Sustainable tours in Amsterdam. The specifics, not the adjectives.
Anyone can put the word on a page. What follows is what it means here on a given day: how many people are on the tour, what we hand you and what we do not, and where the money stops. Every line below is on a tour page too, with the tour that carries it.
Three things you can check before you book.
Eight on the group walks and the van days. Fifteen on the bikes and the private walks.
Those are the caps, and the van one is simply the number of seats. Eight people fit a pavement, enter a courtyard and do not block a canal bridge. Schools, universities and companies book beyond those numbers on request, and those days run with additional guides.
The capacities, in the founder's words →We operate as a paperless company.
No printed brochure on tour. Tickets and maps run on the iPads, and so does the material the walking routes need: historical photographs held against the modern street, the WWII route overlays, a flood-simulation visual for the dykes. Tap water for refills, and a bag carried on the nature stops.
Why we work this way →Tastings happen at a family farm.
On the countryside days the stop is a family farm where cheese and wooden clogs are still made by hand, not an operation built to receive coaches. On the Green City walk there is no tasting at all; the day ends with a list of social impact cafés and shops, so you can carry on without us.
The countryside day →Six routes carry this. All of them are bookable.
Not a programme you have to enquire about. Each one has its own page with the full route, the price and its unit, and what is included.
Two hours on foot around the Oosterdok and the Marineterrein, the corner of the city where Amsterdam tests what comes next. No vehicle at any point.
Eight centuries of the city on foot, and the tour that runs fully paperless end to end: maps, historical overlays and AR on the iPads.
The city by bike, the way people here actually move through it. Bike and helmet provided.
Out of the city forest into open country, with a stop at a schooltuin and a family farm where cheese and wooden clogs are still made by hand.
The long ride north: a free ferry crossing, fishing villages, a family farm, and a boat to Marken.
Villages and canals in one day, with a boat through Giethoorn.
This material was built for teaching. A lot of it gets used that way.
Water management, the circular districts north of the IJ, how a country that drove everywhere in 1970 decided to stop. Groups arrive with a syllabus and leave with a day that fits it, run with additional guides above the standard caps.
What people ask before booking.
What makes these tours different from a normal Amsterdam tour?
How many people will be on my tour?
Is there a tour that uses no vehicle at all?
What does paperless actually mean on the day?
Where do the tastings happen?
Can a school or university group book these?
Tell me what you want out of the day. I will tell you which one fits.
Some of these work better in April than in August, and one of them is worth skipping in the wrong week. Send your dates and I will say so.