If you decide to make a bicycle trip in the more rural region east of Amsterdam, see below how to get there by train, by car and cycling.
With 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.

By train or bus

The most practical way is to take a train to Weesp, and rent a bike there at the station. That's only a few stops and about 15 minutes by train from Amsterdam Central (4 trains per hour till after midnight).
Direct trains from Schiphol Airport take you to Weesp in about 25 minutes (also 4 trains per hour both ways).
From Amsterdam Central Station take the domestic trains in direction of Hilversum/Amersfoort or Almere/Lelystad. Do NOT take the "intercity", this type does NOT stop in Weesp. All others normally do, but to be sure : always check the stops marked on the display on the platform before you board.
See timetables railways : www.ns.nl. On that site you also find information on the stations' facilities, e.g. bicycle rental.

Another good starting point is the next train station : Naarden-Bussum. But the bike rental there closes early in the evening, closed on Sunday. The one in Weesp is open 7 days a week till around midnight.
Bike rental in Weesp : Oldenburger Bicycle Shop. Rental Naarden-Bussum : no website.
More information on bike rental : 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.

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 all the way

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 low wooded hills beyond.
ATTENTION : in spring 2011 work on a new bridge over the Amsterdam-Rhine Canal started, one km or so before the railway bridge in Weesp. This is the beginning of a project that will take several years. Passage may be blocked at times, but then an alternative route should be signposted.

For a series of pictures of this region, click here.

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