Home Bicycles Where to Rent a Bike in Amsterdam?

Where to Rent a Bike in Amsterdam?

by Rafal Sulowski

Welcome in Amsterdam – worldwide biking capital. So now you can feel the vibes of this city and you would like to get to know Amsterdam from a bike perspective. That’s pretty usual 😉 It is not possible not to fall in love with this biking culture, canals, cafes, and style. To give you a quick answer I will mention the best places to rent a bike in Amsterdam.

To rent a bike in Amsterdam for a short-term, you can go for MacBike of Yellow Bike. If you are a student definitely consider free bikes from student-bike.nl. The cheapest place to rent a sturdy old Dutch bike is DiscountBikeRental. For the long-term rental, you should visit DeLeaseWinkel. If you would like to buy a second-hand bike you should read my another article on this – here

DUTCH style bike with basket

Cycling is probably the best way to get around Amsterdam and if you are here you definitely should rent a bike or buy a bicycle, get lost and discover a beauty of this cycling paradise. What’s important you can get anywhere on your bike. You’ll find cycleways everywhere, you can even go on a ferry from Amsterdam central to Amsterdam Nord for free. There is no better way to feel a little bit of Dutch Adventure then doing this from a bike perspective.

That’s why I am going to tell you today about the best places in Amsterdam where you can easily rent a bike. I will write about the most affordable places, free bikes for students and bike lease. I am also going to mention where you can rent a tandem or cargo bike. Let’s get straight to it and dive into this bike renting guide!


Where to rent a bike in Amsterdam

MacBike – This is the biggest company where you can rent a bike in Amsterdam and you can find them in as many as 6 locations. I can definitely recommend them because they own very sturdy bikes and you can have one for as little as 9,75 Euro per day. With MacBike you can rent old school footbrake bike, handbrake bike or kids bike but you can even get there a bike with a child seat, tandem bike, parent-child tandem, cargo bike, wheelchair bike or electric bike. For more information, you can visit MacBike website here.

If have no idea where to go for a bike trip then MacBike team is going to give you few tips and tell you about the most interesting directions. There is also an option to go for a guided bike tour.

Another reason to go for MacBike is that they don’t charge any extra fees if your bike gets damaged.

rent a bike in amsterdam

Yellow Bike – Another great place to rent a bike in Amsterdam is Yellow Bike Tours & Rental. I see these very often on Amsterdam streets and they look cool.  It’s a little bit more expensive, but if you are close by just go for it. Price for 1-day rental is 12 Euro. This is a smaller company than MacBike but give it a try. I heard good opinions about them.

Yellow bike is open from 9:30 till 18:00 so if you are now in the center of Amsterdam you can go to their office and get a bike immediately (Nieuwezijds Kolk 29) 3 minutes walk from the Central Station. If you would like to go for a city tour you can choose one of 3 tours: 2 hours, 3 hours and a 4-hour tour. The shortest one 2h costs 24 euros per person and it’s a great way to get to know the city. A bike gives you an opportunity to see places inaccessible to others. If you are for the first time in Amsterdam you should definitely give it a try.


The cheapest place to rent a bike in Amsterdam

If you plan your trip on a budget you need to write down the name of this company. In DiscountBikeRental you can rent a bike in Amsterdam for one day for a price of 7,50 euro. After 7 days you pay just 5 euro per each extra day. I don’t know if there is any cheaper company over there. If yes, please let me know but I don’t think you find something more affordable when it is about a short-term rental.

They don’t have that big variety of bikes and you won’t get a cargo bike there or wheelchair bike but if you need to cut costs that is a rental company for you. You will get a decent pedal brake bike or handbrake bike and that is fairly good to go around Amsterdam. One gear bike is more than enough as Amsterdam is flat like a pancake.

You can call them straightaway for bike reservation  +31 20 428 40 40 or you can go to their office located at Nieuwe Nieuwstraat 19 D
1012 NG, Amsterdam CENTRE. It’s not far from the city center and you go rent a bike 7 days a week from 10:00 to 18:00 o’clock.


