The Netherlands has much to offer in terms of tourism. Aside from its breathtaking scenery, it also boasts major tourist facilities that cater to the wishes of nearly everybody and sights like the Erasmus Bridge — a modern delight among the quaint and the old.
The country’s image of clogs and windmills is changed with its string of exciting cities, including the cosmopolitan capital, Amsterdam — one of Europe’s great cities.
Elsewhere, Arnhem, Eindhoven, The Hague, Utrecht and Rotterdam all boast their own charms. Away from the cities, the idyllic land of windmills and tulips still exist in the countryside, as do a number of coastal towns and resorts, many with fine beaches and similarly interesting heritages to the Netherlands’ bigger historical cities.
Amsterdam is one of Europe’s great destinations, as popular with tourists as it is with businesspeople. Amsterdam’s lifeblood is water, which courses through the city in a concentric network of canals and waterways spanned by more than 1,000 bridges. One of the most attractive ways of viewing the city is on a canal tour. Many of the houses date back to The Netherlands’ golden age in the 17th century. The oldest part of the city is Nieuwmarkt, located near the first canals — Herengracht, Keizersgracht and Prinsengracht — built to protect the city against invasion.
The city has also long been a center for diamond cutting and it is still possible to see diamond cutters at work. Boasting 53 museums, 61 art galleries, 12 concert halls and 20 theaters, Amsterdam has a booming cultural life. A special canal boat (the ‘museum boat’) links 20 of the major museums. One of the city’s cultural sites is the Rijksmuseum, an art gallery that is home to the works of many of the country’s artistic luminaries, as well as numerous European masters. Then there is the Opera House, the string of concert venues, the football stadium, some of Europe’s best nightclubs and the jazz cafes, to name a few other nocturnal pastimes in Amsterdam.
Located 20km (12 miles) west of Amsterdam, Haarlem is a center of Dutch tulip growing and the surrounding countryside affords a fine view of the bulb fields from the end of March to mid-May. The town itself has a beautiful 16th- and 17th-century town center and two fine museums.
The city of Utrecht is a favorite destination with the Dutch, as it offers many of Amsterdam’s charms on a smaller scale without the tourist hordes that fill the capital for much of the year. The fourth-largest city in the Netherlands is also one of the oldest cities in the country, the site first having been settled by the Romans. The best way to explore Utrecht is by canal boat, which takes visitors on a loop of the city that opens up its different districts.
The province of Utrecht, in the very heart of the Netherlands, contains numerous country houses, estates and castles set in landscaped parks and beautiful woods. The countryside around Utrecht is very fertile and seems like one large garden.
About 25km (16 miles) to the northeast of Utrecht is the town of Amersfoort, set in a region of heathland and forest. The old town is well preserved. Just 8km (5 miles) away is the town of Soestdijk, containing the Royal Palace and the beautiful parklands of the Queen Mother. Between Soestdijk and Hilversum is Baarn, a favorite summer resort among the Dutch.
The province of Friesland in the northwest of the country has its own language and its own distinct culture. A large part of the marshlands along the North Sea coast have been reclaimed from the sea. Friesian cattle are among the most famous inhabitants of the area. The Friesian lake district in the southern part of the state centers on the town of Sneek, and is a good place for watersports, particularly yachting. Near Sneek is the small town of Bolsward, which has a magnificent Renaissance Town Hall. Leeuwarden, the capital of Friesland, has several old buildings and the Friesian Museum, probably the most important provincial museum in the country.
The agricultural province of Groningen is known for its fortified country houses dating back to the 14th century. The provincial capital, Groningen, is commercially the most important town in the north of the Netherlands, as well as being a major cultural center.
Drenthe is the province of extensive cycle paths, prehistoric monuments (particularly in the area of the village of Havelte) and Saxon villages. About 22km (14 miles) southeast of Rotterdam and about 45km (28 miles) southeast of The Hague is Kinderdijk, near Alblasserdam, a good place to see windmills. Delft, center of the Dutch pottery industry and world famous for its blue hand-painted ceramics, is roughly midway between Rotterdam and The Hague. Gouda, 20km (12 miles) southeast of Rotterdam, is famous for its cheese market and the Candlelight Festival in December. The town center is dominated by the massive late-Gothic Town Hall. Nearby is the pretty old town of Oudewater, noted for its beautiful 17th-century gabled houses. Northwest of Gouda by 12km (7 miles) is the town of Boskoop, renowned for its fruit trees; a visit during the blossom season is a delightful experience.
Rotterdam in recent years has rejuvenated its city center, regenerated much of its dockside and also hosted the European City of Culture. Rotterdam is Europe’s largest and, indeed, the world’s second-largest, port and is the hub of the Dutch economy, but it is now also emerging as a tourist destination in its own right. The best place to get an idea of the city layout is from the viewing level of the Euromast & Space Tower, which at 185m (605ft) is the highest point in the Netherlands.
Rotterdam’s pride in its maritime heritage is on show at the Maritiem Museum Prins Hendrik, where outdoor and indoor exhibits include ships, barges, harbor cranes and marine archaeological artifacts. Regular boat tours also now take tourists around the city’s abundance of channels and waterways. Rotterdam’s cultural scene is also rich with the Museum Boymans van Beuningen, a unique collection of paintings, sculptures and objets d’art dating from the 14th century to the present day, and the Museum Voor Volkenkunde, an ethnological museum, amongst the highlights.
Other interesting places to visit include the 17th-century houses in the Delfshaven quarter of the city; the Pilgrimskerk; collections of maps and seacharts at the Delfshaven Old Town Hall; many traditional workshops for pottery, watchmaking and woodturning.
The wooded east consists of the provinces of Overijssel, Gelderland and Flevoland. The province of Overijssel is a region of great variety. In the little town of Giethoorn, small canals take the place of streets, and all transport is by boat. At Wanneperveen there is a well-equipped watersports center. The old Hanseatic towns of Kampen and Zwolle have splendid quays and historic buildings. There are bird sanctuaries along the Ijsselmeer. Gelderland is often referred to as ‘the back garden of the west’.
The old part of the Arnhem town has been artfully rebuilt. There is a large open-air museum near Arnhem showing a collection of old farms, mills, houses and workshops, all of which have been brought together to form a splendid park. Not far from the town center, there is a zoo and a safari park.
Near Arnhem is the Hoge Veluwe National Park, an extensive sandy region and a popular tourist area, which contains a game reserve (in the south), and the Kroller-Muller Art Gallery and Museum, with many modern sculptures and paintings (including a Van Gogh collection).
The province of Limburg, the most southerly in the country, is bordered by both Belgium and Germany. The rolling hills covered with footpaths make this a good place for walking holidays. It is also famous for its cuisine. In the extreme south of the province is the city of Maastricht, and its position at the crossroads of three countries makes it ideal for excursions to such nearby cities as Aachen over the border in Germany. Maastricht itself is one of the oldest towns in the country.
There are 280km (175 miles) of beaches and over 50 resorts in The Netherlands, almost all of which are easily accessible from Rotterdam, Amsterdam and The Hague.
The province of Zeeland has several medieval harbor towns where some of the best seafood in Europe can be found. Most of the province lies below sea level and has been reclaimed from the sea. The region also includes several islands and peninsulas in the southwest Netherlands (Walcheren, Goeree-Overflakkee, Schouwen-Duiveland, Tholen, St Filipsland and North and South Beveland).
With so much to offer, both for the history buffs and those inclined toward modern thrills, it is no wonder that the Netherlands is becoming a favord tourist destination.
— With input from iExplore