Cycling UK Forum

We're trying to plan a bit if this years hols. I need to park the car in just over the Belgium/Dutch border for about 10 days. Has anyone done this? Is there a system like Just Park where you can park on private land for a fee? Any help gratefully received.

First and last night hotel or campsite?

Thehairs1970 wrote:We're trying to plan a bit if this years hols. I need to park the car in just over the Belgium/Dutch border for about 10 days. Has anyone done this? Is there a system like Just Park where you can park on private land for a fee? Any help gratefully received.

Find a dozy village and stick it in a public carpark in a residential area? Just check that the parking is unrestricted (no weekday market or residents only)

My solution to that in this country would be to find first / last night accommodation that has a lot of land (campsite, farm with B&B, etc) then ask nicely about the parking and offer money. They usually say yes and don't charge for it.

How far is just over the border? Immediately outside the Hook of Holland ferry terminal there's a small, free and unrestricted car park. We've left a car there for just over a week without any problems.

Thanks for the replies. Already sent a mail to the first night stop. Awaiting a reply.

I like the dozy village idea but I've not had to park a car there before. Normally left car in Harwich and cycled on to ferry. This year we are doing the Chunnel and driving to just north of Bruges (Sluis). Hence the question in th OP. I've seen the suggestion that foreign plated cars can be targeted. We left the car in France for a similar time last summer with no probs but...

Any other ideas gratefully received.

Martyn

Albeit years ago, we stayed the first night in a Dutch youth hostel ( I was/am a UK member) with the family, and by prior arrangement left the car there for several days whilst cycle touring and collected it when we finished

Thehairs1970 wrote: (Sluis).

The first thing I see on streetview is a sign for paid parking for 500 cars, so Sluis doesn't meet the definition for dozy. Generally speaking you want to give the first town over the border a miss (especially in the south), with too much activity geared around the border and differences in law,

m-gineering wrote:

Thehairs1970 wrote: (Sluis).

The first thing I see on streetview is a sign for paid parking for 500 cars, so Sluis doesn't meet the definition for dozy. Generally speaking you want to give the first town over the border a miss (especially in the south), with too much activity geared around the border and differences in law,

Marten, are you local? Where would you recommend?

Thehairs1970 wrote:Thanks for the replies. Already sent a mail to the first night stop. Awaiting a reply.

I like the dozy village idea but I've not had to park a car there before. Normally left car in Harwich and cycled on to ferry. This year we are doing the Chunnel and driving to just north of Bruges (Sluis). Hence the question in th OP. I've seen the suggestion that foreign plated cars can be targeted. We left the car in France for a similar time last summer with no probs but...

Any other ideas gratefully received.

Martyn

Sluis can be quite a busy place, especially at weekends, so they built a number of car parks to avoid it getting gridlocked with day trippers cars. There are a number of car parks to the north of the town centre (costs about €3/day).

There is a page with details on parking:

https://translate.google.co.uk/translat ... rev=search

You could try contacting the local tourist office and ask their advice (sluis@vvvzeeland.nl). That webpage also has e-mail addresses for the car parks in Sluis.

Will

Thanks for that Will.

Thehairs1970 wrote:

m-gineering wrote:

Thehairs1970 wrote: (Sluis).

The first thing I see on streetview is a sign for paid parking for 500 cars, so Sluis doesn't meet the definition for dozy. Generally speaking you want to give the first town over the border a miss (especially in the south), with too much activity geared around the border and differences in law,

Marten, are you local? Where would you recommend?

LOL, I live about as far from Sluis as possible without crossing a border. I'd say drive a bit further untill you find a village with only a pub and a church and mostly privately owned houses. Find a parking space which doesn't offend the locals by blocking their view for a week and you should be fine

Sluis would not be my choice. I may live close to Marten, but my grandmother was from Sluis. Sluis has a lot of cross border crimes from drugs etc.

Thanks for the info Willem. I've done street view on a couple of nearby towns and villages but it's tricky to see what's for the best really. I was hoping there would be a Dutch version of Justpark where you pay to park privately but can't find anything.