Amsterdam, as enchanting as it is with dancing crumbling buildings and street side herring hawkers, has never been as beautiful to me as when I learned how to bike on the city streets for the first time. That night, I felt truly free: wind in my hair, iridescent orange street lights reflecting on the canals, overcome with the spontaneous ability to go anywhere and everywhere. Unsurprisingly, many tourists (cyclists and urban planning enthusiasts alike) flock to this city to chase the same freedom. There are millions of itineraries for the city of Amsterdam, but very few focusing specifically on the cycling history that made this city so special!

If you're interested in cycling, cities or urban planning, you can learn a lot about Amsterdam just by riding through it. Therefore, we at Amsterbike, decided to make this itinerary for the most bike-curious of tourists.

This 3-day Amsterdam cycling itinerary follows the political fights, planning decisions and street redesigns that turned Amsterdam into the cycling city people recognise today. You’ll visit places connected to Provo’s White Bicycle Plan, the protests against car-oriented development in the Nieuwmarkt, Stop de Kindermoord and the mass bicycle demonstrations of the 1970s. Then you’ll look at what came afterwards: separated cycle tracks, traffic-calmed streets, bicycle parking and links between cycling and public transport.

You’ll still pass some of Amsterdam’s best-known sights, including the canals, Rijksmuseum, Museumplein and Vondelpark. 

Start at Amsterbike near Amsterdam Centraal, rent a bike for the three days and follow the route at your own pace.

If you’ve just arrived in Amsterdam, our 3-hour Amsterdam City Bike Tour also works well as an introduction. It covers much of the historic city, helps you get used to Amsterdam traffic and gives you a sense of which neighbourhoods you might want to come back to later.

Day 1: Early Cycling History and the White Bicycle Plan

AmsterBike → Centraal Station → Nieuwmarkt → Spui → Rijksmuseum → Vondelpark

Day one starts with the finished product: the huge cycling system around Amsterdam Centraal. From there, you’ll work backwards towards the period when the bicycle became normal transport and then to one of Amsterdam’s earliest attempts to rethink what urban mobility could look like.

Stop 1: Amsterdam Centraal and the underwater bike parking

Start your tour a few minutes from AmsterBike at the front of Amsterdam Centraal Station.

Before doing anything else, head inside the Fietsenstalling Stationsplein.

Completed in January 2023, it is capable of storing up to 7,000 bicycles, and therefore the biggest bicycle parking facility in Amsterdam. It, along with the IJboulevard bike parking lot behind Centraal Station, added 11,000 bicycle spots underwater.

The Fietsenstalling Stationsplein is located about nine meters underground and underneath the Open Havenfront, the body of water separating Prins Hendrikkade and Stationseiland. Boats that offer tours are still active on top of this parking facility.

Creating such a building essentially required the creation of a large-scale construction pit in one of the most important areas of transportation in the Netherlands. Works started in 2019. First of all, an old bus station and other structures needed to be demolished. After that, 22-meter steel piles were inserted in the ground, followed by excavation down to 8.6 meters below NAP. Construction pit was approximately 100x85 meters.

The design is also worth looking at rather than simply rushing through.

Architects wUrck treated the garage almost like an underwater interior. You enter via a long moving walkway, descend past rough basalt-like walls and arrive in a bright white space supported by more than a hundred rounded columns. A central route leads directly towards the metro hall, so someone arriving by bicycle can park and transfer to a train or metro without first crossing the busy square outside.

Once you’ve had a look inside, come back outside and stand on Stationsplein. It’s hard to tell that thousands of bicycles are parked underneath the water in front of you.

Stop 2: Nieuwmarkt and the old cycling city

Cycle into the historic core and head for Nieuwmarkt.

The history of cycling in Amsterdam begins well before anyone was thinking about designing cycle routes.

Bicycles have been around in Amsterdam since the 1860s, but they remained relatively expensive up until that point. This all changed in the early 20th century. Around 1930, about one-third of all traffic in Amsterdam was made up of cyclists, while only about 5 percent was cars.

The historic centre is dense, flat, and filled with short connections. The streets themselves have been around for centuries before motorized transport came into being, and the distance between places was naturally adapted for cycling.

Cycle slowly along Nieuwmarkt and the Oude Zijde. Instead of focusing on any particular bicycle infrastructure, consider the sheer scale of the city.

Short blocks, narrow streets and bridges mean that there just isn’t enough physical space to provide each person with an abundance of road.

This basic issue would grow increasingly important as the number of cars rose after the Second World War.

