[spaetzleesser]

"The second reason is that here, everyone is a cyclist. Going for groceries? Five minute bike ride, much easier and quicker than going by car. Kids cycle to school alone from a young age. Going out for drinks? Bike. Because everyone is a cyclist and there are cyclists everywhere, cyclists are equal participants in traffic and are treated with care and respect."

that's how I felt in Munich. Bikes were everywhere and drivers were used to them. In the US in most places bikes are rare so drivers (including me) stop looking for them.

[johannes1234321]

As somebody living in Munich and visiting Amsterdam from time to time: Munich and Netherlands are very different.

From an American perspective Munich certainly is good, but Amsterdam is still a different league. If you got the chance go there for a while.

[mmcnl]

Amsterdam is not representative of Dutch bicycle culture. Amsterdam is crowded with narrow bicycle lanes that are often shared with cars.

The great thing about the Dutch bicycle structure is that it spans the entire country. It's not just the big cities. Every city, town and village has high quality bicycle lanes. You can easily bike around the country on dedicated bicycle routes in The Netherlands.