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Arriving into the Hook of Holland with Stena. I think we'll be in about 08:00 and I was looking for somewhere for breakfast/coffee but I can't find anywhere that's open before 10:00.
I was hoping to avoid the food on board. Does anyone here any experience of this trip and any suggestions?
We're on bikes, so not too far ideally.
Lidl in Holland have fresh bakery items (croissants, pain au chocolate and bread). The map shows one close to the ferry port.
There's likely to be somewhere selling coffee. The Dutch can't live without it.
Lidl is also a good bet for salads and food for the ferry home. We foraged quite a good picnic from the one in Ijmuiden when we got the ferry to Newcastle.
@slowol that's not a bad idea. Its just a pity I can't see a coffee place anywhere. All the ones I've found only open at 10:00 There seems to be a nice one a few miles away at Maassluis, but if we're off the boat at 08:00 we'll already be past it when it opens.
No help. We had to wait around for ages until a coffee shop opened and we could get some coffee, cake and weed and be on our way. It was worth it for a lovely cycle through the dunes to Harlem.
The breakfast on board isn't too bad. Or just load up on a coffee and stop at a bakery/Lidl/Albert Hjein early on.
There are plenty of cafes along the coast on the beaches but we found few were open really early (nuisance when you need caffeine/a loo).
Also the passport queue can take a while. Personally I wouldn't get off hungry when cycling away from the port. 🫣
Definitely not much help, but this reminded me of a trip to Hook I did with friends many years ago. Was one of the first crossings done by the then new fast ferry. Sea was like a mill pond so the captain really opened it up. Got there hours early so had an age to wait at the train station for our connection to the Dam. My mate found a huge great block of hash in one of the toilet cubicles in the station. We took a vote on what to do with it. It was eaten crumbled over a banana split purchased from the station cafe
So I guess it is possibly some help; the station cafe might be worth a look 😂
Definitely not much help, but this reminded me of a trip to Hook I did with friends many years ago.
If we are doing memories, my only experience was getting off the HoH ferry (the day after Germany had just beaten Argentina in the 1990 World Cup Final) and we just grabbed a train straight away to Koblenz, found a campsite right on the bank of the Rhine, set up our tent and sat watching the world go by with stove coffee.
@garage-dweller I think you might be right about not getting off the boat hungry. We're off towards Rotterdam and the timing isn't ideal. Next stop we fancied a Kapsalon for lunch in Rotterdam (as recommended by Lucinda Brand on he "Dirty Talks" podcast) but I think we'll be through there too early as well.
Realised that I never followed this up (despite it being more than a month ago!)
We ate on the ferry, and it was fine (and not as expensive as I had remembered). On the way to Rotterdam I'd hoped to stop at Cafe t'Hoofd in Maassluis, but figured that we would be there too early. As we cycled past, at about 09:30, it was open. It turned out that the local in-line skating group rang them up and asked if they wouldn't mind opening a bit early 😉
We didn't get the Kapsalon, but we did have a nice lunch at Parqiet in Het Park in Rotterdam.
Other than that I can highly recommend Hotel Villa Augustus in Doordrecht. Its really lovely, and had a secure bike shed. The Hotel Plataan in Delft was also really good (my daughter suggested that the room had 'crack-den' vibes) and the decor is somewhat 'extreme' but the food was really good, and eating in the hotel gave us a free cocktail too. Secure parking was down a locked side alley (open to the elements).
Riding in the Netherlands was, as ever, super easy. 10/10 would do again.
And Googling "coffee shop" in Holland isn't throwing much up? 😀
Cafe t'Fust or Snackbar de Zeekant show up on Trip Advisor but doesn't have opening times. I highly doubt there would be no coffee option at the Hoek.
edit: too slow.
I was going to suggest Villa Augustus if you were heading to Doordrecht 🙂
If you like that then definitely stay at Fort Vuren on your next trip. Amazing place to stay (very calming with the thick walls) and food was also good.
Bomb proof bike parking in your room....
And this place needs a visit next time.
https://mountainbikemuseum.nl/en/home