A Weekend Road Trip From Holland
Local Dutch wineries and an oyster farm, the best beer in the world at the old Flemish convent, and a beauty of Ardennes
Book now. Pay later.
5.00
1 review
2 days
Duration
8 of 8
seats available
$299
Price per person
Trip Summary 🍪
Hey, this is Nick! I’m your Ukraine-raised and Netherlands-based localie who is totally in love with The Netherlands. Most of the time I’m working on my international tech startup, but besides that, my hobby is to meet travellers and organise fantastic travel experiences, and adventures! This weekend getaway is an extraction of my personal favourite spots and hidden gems that you can see around Amsterdam in 2 days during the weekend. I tried to handpick truly best places, less touristic, and more authentic, so we can relax and experience something new and beautiful, get lots of great impressions to inspire us further on during the week. I gather small groups (3-7ppl) on this adventure, carefully matching every traveller one with one another, so you can feel the “Localie effect” — making new connections, new friends, fantastic insights and experiences that help reaching the stars!
Trip Program ⏱
Day 1 - Zeeland: The Land of the Sea
9:00-9:45 — Starting our adventure
If you live in Holland, I’ll pick you up from the place where you live. This is your day off, and your Localie experience should be smooth, relaxed, and convenient without any hustle to commute 😉 I’d suggest you to grab a bite before you jump in on a journey. Our first pit-stop will be later at 10. I'm usually renting an electric car Hyundai Kona if we're travelling as a small company of 3-4 people. Otherwise we'll have a Volkswagen Caravelle / Transporter van to accommodate 5-7 travellers.
10:00 — A brekkie in the old castle garden with peacocks
Before we hit the road, we will be having a breakfast in a very special place just outside of The Hague. That's the best way to get to know each other, and fuel ourselves up before the journey. The Duivenvoorde Castle was built in 1600x just in the middle of a pond. It was a home for the noble family for ages. And while many castles were being sold or transitioned into commercial property over time, this one still serves to the successors of that noble family. The property has public access, so we’ll have a chance to look around. There is also a nice local café where we can have coffee and broodjes — famous Dutch sandwiches — before we continue our journey. The café is located in the old flower garden where we can sit on a grass, and enjoy beautiful peacocks crawling around just like dogs or cats. Once we finished, we continue our journey to Zeeland!
12:00 — Entering Zeeland!
Endless plants of gigantic windmills, and dykes of the Delta project that bridges the islands — that’s how Zeeland will be welcoming us. Local wind power plants are giving a lot of green electricity to the country. For example, the Dutch railways are fully powered by the green energy, while all the EV chargers in The Hague are working on energy produced by Zeeland windmills. We will make a short stop to say hi to the sea, observe impressive engineering constructions of the Delta project, and perhaps see a very special Dutch sport activity — a rally of the cars equipped with a sail. This is subject to a proper (windy) weather.
12:30 — Tasting the Dutch Wine at De Kleine Schorre
Our next stop is a Dutch winery! While French and Spanish wines are more popular and well-known, Zeeland is proud of their local wine production, too! That’s thanks to a mild and wet climate. The vineyard we’ll be visiting is producing one of the best wine in The Netherlands which was also hand-picked by KLM to serve on-board their passengers. It is possible to taste all the sorts of wines, or just try a few of them — we will do it at their own restaurant at the vineyard.
