A narrated Netherlands cycling video as I go out for a bike ride for the very first time in Amsterdam. I start in the Jordaan and head over to Vondelpark and ride past the Van Gogh Musuem and through the Rijiksmusuem making my way north up to Centraal Station.
Recorded in 4K at 60 FPS on Wednesday, August 3, 2022.
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40 Comments
3:00 the arrow means its a one way street except for bicycles
riding in the doorzone is a perfect example of a car mindset here its the other way around your door is in the bike zone so you better check before opening your door in driving lessons they teach you to always check your mirror before opening the door
29:48 the red sign with the horizontal white bar indicates the road has one-way traffic and you can’t enter from this side. The little rectangular white sign directly below it states the exceptions (‘uitgezonderd’). In this case (as in most cases in the Netherlands) bikes are exempt from the rule meaning they may ride the road (a cyclist may ‘drive’ their bike) in both directions.
Amazing lots of bikes on amsterdam roads
Bikes out way the cars. Cars also have to give way to bikes too I believe. Beautiful city.
You used your bell in this one ride more than Dutch cyclists do in a whole year 😀
6:18 It is not counterintuitive, you were watching the wrong traffic light 😄. The bicycle traffic lights are always on your side of the road (5:48). The traffic light you were watching was for people cycling to the left. There is the left arrow right on the light.
22:03 There was! Not just a sign but a fully-fledged traffic light, 😆 (21:28).
Pancakes are desert, not breakfast.
Where did you mount your camera?
6:19
stoppings in this city booms because there are a lot of foot traffic and bike traffic.
Nice tour! Thanks.
centraal is a nightmare for biking
A’dam is not exactly ‘the’ biking city of the Netherlands. It’s even kinda shit, compared to other, less known cities. But, they’re working on it. A lot of the current, basic biking infrastructure is, by now, almost 30 years old, and the municipality is modernizing everything towards more protected bike lanes, and less bike gutters. Hence, the road construction going on everywhere.
The àctual ‘biking city’ is Groningen, in the high North. It even got an award for it. Though, truth be told, it’s not a very big city, even by Dutch standards, so it was a bit easier to transform than a metropolis like Amsterdam. (Oh, and don’t make the mistake of thinking ‘Amsterdam = The Netherlands” A’dam in an outlier. The place where everything weird in The Netherlands comes together.. 🤣 Utrecht is way more representative, tbh.
The light where you got confused about the red or green and why everyone went? It's an American thing, mostly, Maybe Canadian too? Where the traffic lights are across the street. Dutch traffic lights are (almost) always before the intersection. Makes it less likely people accidentally drive onto the intersection while they're looking at the lights, and in the case of cars it often naturally pulls their attention to the bicycles on the side of the road as the lights are not overhead at all but the larger intersections, but to the left and right of the road.
Summer is road construction season in Amsterdam. That's just the way it is.
If the pedestrians are wary of the cyclists at a zebra crossing, they're tourists!
Bel etiquette in The Netherlands:
Ring once to alert someone you're there. Usually when you want to pass.
Ring twice when you're getting annoyed
Ring thrice when something is getting dangerous
Ring all the bloody time for the tourists
29:45 – no entry for vehicles (little bar underneath: bicycles and scooters exempt)
34:25 – that's the red light for the cars XD. Bicycles can usually just go, though you're supposed to give way for pedestrians.
What's confusing to "outsiders" is that you are not used to the local way of thinking. Locals obviously ride with common knowledge of how everyone else rides. It's part of the fabric of local life. It's no different than driving in a different city of your country or in a city in a different country. The locals know common thinking and attitudes; it just works. Outsiders see everything as strange and can be a fish out of water. From my life's experiences, I've noticed a very simple characteristic of people everywhere, and that is even in confusing or chaotic situations, people have this innate ability to work around others with surprising ability, not always without incident, but mostly. Fast thinking for city dwellers becomes automatic and act accordingly. Plus, locals know where they're going where outsiders don't; it's all new. Right now, it's first nature, always on high alert, but in time, it's second nature; you ride mostly without conscious thinking. With G/M, at least you won't get lost while you're busy getting lost. (haha) Have fun! Enjoy the ride.
Cant see any Dutch flags flying unless the flags Im seeing is the new national flag, hmmmm!
Keep sharing my kids and I love your channel! we have watched your channel from the beginning!
I walked my 4 days in Amsterdam because I did zero research before visiting, and it was all overwhelming. Travel ticket and bike are the way to go.
It's so quiet!
Just to offer a counter narrative to a lot of the comments I see here: there are plenty of Dutch cyclists who do actually largely obey the signs and the rules. It's definitely not the case that you have to be an antisocial asshole to fit in. 😉
6:20 – remember that unlike the US the traffic lights are on the near side of the intersection. The light you were waiting at probably turned green.
But still, that's a very confusing traffic light. I'm Dutch and I've never seen a traffic light for bicycles with an arrow. I'd probably be confused too.
22:04 – "there was no sign there for cyclists" – there was, but you went past it. I think it's because you're used to the traffic lights being on the far end of the intersection.
I enjoyed that ride
Thank you.
Cycling in Amsterdam (or any Dutch city) gets harder and more confusing if you don't know what the signs and signals mean (and when to ignore them).
the blue board with the cycle just means that this is where the bike path ends. the blue board with two people walking is not allowed to cycle because this is a pedestrian zone. and you shouldn't cycle on the highway. other than that you can cycle everywhere.
At the 21st minute into the video, where you say "there is no sign for bicycles", you already passed it 🙂.
Unlike in the US, in Europe the lights are at the beginning of a crossing, not at the other side, except for the pedestrian lights.
3:17 It's Lijnbaangracht, as it says on the road sign.
I've personally never cycled in Amsterdam, but it looks so pleasant.
Wow, pedestrians there actually move over when you ring the bell.
The guy in front of you at 2:10 is the same as 5:36. He just took the main roads while you took the "gracht". 🙂
For a first bike experience you took quite a risk by obviously not knowing anything about the rules and signs. Nice vid though.
there was a traffic light when you took a right turn at the rijksmuseum… you just passed it 🙂 and rode the bike to close to the road.
Well that's a much more realistic bike ride than the 'Not Just Bikes' channel shows on his videos. Good job.
5:11 that ticking sound is for blind bikers, so the know when the lights turn green…
You can almost always go both ways on a bike even if it’s one way for cars
“Doenst feel like im supposed to be here” bro you can bike everywhere you want, nobody cares
That blue sign with no bikes just means the bikelane stops and you continue on the road
In Holland there is one basic common rule and that is – smallest road user has priority in the city traffic!This is also for traffic on highway. So if you are on bike pedestrian in front of you has priority. If you are in the car -bikes and pedestrians have priority.. And all bigger cars, trucks, stock wagons have to grant the right of passage to all smaller traffic users. Problem is that no so many forigners know that rule, specialy those driving the cars and bikes.Cheers!
Pedestrians wary because the see bikes>peds>cars but you’d think peds would be first