We can talk about Nieuwmarkt and its urban history for hours, but we will focus on that tomorrow. For now, cycle along to Spui.

Stop 3: Spui, Provo and the White Bicycle Plan

Find Het Lieverdje, a small statue at Spui.

Today, it seems rather harmless. In the 1960s, it was chosen as one of the focal points for the gathering of members of the Provo movement in Amsterdam.

Het Lieverdje had been donated by a cigarette company, making it a great target for Robert Jasper Grootveld, an anti-smoking activist, whose dramatic happenings during weekends at Het Lieverdje brought together the young anarchists that later formed Provo. The square became associated with demonstrations, satire and continuous confrontations with the police.

Provo came up with the series of propositions called White Plans, provocative ideas that aimed to spark debates on such issues as pollution, housing, consumerism and urbanization.

Among the White Plans there is the famous proposition of Luud Schimmelpennink called Witte Fietsenplan, or the White Bicycle Plan.

This plan proposed placing white bicycles around Amsterdam freely available for everyone to use. The bikes were supposed to function as public transport, as an alternative to increasing numbers of cars in Amsterdam.

But the plan was never realized as the extensive public program that Provo had envisioned. Yet the image of the white bicycle became so closely linked to the philosophy that it remains one of the most important symbols of Provo.

While it is easy to view the White Bicycle Plan as an early example of bike-sharing systems, the political context was wider.

In challenging the idea that increased wealth would necessarily increase car ownership, Provo was undermining an assumption that would be taken for granted for decades to come in transport planning.

Stop 4: The Rijksmuseum passage

Proceed to Museumplein and cycle through underneath the Rijksmuseum.

If you have ever seen pictures of the museum before your visit to Amsterdam, you would probably think that this tunnel was built as a nice cycle path.

It originally wasn’t!

The tunnel is part of the original museum complex and has always been used as a link from the city center to Amsterdam Zuid. Now cyclists are riding right underneath one of the biggest museums in the country in their everyday life.

This situation has time and again resulted in disputes on the use of the tunnel. Museum managers have, at times, wished to have more influence over the place, whereas bicycle organizations have claimed that the tunnel has always been a transportation path.

The result is the very Amsterdam solution: a huge cultural institution that has a functioning cycle connection running underneath its floor.

A useful question throughout this itinerary is how often Amsterdam allows transport infrastructure to sit directly beside, beneath or inside other functions of the city rather than separating everything into different zones.

Finish: Vondelpark

From Museumplein, head into the Vondelpark.

It is a much simpler environment in which to feel the social dimension of cycling in Amsterdam.

The bike is used entirely differently by those who ride in the park compared to those who commute through Centraal Station.

It is difficult not to miss that when people speak of cycling in Amsterdam as some sort of highly regimented transportation system.

There is a great deal of unorganized and messy cycling going on here.

Finish up the day somewhere in the park or close to it.

Tomorrow will show you just how close Amsterdam came to being rebuilt around an entirely different mode of transportation.

Day 2: Stop de Kindermoord and the Fight Against the Car

Nieuwmarkt → Jodenbreestraat → De Pijp → Museumplein → Vondelpark

The largest myth about cycling in Amsterdam is that the city just developed itself according to bicycles.

During the 1950s and 60s, planners assumed more and more often that bikes would vanish.

There was a growth in car use. Streets became wider. Motor traffic was considered to be the feature of the modern city and not of the old one.

Amsterdam was going down the path that many European cities went down too.

But the only thing that distinguished it was that some of its greatest road projects were rejected by the people themself!

Stop 1: Jodenbreestraat and the road that was never finished

Begin near Jodenbreestraat and cycle down towards Sint Antoniesbreestraat. The abrupt difference in the width of the streets will immediately catch your attention!

This particular street was widened as the municipality of Amsterdam was planning for the creation of an automobile-oriented metropolis. The municipality planned to widen Weesperstraat and create a four-lane road that will be built all the way through Nieuwmarkt to Centraal Station. The metro railway was to be constructed under the four-lane road.

Portions of the Nieuwmarkt district had already been demolished for the metro project before the citizens, squatters, conservationists and other activists protested against the large-scale project in the Nieuwmarktrellen. In 1972, the road plan was voted down. According to Amsterdam Bike City, the municipal council vote was exceptionally narrow: 22 against the road plan and 21 supporting it.

You can actually see the planning process right there on the street.

