Belgium then Netherlands then...Denmark next April

[PaulC70]

So, wife has retired and we normally only manage a fortnight off for hols due to me still having to work.
Anyway, I'm able to swing 8th April to 27th next year! So 3 weeks.
Belgium we have done in August and are in fact going back for a flying visit for 5/6 days in October so no issues there.
But the Netherlands (and then Denmark) will be very new to us and we will go via Dover/Calais ferry. So that's ok.

So, having gone through quite a lot of threads here I've noted a few things and wonder if they still hold relevance as some are a few years old.

Specific to the Netherlands -

So, money, cash is of course king, but card wise Im led to believe that visa's not widely accepted and mastercard is the way to go?

Driving - 3850kg coachbuilt - any weird laws etc different to UK there? I've read a post about over 3T having specific issues but lost the post now! Think it may have been about road tolls??
LEZ's I'll start googling them and applying just in case too. Already sorted those for Belgium.

Where to go? (remembering that I walk and she uses her mobility scooter, so no bikes or public transport) I mean I fancy amsterdam but other than that no idea where to go or see? Like to see some windmills I suppose but not bothered about clogs

Recommended stopovers - Kind of related to where to go I guess. But we don't mind campsites or aires or even streets if it's worth it. Anywhere you have stayed and just loved?

Timing - so April. Is this a bad time for any reason, anything to know about or avoid like specific public holidays etc?

I know it's all vague and I've not asked about Denmark but that's a seperate section and I want to concentrate on one country at a time

Any help from fellow funsters would be great.

 

[hja]

Loads to see & do in Netherlands. Kinderdyke is the line of wind pumps with interactive stuff and a boat trip. Might be worth a look to see how accessible it is. UNESCO world Heritage site. You need to go across the Isslemere via the dam at its entrance. Wonderful bit of engineering. I cant remember where but there was a really good museum explaining about the Dutch polders. In April the Keukenhof gardens north of Rotterdam will be open.

 

[Millcourt]

From Bedford, why not take the Stenaline ferry from Harwich to Hook of Holland to maximise your time in The Netherlands/Denmark if you only have 3 weeks?

 

[Loopyxlou]

We’ve been to Netherlands a few times.
We had relatives that lived in Zealand, so used to visit Middleburg and Veere a lot. Beautiful rural area. Last time we went we stayed at Stadt camping Middleburg, flat level access to the town, very close to the city centre. Lots to do.
There are other Stadt campings in other Dutch towns.
In 2018 we went to Amsterdam as part of the celebrations of 70 years of Land Rover - it was launched at the Amsterdam motor show in 1948. We camped at https://campinghetrietveen.nl/en/ which was a beautiful campsite in a small village (but with shops and bars) north of Amsterdam. There were bus services into central Amsterdam. It was close to the windmill museum.
We also camped near https://www.hogeveluwe.nl/en National park, near Arnhem. Again very flat, good paths. The open air museum is near https://www.openluchtmuseum.nl/en/ and the airborne museum at Osterbeek https://www.airbornemuseum.nl/en/home.
Both had day parking for motorhomes.
Worth looking at park and ride schemes, we parked in the p&r at Eindhoven one night - 4euros, easy bus ride - wheel chair friendly - into town.
Only stayed in two locations in Belgium. Urban camping in Ypres in August. Very close to the town centre, quite wet when we were there! And a couple of years ago we stayed on Camping Memling near Bruges, quite a walk in to town (we took bikes) but there were buses.

We travelled Harwich to Hoek this year. Night crossing. Not a bad price, early arrival in NL. We’ve also been Hull - Rotterdam (we live up north), but it’s expensive in the summer. We’ve also travelled via Dover. Crossings are cheap, and from Calais to Zealand it’s about 200km, 2.5 hours easy drive. Great if you live close enough to the channel ports.

We’ve had issues with credit cards in the past. Dutch Supermarkets don't seem to like our UK issued cards, so take some cash. Although this year our Mastercard was accepted by Albert Hein (supermarket). Useful if you’ve got a choice of issuers.

We love the Netherlands, great people and great country.

 

[Dall]

So, wife has retired and we normally only manage a fortnight off for hols due to me still having to work.
Anyway, I'm able to swing 8th April to 27th next year! So 3 weeks.
Belgium we have done in August and are in fact going back for a flying visit for 5/6 days in October so no issues there.
But the Netherlands (and then Denmark) will be very new to us and we will go via Dover/Calais ferry. So that's ok.