14:30 — Tasting local oysters at the Oyster Farm
Zeeland is well-known for their oysters. After having a fine wine, we’ll jump on to another island to an oysters farm, or to the local restaurant. We’ll be able to taste their fresh local produce to complement our gastronomical experience. You see? Our road trip is definitely a very hedonistic adventure ☺️
15:30 — Wijndomein De Boe
This small private vineyard at Koudekerke is ran by the team of wine enthusiasts, and was founded just recently in 2021. We will support the local, and perhaps even get some inspiration to start a Dutch winery ourselves 😇
18:00 — Brouwerij de Sint-Sixtusabdij van Westvleteren
After the De Boe Vineyard, we're crossing the border with Belgium, and switching to the most favourite part of beer lovers! There is a very special type of beer that is called "Trappist". In order to be a Trappist beer, the breweries need to respect strict standards when it comes to production, advertising, and communication. But also, the beer must be produced within the walls of a Trappist abbey, either by monks or under their supervision. There are only 12 "Trappist" breweries in the world, 9 of them are located in Belgium. These beers are recognized as one of the best beers in the world in terms of flavour and quality. As the quality standards are strict, the production of the "Trappist" beer is limited. Usually, you can only taste it at the abbey, or in a special shops or restaurants around. We will have a dinner in the traditional restaurant just next to the abbey with the The Sint-Sixtusabdij 'Trappist' beer served.
21:30 — Arriving to our hotel in Belgium
Our Day-1 program has ended, and we're relocating to our hotel where we stay for a night. We'll be driving 2 hours to the area on the south from Brussels. Our hotel is called Villa Monceau — it's an old but well renovated villa located outside of the cities in the picturesque area. Our hotel is located in the French-speaking part of Belgium, therefore we may recall or even learn some French basic words on the way.
Day 2 - Belgium: The Best Beer and Beautiful Ardennes
Cost Breakdown 💰
Total cost
$299
Accommodation with breakfast
$62
Renting a car, fuel, parking, and insurance
$119
Nick's time and coordination
$89
The Platform Service Fee
$29
The price is per person assuming sharing a double room with someone. I rent either a 4-seats electric car, or a bigger van with 7 passenger seats. If you’re a big company of 4+ people — reach out to me for a special discount.
What's included?
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Transportation the entire 2 days: I'm picking you up from your place, and getting you back there in the end of the journey.
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Accommodation is included as well as a great breakfast on Sunday morning.
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An awesome community! I'm carefully picking every group to match like-minded people together. We make great friends sometimes after the journey!
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No entrance fees further on the route. All places have a public access, free of charge.
What's excluded?
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Drinks, food, wine tasting, and oysters are not included. Everyone is paying for themselves, including me. That's basically an only extra expense that you have to plan for the trip.
Additional information
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Your place is booked only after a pre-payment. Your money will be kept by the platform as a guarantee of my service quality. I'm only getting my reward after the trip and your positive feedback. If you would like to cancel, the platform makes a 100% refund until 24 hours before the trip. After that, we can't reimburse, as I'm renting a car in advance.
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Once you've paid for a trip, Localie automatically adds you to the chat with other travellers. There I'll be making a warming session as your host, so we can get to know each other even before the meeting! Meeting new people, communicating, making friends, and having fun is an important component of every trip hosted by Localie.
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The weather could be tricky. Even though Zeeland is popular as a sea resort, it could be cold and rainy. I'll let you know about weather forecast in advance, and will suggest what kind of clothes we should bring on.
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And finally, the interesting fact! Did you know that New Zealand was named exactly after this province of The Netherlands? We thank Abel Tasman for that — the Dutch explorer who was the first to reveal New Zealand to the world!
Reviews ❤️
5.00
(1 review)
Anastasiia Orlova
11 April 2023
This was my first trip with Nick and it was a fantastic time and day! I felt that Nick really loves the Netherlands and his Localie project. He was so polite and enthusiastic. So, I've been charged with energy and emotions for the whole week and I'm looking forward to the next meeting with Localie. I highly recommend everyone to get started in the Netherlands with the help of the Localie team.
The Trip's Host
Nick
The Founder of Localie
I’m truly a world citizen and it’s hard to explain my origin. Being born in Ukraine, raised there, I moved to Russia when I was 13, with my parents relocation. I never felt at home in Russia. However I found some good friends, and tons of inspiration there. With my constant dream to leave Russia, I found myself becoming a world citizen. When I was 20, I went for 4 months to USA on the internship program. There I lived at OBX in North Carolina. High five if you know what I’m talking about 😉 A...
Check all details with the localie, and book your next dream trip ❤️
Book now. Pay later.
$299per person
$150 per day
Book now. Pay later.