Jodenbreestraat is wide. The next street, Sint Antoniesbreestraat, suddenly narrows down again and goes back to the old scale of the city. Four lanes were planned to continue there – thankfully, they didn’t. A small monument with a tortoise near the transition commemorates the change of direction.

The struggle over Nieuwmarkt wasn’t primarily a cycling campaign. Residents were fighting demolition, large infrastructure projects and the destruction of their neighbourhood, but the result had huge consequences for transport.

If Amsterdam had continued building wide roads through the historic centre, the physical conditions that later made cycling so practical would have been very different.

Stop 2: De Pijp and Stop de Kindermoord

Cycle south to Albert Cuypstraat in De Pijp.

By the early 1970s, the human toll from traffic could not be denied.

There were 114 traffic fatalities in Amsterdam in 1970. While roads used to carry lots of bicycles, cars became quicker and heavier, with no space for cycling. Anger over child traffic fatalities across the Netherlands helped create a movement with deliberately shocking title – Stop de Kindermoord, or Stop the Child Murder.

Stop de Kindermoord concentrated its efforts on children who have been killed or injured in traffic and did not accept the notion that traffic fatalities should be considered a price to pay for the reality of contemporary life.

On 15 December 1972, protesters blocked a traffic junction at Albert Cuypstraat in Amsterdam. Photographs documenting the event still exist in the Dutch National Archives. Today, cycle through the area and see how different things are.

De Pijp is still busy. It is far from being a car-free area. However, residential roads here are narrow, speed is limited and cycling is a natural means of transport.

Look for raised crossings where the pavement or cycle route appears to continue across a side road. Watch how cars are forced to turn or slow down. Notice where through-routes for cyclists don’t correspond neatly with through-routes for cars. These are small interventions compared with an underground station garage, but they change how a street behaves.

Stop 3: Museumplein and the 9,000-person bike demonstration

Ride back toward Museumplein.

By the mid-1970s, campaigns for cycling in Amsterdam were increasingly well-organised and extensive.

Stop de Kindermoord, environmental organisations, neighborhood organisations, Amsterdam Autovrij, and the newly established cyclists' union came to coordinate their efforts under the banner of Amsterdam Fietst.

On June 4, 1977, 9,000 people participated in one of the bicycle protests organized by the coalition.

This protest began at Beursplein, travelled through the city and concluded with a demonstration at Museumplein.

At Museumplein, cyclists laid their bikes on the ground in symbolic act of protest against traffic-related death.

The demonstrations were becoming increasingly large-scale: Fietsersbond reported participation of 1,000 people in 1974 demonstration, 4,000 in 1976, 9,000 in 1977, and 15,000 in 1978.

Since 1978, municipal policy of Amsterdam officially aimed at improving conditions for cyclists. Over the following decades, the city restricted car traffic through parking policy, one-way systems and traffic calming while expanding separated cycle routes.

Finish: look for filtered streets rather than landmarks

Use the remainder of the afternoon to cycle through De Pijp, Oud-West, or the Jordaan.

For the next bit of your tour, don't bother looking for yet another historical plaque.

Seek out streets where cyclists and motorists are separated from each other.

There may be a street where cyclists can continue on ahead, while motorists must turn. Elsewhere, there is a bollard to stop motorists but leave cyclists free. Still elsewhere, there is an even cycle track that remains level around the junction as cars pass over it.

There are many such little differences throughout Amsterdam's bicycle infrastructure.

This is also why the imitation of "Dutch bike lanes" without traffic engineering will often lead to unsatisfactory results. A protected bike lane is of very little use if it dumps you into the middle of busy car traffic at every intersection.

If, on the other hand, you would prefer to experience Amsterdam in a guided context, consider taking one of our 3-hour Amsterdam City Bike Tours.

Day 3: The Infrastructure Behind Amsterdam Cycling

AmsterBike → Centraal Station → IJ ferry → Amsterdam Noord → NDSM → Centraal

Political pressure changed the direction of Amsterdam planning.

The harder part came afterwards.

A cycling city has to work on a normal Tuesday morning when thousands of people are trying to reach school, work or a train at the same time.

That requires infrastructure.

Stop 1: Centraal again, but from the IJ side

Return to Amsterdam Centraal, this time heading behind the station towards the IJ. On day one, you saw the 7,000-place Stationsplein garage. Behind Centraal is the second half of the project: Fietsenstalling IJboulevard, with space for roughly 4,000 bicycles.

This garage was also built beneath the water.