So, having gone through quite a lot of threads here I've noted a few things and wonder if they still hold relevance as some are a few years old.

Specific to the Netherlands -

So, money, cash is of course king, but card wise Im led to believe that visa's not widely accepted and mastercard is the way to go?

Driving - 3850kg coachbuilt - any weird laws etc different to UK there? I've read a post about over 3T having specific issues but lost the post now! Think it may have been about road tolls??
LEZ's I'll start googling them and applying just in case too. Already sorted those for Belgium.

Where to go? (remembering that I walk and she uses her mobility scooter, so no bikes or public transport) I mean I fancy amsterdam but other than that no idea where to go or see? Like to see some windmills I suppose but not bothered about clogs

Recommended stopovers - Kind of related to where to go I guess. But we don't mind campsites or aires or even streets if it's worth it. Anywhere you have stayed and just loved?

Timing - so April. Is this a bad time for any reason, anything to know about or avoid like specific public holidays etc?

I know it's all vague and I've not asked about Denmark but that's a seperate section and I want to concentrate on one country at a time

Any help from fellow funsters would be great.

We are currently touring for 30 days by bike in the Netherlands while our Hobby camper sits at home.........
There are something like 40000 kms of cycle paths (Fietspads) in the NL and Fietspads allow mobility scooters to use them. Fietspad users mostly have priority at junctions and also have their own priority lane around roundabouts. The Dutch people are extremely respectful of the Fietspads, so you should find a welcome and nice surprise when you are out with the scooter.
Large supermarkets definitely do not accept a bank card with 'Visa' on it - as most of our UK bank cards do have. It's not a problem, just draw enough cash from a ATM before you shop.
April in the NL can be very nice, with the bulb fields in the western areas, north and south of Amsterdam particularly colorful... It can be very British type weather at that time of year and cold if the wind is off the North Sea.
Wild camping is not allowed in the NL. But there are many 'Camperplatts' - small sites that have everything you need, we particularly like the ones that are part of a yacht haven. Yacht havens are not just on the coast, you will find them all over the country due to the extensive canal systems in the NL. These are mostly in the €10-20 region, but one at a yacht haven we looked at yesterday near Breda was €80 for three nights.
Enjoy.......

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[clanjones]

Well we are currently back in the Netherlands and never had an issue with either Visa or MasterCard.

We use our visa debit card (Nationwide - no charges) for everyday things supermarket shopping, coffee etc. Never had an issue. Even Germany is better than it used to be!

 

[CV20Bobby]

Been all over the Netherlands, love it . Used to have issues with credit cards in some supermarkets, debit cards were ok , were there this year again and ok with our Mastercard ( Halifax Clarity card) in supermarkets/ fuel / restaurants.

As you are heading towards Denmark I would recommend Dokkum , on the East and nice drive over the causeway dyke on the A7 from Amsterdam , very picturesque town , all on the flat with a beautiful big restored working windmill . Campsite on the canal side with easy walk into town and supermarket nearby . ACSI card accepted.

https://campingdokkum.nl/

There are Camperplatz on the other side of town but not stayed there .

I would also recommend, for Amsterdam

https://campinghetrietveen.nl/en/,

Lovely little site on edge of lake , in town of Landsmeer , bus stop with wheelchair access into Amsterdam central bus station about 10 mins walk from site , regular service so no long waits if you miss a bus , supermarket in town about 15 mins away.

 

[PaulC70]

From Bedford, why not take the Stenaline ferry from Harwich to Hook of Holland to maximise your time in The Netherlands/Denmark if you only have 3 weeks?

main reason is I have no wish to be on a ferry for over 12 hours whatsoever, dover calais is a sixth or more time wise and at least a third the cost. Plus we are doing belgium first and last so it's more convenient. Bedford to harwich is only about 20 minutes quicker roadwise too. So theres a lot more disadvantages than advantages there.
3 weeks will be plenty for us and the type of touring we tend to do.

