Holland Friendship Tours

Why Holland?
Holland is one of our most popular destinations for travelling teams; the standard of soccer is good, the facilities are excellent and the host teams are welcoming and friendly. English is spoken everywhere so you’ll feel really at home!

This country of tulips, windmills and bicycles stretches out over a predominantly flat landscape of reclaimed land. Sophisticated urban centres and sleepy rural towns are contained within the expansive vistas broken here and there by canals, castle walls and dikes. Europe’s most densely populated region is spread in a circle from Amsterdam, and includes The Hague, Rotterdam and Utrecht and the smaller towns of Haarlem, Leiden and Delft. The metropolitan centres buzz with the activity of seasonal festivals, cultural activities, vibrant art scenes and excellent pubs and restaurants.

We can offer tours throughout the country, however do you know about the wonderful beaches on the west coast of Holland? Choose to stay at the beach yet only be 30 minutes from Amsterdam! Further south why not choose to stay close to Eindhoven with its excellent nightlife.

We offer accommodations that we think are best suited to teams that are focused on their football; top quality youth hostels and a full range of hotels from family run establishments to top quality 4 star properties….relax and enjoy your nights sleep before tomorrows match!

What is included?
Every group that travels with us has very specific needs;that’s no problem though as we work with each one of them to ensure that their tour suits their specific needs.

However all tours will include:

• Accommodation
• A choice of meal plans
• Local assistance
• Match arrangements (to your own ability level)
• Local transfers
• Sightseeing options
• Financial Protection Insurance
• All services of GoBYSA

Because we co-ordinate all games, meals if required, transportation, accommodation and sightseeing you and your team can concentrate on having a great time!

Travel to Holland – You Choose!
Depending upon where you are from, your group size and your budget and not forgetting your personal preferences, your group can choose to fly into Holland (or nearby Belgium) or travel directly from your home base by private executive coach.

If you choose to fly then your group will be met at the airport by a local coach company and they will take you to your accommodation, to your matches and to other places shown on your itinerary. Alternatively if you travel direct from the UK by private coach you simply put your bags on the bus and off you go!

The choice is yours. If you do want to fly we suggest that you book your flights directly with one of the low cost airlines, we can point you in the right direction but cannot book these flights for you as the airlines deal directly with the public.

Accommodation and Meals – You Choose!
Hostels: We use top quality hostels throughout Holland. You will find our hostels in the cities; Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Den Haag, but also at the beach, in the woods and along the water. These hostels are housed in many unique buildings, ranging from modern facilities to castles or country houses. No matter where, you will find a relaxed atmosphere, giving you an opportunity to meet fellow travellers from across the World.

Hotels: GoBYSA offer our groups a wide range of hotel choices; family run simple hotel, executive 4 star properties with indoor pool and more, or somewhere in between, the choice is yours but rest assured that wherever you stay you will be well looked after.

Meals: We base all tour prices on a bed/breakfast stay but we are happy to arrange an evening meal for groups if required although we have found that most groups don’t want to be restricted to being back at their accommodation for a certain time to eat, they prefer to ‘do their own thing’ and eat at one of the many restaurants found nearby to where they are staying.

Friendly Matches – You Choose!
We will arrange matches for you against local teams of your own ability level. Our local agent really has his ‘finger on the pulse’ and is well known all over Holland in local soccer circles. You go on tour to play competitive matches, who wants to win or loose by double figures?

One other thing you can be sure of, you will be impressed by the facilities of the clubs there, all have excellent pitches and a lovely club house to enjoy some social time with your hosts after the match.

For teams that want to include some training time within their tour programme we’ll be delighted to make arrangements for you.

Where Shall We Go?
We base our tours within striking distance of either Amsterdam or Eindhoven; heres a little information about both cities.

Amsterdam
Picturesque canals form a girdle around the oldest parts of Amsterdam and encompass the city’s notorious Red Light District. Here tourists stroll over ancient bridges and down the narrow lanes where the aroma of cannabis pervades the air, and at night the streets are lit up by the crimson glow of windows from which prostitutes beckon passers-by. However the city’s attractions extend well beyond these hedonistic activities to include some of Europe’s finest sights and museums. This charming and compact city is easily explored on foot, by bike or aboard a canal-boat tour that follows a circular route, stopping at the many attractions along the way.

Amsterdam’s Dam Square is a good starting point for an orientation tour around the city. Here one finds the Royal Palace and the main shopping streets extending beyond it (Kalverstraat and Nieuwendijk). Beyond this are the bustling Leidseplein and Rembrandtplein quarters where street performers and tourists jostle for space. Locals gather here to enjoy the theatre, cinema or any one of the many popular late nightclubs and bars. A ten-minute walk from Leidseplein takes visitors to the Museum Quarter.

The central area of Amsterdam is fairly compact and easy to get around on foot. When going further afield, there is a good, inexpensive network of trams, buses and metro lines that all converge at Centraal Station, as well as canal boats and a free ferry service across the IJ Canal. The GVB public transport office at Centraal Station has route maps and a guide to the ticketing system, which is based on zones with the same ticket valid on buses, metros and trams. The most widely used type of travel pass is the Strippenkart; a strip gets stamped every time one boards and remains valid for unlimited transfers within an hour. After midnight there are night buses that run from Centraal Station to most parts of the city. Taxis are among the most expensive in Europe.

Eindhoven
As the largest city in the south of the Netherlands, Eindhoven offers a wide spectrum of facilities in the areas of shopping, nightlife and performing arts.

Eindhoven has been grown spectacular with thanks of the multinational corporation Philips. They started producing light bulbs in a factory that still exists and now host a museum.

In recent years the city has also provided the backdrop for sports events like cycling's ProTour time trial. Most popular and famous sporting event still is the football club PSV Eindhoven, known for their successes in the past and contenders for the future. You're welcome to enjoy a match in the attractive Philips Stadion. After a match, or just after a day of shopping, you can visit one of the enormous choice of pubs, bars or discos in the city.

In brief Eindhoven is a city where plenty of things are happening.

Please note that our tours are generally based in towns nearby to the main cities giving you the best of both worlds – lower prices but easy access.

Consider that there is normally enough to do nearby to your accommodation and most groups only make the one trip into the big city!

We know there are many companies that offer soccer tours. We obviously want you to book with GoBYSA, but whoever you do decide to travel with please don’t base your decision simply on who seems to have the lowest prices. Ensure that the tour operator you choose has the experience needed in this very specialist sector, ensure they can offer bona-fide references and that the tour they propose gives quality and value-for-money in equal quantities.

Also remember that our experience shows that it is the teams that start planning their tour early who succeed the most in terms of a successful, well-funded and well-attended tour.

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