Netherlands Travel Forum

Hi! I just got back from Amsterdam. I was there for 3 days and I really loved it. I loved it so much that I'm already planning another trip to the Netherlands. I'm planning to stay longer, from 2 weeks to one month and to visit other parts of the country as I didn't have enough time. Any advise on where to go and what to see will be greatly apreciated.

Hi Marcel, I want to thank you for your advises. I should be going around Augut or September. Every advise is very welcome.

I think you will have a much better time if you go in September rather than August, as the whole world goes on vacation in August and anywhere nice will be booked up and packed solid. Anyway, September is typically a beautiful time, with the worst of the summer humidity gone, and most tourists gone home.
That said, I love the Wadden Eilanden, the chain of islands extending northwards from the tip of North Holland province. Highly recommended to rent a bike and take the ferry from den Helder to Texel (pronounced "Tessel") where you find a lovely mix of woods, farmland and long windy beaches. Settlements vary from seedy holidaymakers resorts to cute old villages. Campgrounds are all over the place.

You really must visit Utrecht. That time of year will be busy and fun because the university will just be getting underway, and the city itself is really beautiful.

If you like cycling, try taking the train to Woerden, where you can rent a bike at the station, then set out for Linschoten, Oudewater, Haastrecht and Gouda, then back to Woerden via the Reeuwijkse Plassen. This is the Green Heart of the country and a beautiful day out.
Come to think of it, pretty much everything I could tell you would start with "get a bike...". It's the ideal way to see NL at its best.
DN

There are countless great places and regions to visit here. I am always amazed at the diversity in this very small country.
Oudewater is a good tip, dnwitte. I just went there last week and finally made some photos after not having a camera with me on all my previous visits.

To add some other regions:
- Kop van Overrijssel (places like Giethoorn, and the amazingly colourful and pristine farms in Staphorst) and the peculiar landscape that resulted from peat digging
- De Peel, a region in the provinces Limburg/Noord Brabant that is quite marshy. I recently drove through a part which had the eery feeling of another planet, with that strange sight of almost mangrove quality, trees dead and white (not burned!) in watery land.
- enjoy the hilly region of the southern part of the province Limburg, with the bubbly life of the city Maastricht
- sailing in the province Friesland (north) or the province Zeeland (south). In the latter you can see the extent of Dutch water works and what it does to keep this country dry :-) Lovely towns like Middelburg and Veere.

Have fun with your preparations!

Hi
Great you did like our country !!
Just to add some more spots:
- just north of Amsterdam:
Broek in Waterland, Marken, Volendam and Edam
- also the same province:
Enkhuizen (Zuiderzeemuseum) and Hoorn
- Kop van Overijssel: add the Weerribben
- my own home town Apeldoorn:
Paleis Het Loo, Apenheul, Kröller Müller Museum
and the Veluwe with lots of bike tracks
- some towns along the river IJssel:
Deventer, Zutphen, Doesburg and the smallest
'city' of the Netherlands Bronkhorst
- also in the east: Graafschap and Twente with smaller
towns and villages and lots of castles
(also ideal for biking tours)

So you have to admit: a LOT to see.

have fun

Jaap

I wanted to thank you guys for being so helpful. With so many wonderful places to visit it will be even harder for me to decide where to go. I will then gather information and search for every place to decide where I can go in 2 to 3 weeks. All the advises are very welcome.

....or do as Imaniac did. Go tour the Netherlands and have a local VT-member join you each day in a different part of the country. At the end of August there must be some vacation days left for most of us.

PJ

PS I volunteer for a local tour by bicycle

That's a very good idea Pieter. I don't know where I'll be going to yet but I'll keep in touch.

Hi,

most of the interesting places have been mentioned, maybe to add:
- The Wadden islands already mentioned are really worth a visit, you can even consider "island hopping" taking your bike with you and staying on each island for a day or two
- In the centre (Veluwe) region are several national parks with great cycle routes, the Hooge Veluwe also offers the Kroller Muller museum (www.kmm.nl) with some Van Goghs, other paintings and a sculpture park
- don't with the very south (Limburg) especially Maastricht!

Have a nice stay,

P.

Hello there,

Yes, The Netherlands have so much more than wonderful AMSTERDAM.....e.g. the province of ZEELAND where I live now!

Have a look at my The Netherlands page TRAVELOGUE My Province, my Middelburg page, my Province of Zeeland page, my Ritthem page and you will have an idea......it is the opposite of the Province of Drenthe!!

Enjoy and plan......and keep me posted please! a (mini)meeting is always a pleasure....

bye for now,
elisabeth

PeteNL writes
'don't with the very south '

I assume he means
'don't miss the very south '

Exactly AL ! :) Sorry for that!

don't mess with the very south! hahaha

Thank you very much guys. I really appreciate your advises. I'll keep you all in touch of the places I decide to visit so you can always tell me what I'm doing wrong. Waden islands are a must.

Is there any special reason for not suggesting Rotterdam or The Hague?

