Elfstedenroute by bike

The harbour at Hindeloopen on the IJsselmeer

Photo: Michielverbeek, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Distance
about 260 km (162 miles)
Country
Netherlands
Difficulty
Easy to moderate
Type of trip
Cycling route

The Elfstedenroute is a signed cycle route of about 260 km round the eleven historic towns of Friesland, the same towns the Elfstedentocht skating race links. Visit Friesland starts and ends it in Leeuwarden, like the race, and rides it clockwise through Sneek, IJlst, Sloten, Stavoren, Hindeloopen, Workum, Bolsward, Harlingen, Franeker and Dokkum. You can start in any town and go either way. Green signs show the clockwise route and blue ones the anticlockwise, and it follows the numbered junction network all the way, so the junction signs work too. It's free and open to anyone. Visit Friesland suggests four day stages and says many people take three to five days. You sleep in the towns or along the way. Nederland Fietsland lists cycle-friendly cafés, places to stay and campsites by the route, and Visit Friesland names a firm that books beds and moves your bags.

Visit Friesland sells the official route map with a stamp card for €9.95, or the card on its own for €2.00. Each town has a stamp post, and a full card gets you a certificate. The route isn't suitable everywhere for duo bikes and other adapted cycles, because of narrow paths, steps and sharp bends. Stage 3 alone has a narrow path to Wijnaldum that ends in a steep, narrow bridge, a gravel path to Berlikum and a shell path at Ferwert, and you cross the busy N357 at Marrum and again at Blije. E-bikes and tandems are fine. Trains stop at Harlingen and buses at Dokkum, and you can take a bike on the train if you buy a bike ticket.

Highlights along the way

  1. Stavoren and Hindeloopen: Stavoren is the oldest of the eleven towns, a Hanseatic port on the IJsselmeer that fell into poverty more than once as its harbour silted up. Hindeloopen has a small harbour and the Eerste Friese Schaatsmuseum, opened in April 1983 by Jeen van den Berg, who had won the Elfstedentocht.
  2. Tjerkwerd and Witmarsum: At Tjerkwerd the artwork Fyftjin en Fierder, by Pieter Jan Stallen, tells the story of the 15 races held so far and the hope of more. In Witmarsum a bronze of Pim Mulier, who started the Elfstedentocht, looks over the route.
  3. Harlingen and Franeker: Harlingen is the town on the Wadden Sea, with old warehouses, a whaling past and a good view from the dyke. Franeker was a university town, where Descartes was among the students, and it has a well-known planetarium.
  4. Dokkum: The most northerly of the eleven grew up as a place of pilgrimage after Boniface was murdered there in 754. On the quay is the turning point the skaters are famous for.
  5. The Aukje statues: Evert van Hemert gave each town a statue of Aukje, a woman skater, in honour of the women who have skated the race. They stand on tall corten steel plinths where the route crosses the water, with one more at Kolderwolde.

Distance

About 260 km (162 miles) in all, according to Visit Friesland, while Nederland Fietsland gives 256 km. Visit Friesland's four stages are Sneek to Stavoren (75 km), Stavoren to Harlingen (51 km), Harlingen to Dokkum (80 km) and Dokkum back to Sneek via Leeuwarden (53 km), and it says you can also ride the whole thing in a day. The yearly Fietselfstedentocht is a different, shorter ride of 235 km that starts and finishes in Bolsward.

Best time to go

The route is open all year. The day to plan round is Whit Monday, when the Fietselfstedentocht starts in Bolsward. Up to 15,000 riders take part, places go by ballot, and it has been held on that day since 1947. Friesland has little woodland, so there's nothing to stop the wind, and Wikipedia says the IJsselmeer dyke into Stavoren on that ride is known for headwinds. Stamp posts keep their own hours. In November 2026 Visit Friesland said it was still working on a way to stamp outside them, so check the hours on friesland.nl before you set off.

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