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The Netherlands - Locations

Amsterdam

See the Amsterdam City Guide

Haarlem

Just 15 minutes outside of Amsterdam, Haarlem is a quaint, enticing town near enough to the wealthy seaside resort of Zandvoort to combine the two places into a pleasant retreat from the city. There are plenty of coffee shops and pubs to keep you well-oiled and the Teyler Museum, with its drawings by Raphael and Michelangelo, is the Netherlands' oldest.

Hoge Veluwe

The Hoge Veluwe is the most popular national park in the Netherlands, with a mixed terrain of forests, woodland, shifting sands, and heathery moors. Get around the park by bike or by foot and see if you can spot its red deer and wild boar. It's also home to the Kroller Muller Museum that has a massive collection of Van Gogh paintings.

The Hague

The Hague has all the trappings of a capital city - it's the country's seat of government and home to the Dutch royal family - without the title. It's suffered from a rather dour image for many years but it's got plenty of museums and official buildings to visit. The second week of July sees the enormously popular North Sea Jazz Festival roll into town.

Utrecht

A bustling student town dominated by the Dom, the country's tallest church tower, Utrecht is an old established town whose character is morphing all the time. Its attractive canal area is now full of busy restaurants and cafés; the Catharijneconvent Museum housed in a fifteenth century convent has the country's largest collection of medieval art.

Maastricht

Situated on the thin strip of land jutting down between Belgium and Germany, Maastricht, the Netherlands' oldest city, is synonymous with the important European Union treaty signed there in 1992 and is known within the country as somewhere a little foreign. The city's origins date back to 50 B.C. when the Romans set up camp on the Maas River banks. Nowadays it's a good city for hanging out; the west bank of the Maas River is the city's hub with an old pedestrianized center while the east bank's Wyck is an old seventeenth century area full of cosy cafés and bars.