If you decide on a guided bicycle day trip, it's possible to pick you up at Amsterdam Central station. We'll make the short train ride together, collect the bikes and start cycling.
If you decide to go on your own, see below.
By train or bus
The most practical way to come to the region is by train, with direct lines from Amsterdam Central and Schiphol Airport. Generally 4 trains per hour, so you never have to wait long.
The train ride from Amsterdam Central to Weesp takes about 15 minutes. From Schiphol Airport about 25. See timetables railways : www.ns.nl. On this site you also find information on the stations' facilities, e.g. bicycle rental.
For an overview of the Dutch railways network, there's this pdf (75 kB).
For details on railways in our region, this one, look on detail map A.
Good starting points for bicycle day trips are stations Weesp and Naarden-Bussum. Bike rental is possible at both stations : in Weesp (Oldenburger Bicycle Shop) ; at the next station, Naarden-Bussum, also at the bicycle shop (no website).
More practical information on bike rental in Weesp : Day Trips, where to start.
Every town and village in the region can also be reached by bus. For lines and timetables of all public transport in the Netherlands : www.9292ov.nl. In Dutch, but this excellent travel planner is not difficult to work with.
By car
Leave Amsterdam to the south-east on motorway A1 into direction Hilversum-Amersfoort. There's always dense traffic, so some form of delay is not unlikely.
Just outside Amsterdam, after you crossed the Amsterdam-Rhine Canal, the first exit is Muiden / Weesp.
For Muiden best park at the motorway exit, and walk.
For a visit to Weesp, best park at the train station there. Driving into direction Weesp, you'll see the railroad. At roundabout turn right along an office building (Leeuwenveldseweg), and you can't miss the station and a large parking. The bicycle shop is on other side of the station (side centre of town, take pedestrian underpass). For the local situation, take a look at this Google map.
If you want to start your day trip at station Naarden-Bussum, use a route planner leading you to Stationsweg 3, Bussum. Or look on this Google map.
Driving your car on the narrow country roads is not always a pleasure, and many places are simply hard or impossible to reach by car. Parking space in the centre of the old towns is limited, and not for free. So best park somewhere outside and walk.
Cycling
It is perfectly possible to cycle to the region from Amsterdam. Easiest and shortest route is to follow the mighty Amsterdam-Rhine Canal. There's a bicycle path all along it on the western side.
From the centre of Amsterdam to Weesp or Muiden, count 45 minutes to an hour of pedalling. But you do have to get back later in the day, of course!
Following the canal to the south, you can't miss the railway bridge (see pictures above), with a bicycle path leading to the opposite side. Up there on the bridge, you'll have a nice opening panorama of the region, with Weesp, Muiden and the wide open space of the green polder. On a clear day, you can even see the bell tower of Naarden on the horizon and the first low wooded hills beyond.