Rent a bike in Amsterdam for a long-term, Bike Lease

If you would like to rent a bike for a long-term but you don’t really want to buy a bike, then a lease option is perfect for you. There are companies such as DeLeaseWinkel situated in Amsterdam which offers long-term bike rentals. You can get there a bike for a period of at least year and you pay for it around 15 Euro per month

Why Long Term Rental?

The biggest advantage of this option is that you don’t have to worry about repairs at all. If anything happens to this rented bike you just bring it to the bike garage, they repair it on the spot or replace your old bike with a new one. Dutch bikes are very sturdy, they can survive years without any repair but if you are not a handy person in any case and you would like to avoid repair on your own then it can be a great choice for you.

Don’t rent a bike in Amsterdam for a long-term from regular renting company

You are saying: why not? It’s because you will pay the amount of money which is enough to buy a used bike. Even if you stay here for one month it would be worth to buy a bike. If you are planning to live in the Netherlands for the next 6 months, then you definitely should buy a bike for yourself. You can buy a good used bike for as little as 80 euros. You can, of course, buy a bike for 30 or for 3000 but let’s say 80 is a good price for the used old dutch bike. The advantage of buying a bike is that afterward you can sell it for the same price or just give it to a friend.

Now you would like to get a bike but you don’t know where you can buy a bicycle in Amsterdam. I have written an article on that. It’s a complete guide with a step by step tutorial explaining where you can buy a cheap but sturdy bike and not be screwed. Here is a link to How To Get a Second-Hand Bike In Amsterdam

Of course, if you would like to get a bike and don’t worry about repairs you can think about lease but keep in mind that the shortest renting period is one year.


Free Bikes for Students

If you are a student living in Amsterdam and you don’t know about free bikes then you better read this carefully. If you are studying in Amsterdam you can rent a bicycle for FREE. Not only that, company providing this bicycle will take care of maintenance.

Why would anybody do this? Giving away a bike for free? It makes no sense. Keep reading.

Of course, the student-bike.nl (that is the name of this company) have some expectations towards their bikers

  1. You must enjoy riding a lot
  2. You are the university or a college student in one of the following cities: Amsterdam, Den Hague, Rotterdam, Utrecht
  3. You ride at least 5 km every day
  4. You have a smartphone
  5. You keep in touch with the rental company
student-bike.nl

Really, how this company earns money? They put a piece of advertisement on these bikes. If you go to their website you can see how bikes look and decide if you feel comfortable with this. I think it’s quite a good choice, but I would still consider buying an old second-hand bicycle.

Let’s make it clear. You won’t survive in Amsterdam without a bicycle, so if you would like to get one for free, then go to student-bike.nl/ You can change a language to English in the right corner of the site. So do not hesitate, contact student-bike.nl and get a free bicycle.


Are you staying in Hotel?

If you stay in a Hotel in Amsterdam you can just do a little research and ask them if you can rent a bike on spot. Many Hotels have this service and that is probably the easiest way to rent a bike because you don’t have to search for a bike renting location and give it back to this specific place. You can just rent it the in the Hotel and that would be a little bit more expensive. I think you have to pay 5 euro more, so for one day, it is 15 euros.

There is a company in the Netherlands called MyHotelBike which provides bikes to hotels. If you rent a bike from hotel, most probably it is MyHotelBike and you’ll be fine because they have very good and sturdy bicycles.


Guided cycle tours

If you are new in the city you can go for a guided cycle tour. Almost every renting company provide this service and two companies I mentioned above do for sure. It’s not very expensive and for sure it’s a great fun and experience.


Cycling Safety

Is this going to be your first time as a biker in Amsterdam? Then you should know some general rules. Bike traffic in Amsterdam can be sometimes overwhelming so keep in mind most important things:

  • You can cycle almost everywhere but if possible ride on the bicycle path
  • Cycle on the right side of the road
  • When you reach a pedestrian crossing you have to stop
  • Be careful with tram rails
  • Never stop without a reason ( somebody can be cycling just after you )
  • Do not ride in the middle, take a side
  • Don’t cycle drunk or stoned
  • If you want to pass someone use your bell
  • Don’t use your mobile during cycling
  • Always lock your bicycle when not cycling

Final Words

I hope this article is helpful for you and now you know everything about the bike rental in Amsterdam. I wish you a beautiful time here and don’t forget to visit us again 😉

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