Active Things To Do in Amsterdam

Amsterdam's centre offers more in terms of culture, architecture and socializing than active sports pursuits. But being a compact city of less than 1 million inhabitants, a 15 minutes bike ride north or west and you'll already be in the midst of wonderful countryside which offers excellent bike paths, hundreds of miles of waterways to explore by boat or canoe, horse riding, arial walkways through the tree canopy, endless amount of sailing and of course the varied activities that can be found on the beach, such as kite surfing. If you've not got time to head out of the city but need to unleash some energy, the restored Victorian swimming pools, endless amounts of guided and self-guided bike tours, climbing walls and canal bikes all give you the chance. Some of the links in the top 10 below are actually complete recreation areas which offer a whole range of activities. For example Het Twiske offers children's play grounds, horse riding, mountain biking, sailing, canoeing, biking, swimming and much more. At the entrance to the park there's a map showing the locations of each activity with an icon if you don't know the Dutch word. One thing you can be sure of though is that the bike ride to get to many of the activities will be just as much fun as the activity itself. Amsterdam and the countryside around it offer hundreds of miles of clearly marked bike paths with excellent signs. Along the way you may see a green hexagonal board with a number and an arrow. If you follow the arrow you'll come to a crossing with a map which shows each of these crossing points marked with a number. Simply note the numbers from the map and then follow them to design your own circular route. This is a national system of bike routes and can be used to get anywhere in the country.

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