Ameland, A Dutch Seaside Holiday

Last October my husband and I went to Ameland, one of the Dutch ‘Waddeneilanden’, for three days during the Autumn holiday. We had a wonderful time and with Autumn coming up in a few months time, perhaps this article will serve as an inspiration to you as well!

We took the morning ferry from Holwerd to Ameland. It was nice to stand on the deck and watch as Ameland slowly appeared on the horizon.

As we got off the ferry we walked down the pier to pick up our rental bikes, which we had booked in advance online. From there it was about ten minutes of cycling to our hotel in Nes, Hotel Ameland, where we dropped off our suitcases (the bike place also offered a baggage drop off service). We headed straight out from the hotel on a five minute cycle to the beach. I was surprised the beach was so quiet; one of the perks of going during the autumn school holidays I guess! We had a nice walk along the sand, and dipping our toes into the sea, although it was a bit too cold for a full dip. We returned to our bicycles and decided to cycle around Nes to do a bit of exploring for the supermarket etc. and then we went back to the hotel to plan out the afternoon over lunch.

That afternoon we cycled around the right half of the island, following the cycle / walking paths along the dunes and around to the south side of the island, along the Waddenzee. As dinner time neared we made our way to Buren, as we had already looked for nice places to eat, earlier that day. Our choice had fallen on Neighbours (the literal translation of the place name ‘Buren’ to English). The food was delicious and the overall feel of the place was just really nice. Afterwards we had a final cycle toward the Waddenzee because it was near low tide, to poke around ‘het wad’ (the bit where there’s water on high tide but not on low) looking for shells and crabs.

On the second day of our vacation we decided to cycle the other half of the island. We again cycled along the dunes to the north of the island, pausing half way to go to the beach and fly our kites (we had some awesome winds for it). We then continued on, heading towards the lighthouse near Hollum. As we arrived at the lighthouse we discovered it was not actually open for visitors at the time, which was a bit of a shame. Our way back was planned past the remaining two villages on Ameland, Hollum and Ballum. We were back in Nes at around 1 pm and had lunch at De Herberg. We then went back to the hotel to freshen up a bit and we set off in the direction of Hollum again, where we had dinner at Cantina Dolores. The food was amazing, so good we wish we could go back the following night, but we were leaving the next day. The cycle back was in the dark so we stuck to the main road with lighting – it was a good thing we had made that same trip earlier that day!

Our last morning we spent taking it easy by walking along the beach for a bit again and then making our way to the ferry, as the weather was not going to be great the rest of the day.

All in all we did about 150 km of cycling during our three day visit, with only a bit of bad weather on the second day, just before noon. If you’re less into cycling however, there’s plenty of other things to do on Ameland as well! Have a look at www.vvvameland.nl. And if going out off season, check opening times for any restaurants or things you would like to visit.

Do you want to visit Ameland yourself? We booked our trip through Travelbird: www.travelbird.nl. They have great deals, with several destinations on Ameland! Our hotel cost just 120 euros for two for two nights. We booked our bikes in advance to get a discount, we used www.fietsverhuurkiewiet.nl, and they cost 30 euros total for three days – you can also add child seats, or be adventurous and book a tandem.

Depending on how you book your stay in Ameland or if you only visit for a day, you need to book a ferry ticket yourself at http://www.wpd.nl/. It was €12,20 per person when we booked, and that’s a return ticket.