Neither one is a beautiful city.
They are both interesting in their own ways, but they are more concerned with working than with being attractive..
Rotterdam is a big industrial port city with extensive working class neighborhoods and a variety of social problems. For me, the most interesting thing in Rotterdam is its art museum. Unlike so many other cities in NL it lacks a beautifully preserved old center, because it was destroyed in world war II. However, there are a number of interesting modern buildings and quite a good symphony orchestra.
As a city, den Haag is just boring, like most seats of government, although it has a number of outstanding museums and quite good music and theatre. Aside from these it just isn't all that thrilling a place to hang around.

Good reasons not to mention them. I was thinking of them as my starting point, but I guess I'll start some where else. Thank you very much dn.

Ouch! You just stepped on my heart, dnwitte, with regards to Rotterdam. But beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I'll be the first to admit. You have to like the interaction between old and new. A great number of Dutch towns repeat the charm of Amsterdam (as to architecture) and I find Rotterdam to be refreshingly different.

Rotterdam has many attractive features, good museums, a lot of unusually daring modern architecture to replace the bombed centre, and you will still find plenty of grandeur left by the shipping companies of old.

As to social problems...not much different from any large town, Amsterdam or Rotterdam or The Hague. The criminal rate in both cities is almost the same (and a top priority by local politics to fight it).

Awfully sorry.
I did say they both are interesting in their own ways.
Maybe my perception of Rotterdam is affected by the fact that every time I'm there it's cold and raining.
I love the Boymans van Beuningen museum (sp?) and once went so far as to take a tour of the treehouses, but my impression from several visits is that I might like to live there but it's a fairly grim place to visit.
BTW, the local accent is quite distinctive, as if the entire population of Baltimore suddenly woke up speaking dutch.
What's that Rotterdam saying? Something like "In Rotterdam we make the money, in the Hague they take it away from us, and then Amsterdam spends it".
To each their own. I think our young questioner should go there in any case, if only to get a more rounded view of NL. It's not all Oudewater, is it?.

dnwitte, I had to smile. Grin broadly, to be more precise. I'll show you Rotterdam next you are here.
And indeed it is not all Oudewater (you sneaky feller, that page is brandnew!)

Boymans van Beuningen is spot on. Though my favourite is De Kunsthal (on the other side of the park), and the Sonneveld House, as part of the NAI. The Sonneveld house is supreme 1930s architecture and interior decorating. So well kept and beautiful, you'll have your tongue hanging out on your shoes.

So I guess I'll still be visiting those cities. At least to have my own opinion of how beautyful they are. I guess it only depends on your taste.

Come to think of it, we've suggested Alphilip quite a lot of stereotypical Dutch cuteness. Maybe we should push him into a whole different way of seeing the country. Let's give him Tilburg, Eindhoven, Beverwijk, Helmond, Zaandam and Maasbracht!

I said before I appreciate your advices very much. Probably without them I would never know what parts of the country to visit. I just found it strange nobody would suggest me Rotterdam or Den Haag.
Right now I'm basing my planning on your advices, on some travel logues and on the web.

dnwitte, thanks for that stereotypical Dutch cuteness. I've never really found an English phrase for de Hollandse gezelligheid en knusheid.

Anyway, on that note, I would recommend Zoetermeer, Almere and Lelystad in addittion to Tilburg, etc.
Although in Zoetermeer I think one would be pleasantly surprised.

Hmm, if we're going this way now, here's an idea. It would take true dedication to get there, but a suburb of Amersfoort called Kattebroek is a fascinating stop. Various architects were told to do whatever they wanted in building a brand new town, and Amersfoort wound up with a living labaratory of avant garde architecture, inhabited by several thousand average people.

Hm, just following the discussion on Rotterdam and the Hague I can only add Den Haag has a good feature to start your trip, as you (Al) suggested yourself: it's near the sea and although the seaside resort of Scheveningen is more of a "posh" place right now it definitely has it's charms! Also Den Haag somehow doesn't have as much of over touristy places as Amsterdam, and the centuries old government seat itself is worth a visit, as is the miniature Netherlands "Madurodam". It feels more of a relaxed place to visit, despite the obvious safety precautions in any government city, like the heavily guarded US embassy.

As for Rotterdam, apart from being the world's second largest port (only recently passed by Shanghai) it has some modern architecture that makes it look more like a "worldly" city than Amsterdam...

Spot on, dnwitte. Kattenbroek indeed. I still need to get my camera over there :-)))
Amersfoort center though is charming (and old) in quite a different way than other towns. Oh, and there's a guided boat tour, a culinary museum and a beer museum! :-)))

http://www.kattenbroek.info/index-en.htm
http://www.archex.info/english/netherlands/amersfoort_kattenbroek_nieuwland_vathorst_architecture.html

While you're there, go to Soesterberg, take a walk on the heaths, and enjoy the dune landscape with no sea or other water in sight.

I've been looking for information on the Wadden Eilanden and I know there are 4 islands, Texel, Ameland, Vlieland and Schiermonnikoog. I can't understand what region they belong to, what would help me to gather information on VT.

Thank you very much Marcel. I think Schiermonnikoog is very interesting, only locals to the island can use cars! What a difference from other parts of Europe. The Netherlands really like to preserve their Nature!

Which is funny, considering how much of the country they made out of nothing.

Strictly speaking it wasn't nothing. The land was there but it was covered with water.