Where to Go and What to See

Holidays by Destination Europe Netherlands General Where to Go and What to See 

There are different things you can look for in a visit to the Netherlands. First of all there is the Holland of conventional image - canals, dikes, windmills and tulips. Then there's the country's history, tall ships, red-bricked towns, and placid countryside, reproduced in many paintings.
Finally, there is a wide choice of well-run and sophisticated attraction and theme parks.

While the east and the south of the country tend to the softer, greener look, the east offers more the starker landscape of country wrested from the sea, in places punctuated by the tall white posts of modern windmills but with its own traditional ones as well, along with those dikes and in parts, fields of flowers.

The past is showcased in visitor attractions all over the country, ranging from town museums to outdoor museums to traditional life, but also with centres rebuilding 17th century ships or demonstrating how the country manages its drainage and the danger of periodic flooding.

Theme parks meanwhile are within striking distance of almost anywhere you might care to stay, with an added attraction over those in may other destinations of being set in attractively landscaped parks and gardens.

The Golden Circle

The area round the Markermeer and Ijsselmeer lakes, created by the damming of the 'Zuiderzee', is marketed as The Golden Circle . It's part of the country which shows the range of the area's history from the harsh poverty of the fishing villages, fighting the dangers of the sea, to the prosperity of the Hanseatic trading ports, to the new towns of the Flevoland, only drained from 1942.

The full route around the lakes is 400km but it is possible to cut across at the dam between the towns of Enknuizen and Lelystad if you have less time. Driving is easy but if you prefer the area is dense with cycle routes or SailTrack Holland is a regular service connecting 14 harbours around the Ijsselmeer by traditional sailing ships. Marken Express plies between Volendam and Marken.

If you want to travel just one section by bike the 25km Alfaers Erf route is designed as a museum trail, visiting restored buildings and crafts from the 18th and 19th centuries. If you want to do more the Gold Circle tourist office offers a boat and bike package of seven nights with children's bikes available at €640 per adult, €425 per child 4-11 years. Alternatively pure cycle trips including pre-booked accommodation can also be organised.

A recommended route goes anti-clockwise around the water, starting from Amsterdam, passing in part through an area of protected peat meadows, known for its birds. Potential stops include the following but this is really somewhere to pick and mix whatever appeals at the time, going at your own pace.

Marken an old fishing village, closed to traffic and offering a glimpse of life as it used to be with the traditional wooden houses on earth mounds and/or piles to keep them above the sometimes rising water. Some of the older ladies still wear the traditional Dutch clothing.

Monnickendam A quiet old port with some fine buildings including a carillon tower with 18 bells, used to guide fishing boats home on moonless nights.

Volendam A small provincial waterfront town with plenty of souvenir shops and a small museum on traditional Catholic life (and information in English), and an extraordinary room of pictures created using the paper bands from cigars.

Edam famous for the exported cheese (locally bought is better) its prosperity derives in fact from 17th century ship building. There is a weekly cheese market in July and August for tourists but the good looks of the town are more of an attraction. There is a public swimming area just outside the centre on the water's edge.

Hoorn The namesake of Cape Horn, has grown up round a lovely old harbour with a defence tower, and a large collection of well tended old sailing ships. There are also lively statues of the ships boys from one of its most famous vessels the Bontekoe. The old town centre is attractive and offers a museum of toys including a children's play area, a museum of the 20th century in two old cheese warehouses with domestic interiors from various periods, and collections of packaging and ephemera, plus a caf? and children's play area. The West Friesian Museum includes everything from typical 17th to 19th century rooms to collections of puppets from Japan to Indonesia, regional costumes, model boats, and more in the old Provicial Government building. (Note the figure on the right of the central painting in the Council Chamber, whose foot moves from let to right as you walk by.) There are steam train trips to Medemblik, the trams dating back to 1926, connecting with the Enkhuizen ferry service. ‘t Oude Gveltje, schoolsteeg 7 sells old and collectable new toys, including from Steiff.

Enkhuizen Once a renowned port, a backwater for centuries until discovered by tourism. Best known for the open air Zuiderzeemuseum with the Buitenmuseum recreating a period town of 1880 to 1930, with various houses and businesses transported from other parts of the region. A number come from places you might also visit such as Schokland. There are craft demonstrations, actors in period costume plus real goats and sheep. Good visitor material in English offers insights into the kind of life lived in these buildings and the constant struggle against the water. Activities specifically for children include dressing in traditional costumes, playing with hoops and walking on stilts. Other visitor attractions in town include a museum of ships in bottles, and Sprookjeswonderland (Fairy Tale Wonderland) with scenes from fairytales and scenes of gnomes at home.There are small boats for children. Although perhaps not quite as pretty as parts of Hoorn, in summer this is the largest Dutch port for traditional sailing ships which can be chartered for individual and group trips, and there are some intereting buildings including warehouses used by the East India Company, an old defence tower and 16th and 17th walls against the sea. There is also a beach, children's play area, and indoor tropical swimming pool.

