Dutch Cycling Study Tours, 2025: Immersive, expert insight into a cycling culture

— We can tailor study tours to your group’s requirements.
— For an information pack, please contact: Cian Ginty at [email protected]

Your local authority, company or organisation now has the chance to gain immersive, expert insight into a cycling culture in which nearly everybody cycles to get from A to B.

Dutch Cycling Study Tours offer real-world experience, expert knowledge, and shared experience that cannot be rivalled by training in Ireland. According to past attendees, study tours are one of the most cost-effective ways of supporting the rollout of active travel infrastructure.

These tours are run by Dutch cycling consultant André Pettinga and the editor of this website, Cian Ginty, who have been working together since 2015 and have the most experience running cycling study tours for groups from Ireland.

We say that our #IEinNL study tours are Dutch-Irish teamwork, with each of us “translating” both the Dutch and the Irish to the Dutch experts involved and the Irish attendees. It can be amazing what can get lost in translation, not just differences in culture, design, and frameworks on each side.

We are aware of the urban and rural context in Ireland and the Netherlands and have adapted to translate the Dutch and Irish outlooks so as little as possible gets lost in translation.

In the past, the participants have mainly included council officials, councillors, and consultants. Tours have also previously included parliamentarians and department officials.

There are three main elements of study tours where attendees go abroad to learn from places with more advanced cycling cultures and infrastructure:

  • Immersiveness of the on-the-ground experience
    There’s nothing like a group cycling and focusing on cycling for 2-3 days: Seeing the infrastructure, using it, and seeing it being used by different people. On-the-ground explanations are far more beneficial than explaining something on paper or in a presentation.
  • Local experts
    Being able to ask questions and get answers. Experts in cycling, such as officials or aldermen or consultants, give their experience of what works and what does not, how to get projects over the line, and how to make a city or town cycling-friendly.
  • Shared experience and team building
    The shared experience of spending time cycling with each other helps concrete the learned experiences and knowledge, allowing it to be more transferable when the group returns.

Study tours include presentations as a minority element, but they cannot be fully replicated by a presentation, webinar or workshop at home. Seeing and experiencing is believing.

For an information pack or to book, please contact: Cian Ginty at [email protected]

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