Ouderkerk aan de Amstel

Just 9 kilometers south of Amsterdam (about a 45-minute bike ride), the village of Ouderkerk aan de Amstel is a perfect little bike trip out of the city, with a route along the Amstel. Pick up the river opposite the Stopera—note that the left bank (the Hermitage side) is quieter, and you can bike past rowers, fishermen, cows, and De Zwaan windmill, with a good view over the water of the Riekermolen windmill where Rembrandt sketched. The village, when you get here, includes ancient churches, the Portuguese Jewish Cemetery where Spinoza's family is buried, and the enthusiastically curated Museum Ouder-Amstel about the area. If you return down the other side of the river, you'll pass a couple of imposing 17th-century summer houses, including the Wester-Amstel (Amsteldijk-Noord 55), which is open May–October, with an outside sculpture garden and period-authentic chickens pecking away on their own little island.

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