night from to get a morning crossing and will appreciate a lie down.
We were going to start our holiday at City camping in Delft | Delftse Hout but found our arrival coincided with a short peak cost period. We have booked it for later in our stay through the club, as it was cheaper than booking direct and is no longer ACSI.
We visited the site in 2022 and left very impressed. Turn right out of the gate and it is a short cycle ride into a truly wonderful town or left and you are directly into a national park. Train and Tram links from Delft are excellent.
We will be starting our holiday in the centre of NL at RCN het Grote Bos | Holiday park in Utrechtse Heuvelrug (Doorn) This site is available on ACSI discount and we booked direct with the site.
I'm sure from here you will get advised by many to head north, which we may do one day, but we are not particularly taken with the openness of the scenery it offers. This time around we are heading back via Eurotunnel [booked through the club] and so dropping down into Belgium at Welcome to Camping kinderveugde This site allows a leisurely rise for the tunnel back and then the 300 mile trip home to arrive early evening.
Whatever you decide I'm sure you will love it.
Colin
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I would agree with ET that as you are there in the Spring Keukenhof is well worth a visit. We have also stayed at Delft. If you want you can take the train to Amsterdam from Delft station. The Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum both worth exploring.
If there is anywhere on earth designed for bikes it's the Netherlands, although Milton Keynes comes a close second😊
David
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Went for a month in Summer 2025 and thoroughly enjoyed it, though we did get exceptional weather. Cycling is out of this world (there are lots of e-bikes out there), with very good infrastructure, there is a very good free app Efita Cycling which will give local routes,. There are also lots of non cycling things to do and see, with good public transport links. Used the Harwich to Hook of Holland day crossing which is great value. Then 4 sites with a week at each. Delftse Hout (which is only around 45 mins from the ferry), Arendhorst https://arendshorst.nl/, Valkenburg , and Camping Wulpen . The first 3 were booked with the club, and easy direct booking at Wulpen. All the sites were good. Ended with a couple of nights back at Delftse Hout so easy to get to ferry. English is very widely spoken and the Dutch people are very helpful and friendly. Enjoy your planning.😀
Jonathan
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I think we must be the only British visitors who didn’t stay at the Delft campsite and didn’t do any cycling.. We just followed our own interests which are probably different from everyone else’s,
So we went to talk to Piet Oudolf, tne garden designer, wangled a tour of his own private garden and came away with plants. We went to look at Van Gogh paintings rather than Rembrandts - they are in a gallery in the Hoge Veluwe national park. We tucked in to a Rijsttafel Indonesian feast while we were in Amsterdam and made a bee line for man smoking herrings in an oil drum in the open air museum at Enkhuisen. Eating hot kippers with your hands is tasty but messy. I wandered the Amsterdam Red Light district with my wife firmly gripping one arm and my daughter the other - while one of the pimps was shouting about a family price for the three of us. We were pleased that Het Loo palace in the east of the country had re opened - it’s cool. We thought Middelburg in Zeeland was one of the nicest cities, and not overrun with too many other tourists. We found that the Dutch town of Sluys is a good base for the Belgian town of Bruges- which definitely is overrun with tourists. And although the Heineken brewery tour was pretty boring, the free bar in their hospitality suite got cheerfully rowdy as they just kept pouring drinks. We staggered out.0 -
You don't say what your interests are or how long you want to go for so its a bit difficult giving specifics.
We've toured the Netherlands on many occasions from north to south and west to east and have used all sorts of sites from popular beach sites (mainly to make driving to the ferry easy) to small farm sites. All of the holidays have been out of high season but you will find sites very busy in National holidays, these include Easter, the Kings Day at the end of April, Liberation day in early May, Ascension (I think its mid May this year) and Whitsun (late May). I mention these as the Dutch really like Touring and sites can get full at these times plus you'll pay more. We toured 3 years ago in this period and pre booked the first couple of sites then rang ahead a couple of days before moving on to make sure sites had availability.
We used a combination of
and
You'll have no trouble enjoying the cycling. As mentioned above it is fantastic.
If you want to let us know specifics, hobby wise, then I'm sure members will provide information.
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You could also look at using some of the Netherlands Caravan Club sites, as far as I am aware this Club still has a reciprocal agreement with them to allow them to be used. We have used 2 of their sites in the past, and were made very welcome, even being invited to social events on the site.
Sites are possibly a little more basic than refurbished CAMC sites, but all have EHU and very clean facility blocks. Prices are low compared to CAMC sites. You do have to contact them to book first, though on one we just dropped in solo to check first and they said we could come that day if we wished. It is all very relaxed.
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Agree with you about Middleburg @eurortraveller. Whilst we haven't been caravanning in Holland, I've sailed there quite a few times. On one occasion, entered via Vlissingnen, stayed in Middleburg where, I remember there is a dedicated pontoon for you to moor whilst you do your shopping - and then on, up the canal to the Veerse Meer. It's a boater's paradise😀. The Dutch people are just so friendly and welcoming.
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Verse Meer and Middleburg, aahhh, lovely memories. I remember them well. We went to the market there, parking on the outskirts (staying on a small farm site nearby). 20 yards after getting out of the car I was asked for directions, a common occurrence for me. The chap had haltingly poor German and asked his wife in English what a certain word was. I let him finish then told him I was British and it was ok to park there. Fortunately he had a sense of humour. Super place. OH adored Verse Meer and Zieriksee as they had Speciality Liquorice shops, Zout in Dutch.
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The Netherlands sounds perfect - especially for cycling! Take a look at our Netherlands page where you can view the campsites we have on our network and read some reviews.
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Many years ago I stayed at Camping Koingshof as part of a Caravan Club tour to the bulb fields. It was very easy to cycle everywhere and having a caravan at the time we hardly used the car. Both the seaside resort of Katwijk and the university town of Leiden are easily accessible and worth visiting. I also recall there was a nearby railway station for trains into Amsterdam.
A few years later with a motorhome, we passed through the Netherlands on the way to Norway and we stopped off at Arnhem staying at Camping Warnsborn to visit the WW2 scenes of Operation Market Garden. An eye opening experience. The nearby National Parks are great for cycling.
The Netherlands is a great place to visit.
peedee
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