The best family-friendly hikes and walks around Kinselmeer

From busy Amsterdam suddenly into nice little villages by the water.

A charming village with beautiful views of Amsterdam East, IJburg, and the towers of Almere Poort in the distance. There are also two water points on the dike for refilling your bottles.

In cafe de Zwaan you can enjoy old Dutch cosiness that unfortunately can no longer be found in the center of Amsterdam. Bitterballen toasted sandwiches beer and a billiard, what more could you want

This birdwatching screen overlooks the Kinsel. A wetland area where waders and geese can be seen.

It is very special: via the Schellingwouderbrug you cycle away from pre-war Amsterdam and on the other side is a vast peat meadow area with beautiful villages such as Durgerdam, Ransdorp and Holysloot. These villages, together with the surrounding meadows, are part of rural North. The area joined Amsterdam in 1921, partly to give the city a green edge. The villages cooperated in the annexation because they did not have the resources to repair the damage caused by the flood in 1916. Under Amsterdam's care, the area has been quite successful in keeping its character. Durgerdam is located on the dike that was constructed after the floods during the Sint Elizabeths flood in 1421. The hamlet of IJdoorn, which was approximately on the location of the current lighthouse island, disappeared into the waves during this disaster. Durgerdam has a protected villagescape. Characteristic is that, like elsewhere in Waterland, many houses are largely made of wood. This makes the houses less heavy and can be better supported by the marshy soil. The wooden houses in Waterland are painted in the colors of the 'Waterland palette': shades of green, white, yellow, gray, blue and red-brown. Each village has its own predominant colors.

On our bike tour we were surprised at how beautiful and idyllic it is here. Green meadows, small, well-kept historic houses, boats and beautiful paths. Absolutely recommended!

The town hall is a national monument dating from 1652. It was rebuilt in 1739. It served as the meeting place of the Waterland Union and as the town hall of Ransdorp until 1811. The building then served as the town hall of the municipality of the same name until 1921. It was extensively restored in 1924 and became a national monument in 1970. It is now a residential building with commercial premises.

The chapel of Durgerdam was originally a Roman Catholic church; the first mention dates from 1499. The chapel is a Roman word and means small house of prayer. In 1572, the Alteration banned Roman Catholic services. In 1623, services were held again, but they were then reformed. When the church became too small, another church was built in 1642, the chapel continued to serve as a parish hall and the school was given more space. After the great fire of Durgerdam in 1687, in which almost all the houses on the dike went up in flames and the chapel with the city archives stored here was also damaged, the chapel was rebuilt from the ground floor up. This work began on August 25, 1687. To commemorate this event, a hard stone plaque with the year "1687" was made at the time. After the construction of a larger school, the chapel became the house of the field postmaster and a police station with a real prison in 1866. From 1917 to 1925 it was a municipal fish auction, a workshop and a residential building, and today it is a residential building. And during the war, in 1941, there was also a reconstruction commissioned by the German occupiers and carried out by the Public Works Department. The builder subsequently used the chapel as a residential building.