Its construction was particularly awkward because it had to fit between existing infrastructure around Centraal, including the road tunnel and the North/South metro line. Prefabricated structural elements were built elsewhere and then fitted into position beside the station.

Above the garage, the city gained around 6,000 square metres of public space along the IJ.

Thousands of bikes still need to exist somewhere. Putting them underground costs far more than installing surface racks, but it allows an extremely busy station area to function without turning every metre of pavement into bicycle storage.

In the 1970s, campaigners were fighting to keep cycling viable - now the city sometimes has to solve problems created by the sheer number of cyclists.

Stop 2: Take your bike across the IJ

Roll your bike onto one of the free ferries behind Centraal. There’s no ticket barrier and no need to remove your bike. The ferry simply forms another link in the transport system. Stand beside the commuters and watch what happens at the other end. As soon as the ferry docks, a large wave of cyclists disperses into Amsterdam Noord.

This is another reason Amsterdam cycling works at metropolitan scale - the bicycle doesn’t need to complete every kilometre of every journey itself.

People combine cycling with ferries, trains and metros depending on where they’re going.

Stop 3: Amsterdam Noord as an infrastructure safari

However, once Noord is reached, the journey should not be continued as a series of tourist sites – use the following section for an infrastructure safari!

Start analyzing intersections. There are situations where cyclists have their own phase on the signal light. In other cases, the cycle track makes a diversion from the main road and crosses the side street, providing more visibility for motorists. There are residential roads that prohibit all traffic except bicycles.

Cycling tracks in Amsterdam have red asphalt. However, it is not enough just because of its color. The safety of cycle lanes is ensured by their width, separation from the road, junctions and relation to the flow of cars.

There will be flaws too - the junctions are sometimes too busy. Conflicts arise due to mopeds and e-bikes, and now due to fast electric bikes. Bicycle routes can be overcrowded during peak hours.

Amsterdam is not a static model of cycling, which exists like a museum exhibit. The city modifies the cycling infrastructure depending on the dynamics of the flow.

Thus, it is more interesting to analyze Amsterdam in its incomplete chaos than a fictional ideal of “Dutch cycling”.

Stop 4: NDSM

Walk on to NDSM. The former shipyard provides you with an entirely different view of Amsterdam than the 17th century canal belt.

Industrial buildings are right next to street art, cafes, and new apartment complexes. What used to be an outer, industrial area is now getting integrated into a much denser portion of Amsterdam-Noord.

It is therefore the perfect site for the study of a planning issue that is relevant to recent times.

How does one keep the cycling convenient as the areas get denser and have more inhabitants and visitors?

Get some food or drinks in the NDSM area, and take the ferry back across the IJ.

Finish at AmsterBike

Cycle back to AmsterBike for returning your bicycle.

Now, Centraal will seem slightly different compared to how it was at the start.

The city which seemed to be one in which people just cycle around proves to be much more than a hundred years of evolving transport culture, abandoned road plans, demonstrations, policy decisions, and expensive infrastructure.

Amsterdam wasn’t destined to become a cycling city

The flatness of Amsterdam and its small city centre meant that the bike got off to a good start there. But of course that wasn’t enough to save it!

In the 1950s and 1960s, municipal planners were preparing for an age of cars. Road space was increased and cycling was regarded as an outdated means of transportation.

But some of these schemes came alarmingly close to coming to fruition.

Plans for a four-lane road in the Nieuwmarkt neighbourhood were stopped by just one vote in the municipal council.

Accidents on the roads led people to take matters into their own hands.

Stop de Kindermoord blocked intersections. Amsterdam Fietst filled main streets with hundreds of cyclists. Neighbourhood groups fought urban renewal and motorways.

And municipal policies started to change.

The result was not one bike path or one planner but decades of planning decisions on parking, street widths, traffic speeds, intersections, public transport, and car space.

These decisions are still visible when you cycle around.

Want to explore Amsterdam by bike?

You can rent a bike from AmsterBike and follow this 3-day cycling itinerary at your own pace.

If it’s your first visit, our 3-hour Amsterdam City Bike Tour is a convenient way to start your time in Amsterdam. You’ll cover many of the city’s most popular neighbourhoods, get comfortable cycling here and figure out which places you want to return to afterwards.

We also offer private bike tours in Amsterdam, which can be adapted around interests such as cycling history, architecture and urban development.

And if you want to compare central Amsterdam with the cycling environment outside the city, our Amsterdam Countryside E-bike Tour heads north into Waterland, where the road network, villages and everyday experience of cycling are completely different.

Written by Katie Teele