 

[PaulC70]

Thanks for all the help so far, seems very comprehensive

 

[suavecarve]

main reason is I have no wish to be on a ferry for over 12 hours whatsoever, dover calais is a sixth or more time wise and at least a third the cost. Plus we are doing belgium first and last so it's more convenient. Bedford to harwich is only about 20 minutes quicker roadwise too. So theres a lot more disadvantages than advantages there.
3 weeks will be plenty for us and the type of touring we tend to do.

I understood that til last night when I checked harwich crossing for potential use after a rally next June. We will be 30 mins from harwich and the cost is 10 pound cheaper than dover. (Irish ferries not available yet) Not looking forward to 8 hours on there on daytime crossing though.
Interestingly for you, Dunkirk was cheaper than Calais for extra half hour on the boat

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[Pantouffle]

Maybe in 3 weeks round trip you wont have time to go that far into Denmark, as Netherlands can be fascinating. Remember that you will have to cross northern Germany to get into Denmark, and we have failed to find very much of interest on the Bremen or Hamburg route. Schleswig Holstein is interesting in parts, particularly as there is such a mixture of Danish-German culture and history. If you want information on southern Denmark shout out as we love it.

 

[kingmid]

Currently on the Pride of Hull waiting for it to depart Rotterdam having spent 4 weeks in the Netherlands. Since we were last here 6 years ago cards seem to have become widely accepted and we used a Mastercard from the smallest coffee shop to Jumbo.

We used mostly Camperplaats, a sort of hybrid of aire and campsite, but all had good facilities. Cost varied from €19 with EHU to €30- but that was on Texel, which is expensive. We sourced most places from Search for Sites and Camper Contact. There is no wild camping, not even by the Dutch. Roads are excellent - no van rattles- and virtually everyone speaks English.

Getting around, as others have said, is mostly by bike. We stayed at the campsite in Delft as our last stop. It’s pricy, but easy walk to the quaint town centre.

Have a lovely trip and we’d be interested to hear about your Danish leg as this is somewhere we plan to go to.

 

[Garfields]

Getting past Hamburg can be interesting
We have got past ok once but had a very slow crawl the last time we passed.
There are ferry's downstream of the city that can save a lot of faff if heading for Denmark
The one from near Cuxhaven was not operating last year but I think it's back running?

 

[PaulC70]

Getting past Hamburg can be interesting
We have got past ok once but had a very slow crawl the last time we passed.
There are ferry's downstream of the city that can save a lot of faff if heading for Denmark
The one from near Cuxhaven was not operating last year but I think it's back running?

Well that shows how early we are in our research as I'd not even looked that closely at the maps! Mention of Hamburg and having a look now realise we need to go through Germany to get to Denmark LOL!

 

[cyberyacht]

We did Netherlands, Germany & Denmark this year but took six weeks and still only scratched the surface. Bremen and Lubeck are interesting. On our return via the Airborne museum, we stayed at Camperplaats De Woerdt at Ressen, just south of Arnhem and would recommend it.

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[Bertilak]

We did 2 weeks a couple of years ago, Coronation time. There are some free wild spots in P4N that work, but the ones that don't feel like you're being cheeky aren't particularly pretty. Remember a lot of the coast has big banks; you can be 200m from the sea and not see it!
As mentioned above there are a lot of farm/eco sites which are good value (regulated to c €20/pn), with impeccable facilities, but with a 15 unit max, so maybe book up a few days in front if it's weekend or holiday time. Also loads of marinas also take vans, and have the full facilities.
We also fund getting a MuseumKaart very useful, the Dutch are museum mad, and this gets you in for free, (except a few top Amsterdam "attractions"). But to get a full, annual card you have to have it posted to a NL address, we used a campsite we'd be at later.

 

[Loopyxlou]

Getting past Hamburg can be interesting
We have got past ok once but had a very slow crawl the last time we passed.
There are ferry's downstream of the city that can save a lot of faff if heading for Denmark
The one from near Cuxhaven was not operating last year but I think it's back running?

We went to Legoland in Denmark end July, went via Hamburg. On the way north the traffic was terrible - google maps routed us way off to the east away from the city. Mid week.
Travelling south we were routed directly down route 1 through Hamburg. They appear to be building a new bridge adjacent to the tunnel entrance. Traffic was grid lock. And this was mid day Sunday.
Looks like those roadworks are going to be in place for some time to come.

 

[Dall]

Update on cards in Dutch Supermarkets. I asked again in Albert Heijn and was told to try using the PIN method. It worked !