Riding in the Netherlands: what visiting riders need to know

Carry your licence, registration document and insurance certificate. EU licences are valid as they are; UK photocard licences don't need an International Driving Permit. UK-registered bikes need no green card, according to the Motor Insurers’ Bureau, and need a UK identifier on the rear.

There's no vignette and no motorway toll for motorcycles. The tolls you may meet are on a few tunnels. The Westerschelde tunnel in Zeeland, the old shortcut between Zeeuws-Vlaanderen and the rest of the country, has been made toll-free for cars and motorcycles. The Kiltunnel near Dordrecht still charges a toll by vehicle class; check the rate on the operator's site.

A helmet is compulsory for rider and passenger on a motorcycle. Ride in proper kit; Dutch weather turns quickly and crosswinds on the dykes and bridges are strong.

Road	Limit
Motorways, 06:00 to 19:00	100 km/h
Motorways, 19:00 to 06:00	120 or 130 km/h, as signed
Motorcycle with a trailer	90 km/h

Motorcycles share the car limits. The daytime 100 km/h limit is shown on signs with a "6–19 h" plate; outside those hours the higher posted limit applies. Many sections have their own posted limits and overhead gantries that change with traffic, so watch the signs.

Belgium's written filtering rule stops at the border. Before you filter in Dutch traffic, check the current Dutch rules on the Your Europe road rules page for the Netherlands. Never ride in the emergency lane or on the hard shoulder.

The Dutch roads riders seek out are the dyke roads and the few hills in South Limburg. Many dyke tops are narrow and shared with cyclists and farm traffic, and some are closed to motor traffic. Follow the signs, and keep noise down through villages.

Dutch cities set environmental zones (milieuzones) under one national system. The rules are written for cars, vans, mopeds and scooters, and differ by city. Check your motorcycle and the city you are riding into on the official milieuzones.nl site before you go.

Fuel is easy to find on the motorways and in towns. The riding season runs from spring to autumn; wind is a bigger factor than cold.

The Netherlands is a transit country for most touring riders, and the main skill is sharing the road with bicycles. Cycle paths, often in red asphalt, run alongside most roads, and they carry fast e-bikes and, in places, mopeds and scooters as well as ordinary bikes. At junctions and roundabouts, cyclists may cross your path from both directions; look for the shark's-teeth give-way markings and assume they have right of way until the road tells you otherwise.

If you have a spare day, the Netherlands does have riding of its own. The dyke roads along the big rivers, the Lek and the Waal, wind with the water and give long views over the polders; pick the ones open to motor traffic and ride them on a weekday, when the cyclists are fewer. The Veluwe, the heath and forest north of Arnhem, has quiet roads through the trees. In the far south, South Limburg has the country's only real hills, with short climbs and sunken lanes between Maastricht and Vaals that feel more like the Ardennes next door.

The weather to plan around is wind. Crossings of the big estuaries and the long, exposed dykes can carry strong side gusts; on a tall touring bike with top box and panniers, slow down and relax your grip rather than fight it. Rain arrives off the North Sea quickly, so keep waterproofs on top of the luggage.

The North Sea ferries to Rotterdam and the Hook of Holland land you a couple of hours from the German border, and the Eifel and Sauerland are within a day. From Calais, ride up through Belgium. For live traffic and roadworks on Dutch motorways, Rijkswaterstaat is the national road authority.

The overnight crossings arrive early in the morning, straight into the commuter traffic around Rotterdam. Have the first leg loaded on your navigation before you roll off, fuel up once you are clear of the port, and aim to be past the city before the morning peak builds. If you are tired after a rough night at sea, a coffee stop in the first town beats pushing on into the ring roads.

• Biker hotels in the Netherlands: overnight stops near the ferry ports and the borders.
• The Sauerland loop: the nearest proper hills, a few hours east, with Sauerland stays.
• The Eifel and the Nürburgring and the Belgian Ardennes, both within a day.