Medemblik One of the most ancient towns though currently not one of the most characterful. Worth visiting though with children because of the Bakkerijmuseum , a bakery (sign outside Ringers), functioning as a museum with a rota of up to 30 volunteer bakers and chocolate makers, among other things helping children help with the baking - for example cranking the moulding machine for speculoos biscuits. There is little signage in English but look out for the old carts used to deliver bread, pulled by dogs. They also do children's parties with marzipan modelling and the like - should you have a birthday in the family while visiting. There is also the Dutch Steam Engine museum with 30 engines.

Blokzijl Attractive small town with a small harbour surrounded by buildings and cafes. A cannon used to warn of impending flood still stands by the water.

Giethoorn Part of the area of Overijssel, the village, in an area of lakes formed by digging for peat, is a magnet for visitors who wander its narrow paths along small canals. The best way to visit is to hire one of the small motor boats to be found on the entry to the village - one hour €15, two €25. There is a one-way route to follow and the canals connect to a lake with islands and small sailing boats with a rather Swallows and Amazons feel about them.

Schokland / was once an island just a few kilometres long, more and more of it succumbing to floods and houses regularly damaged beyond repair. Its typically Dutch history has earned it status as a World Heritage Site. The few hundred people who lived in the three villages were re-housed by the government in the middle of the 19th century and one of the villages has been turned into a museum with a cave bear skeleton, bits of woolly mammoth, old costumes including children's caps and jacket, and panels including in English of the island's history. More striking though is looking down on the surrounding land and visualising sea.

Lelystad Batavia Werf is the national Centre for Maritime History which has built a reconstruction of the United East India Company (VOC) ship the Batavia. Vistors can watch work in progress on the reconstruction of the 7 Provinces, a Man of War from the same period. NieuwLand polder museum focuses on the history of the area and the interaction between man and water and particularly its drainage from areas like that surrounding Lelystad which until 50 years ago was all under water. There is a good booklet in English and English portable recorded information - some of which will have to be explained to children though the concepts are clear. More fun for them though is probably the educational installation towards the end with pumps, locks and the like, shifting water from one to another part (and in part over themselves.) The Lelystad Naturepark is home to European bison and Przewalski horse, forerunners of modern, domesticated animals. The reclaimed farmland includes the largest bulb growing area in the Netherlands.

Elburg A pretty little town and Hanseatic port with ramparts and tree-lined central canal and a homeopathic garden on the outskirts. Nearby is Six Flags Holland , part of the Warner Brothers group, describing itself as the roller coaster capital of Europe with currently eight roller coasters along with a 45m high Ferris wheel, a number of water attractions, stunt and seasonal shows, and characters like Bugs Bunny, Tweety, Sylverster and others from Loony Tunes. The park includes the option of accommodation in holiday park bungalows.

Harderwijk Another Hanseatic port with an attractive old centre and waterfront in an unpretentious and busy town. While the old streets are well worth a stroll, looking out for example for the old synagogue, the big visitor draw is the Dolfinarium . Europe's largest marine animal park, this offers dolphins, sea lions, seals and more, as well as a dolphin recovery centre for animals from the North Sea. The dolphin shows are extremely popular, as are the shows/feeding sessions with the other animals. There are good children's play areas, and an attractive sandy beach, a miniature railway to ride, a 3D pirate show, a pool in which to pet rays, and more.

Spakenburg An old fishing town known for its broad ships known as botters, some still moored in the harbour. There are also old smokehouses continuing the tradition of fish smoking for which the town is known. Some locals still wear local costume which is also shown in the museum of local life.

Elsewhere

There is of course plenty to visit outside the Golden Circle. The following offers some pointers on places which might interest families, but is by no means exhaustive. To take a couple of towns at random, Haarlem offers the Frans Hals museum which includes a fine dolls house, and the Teylers Museum, the country's oldest, with everything from fossils to 18th century machinery. At Leiden there is the Rijsmuseum Van Oudheden with a complete Egyptian temple. There is also a working windmill, complete with millers quarters as left by the last miller, as well as pretty old streets where students pull their old sofas to sit out in sunny weather. Utrecht offers the Van Speelklok tot Pierement Museum of musical boxes, clocks, organs etc from the 18th century to present, and a Spoorweg Museum (railway) with 60 locos and miniature line for under 12s.

North of Amsterdam

Zanse Schans outside Zaandam includes 12 working windmills and 18th and 18th century houses moved here in the ‘50s. Gives an idea of life when one river alone had more than 1,000 working mills.

Linnaeushof near Haarlem with around 300 children's attractions including a Wild West train, cable cars, a moonwalk, minigolf and soft play area for the under 5s.

Walibi Flevo part of the same group as Six Flags, north of Amsterdam, the newest park, with children's and white knuckle rides stunt shows and special effects.

Madurodam with miniatures of buildings including canal houses, windmills, the Royal Palace on Dam Square in Amsterdam, and more. It was set up as a memorial for a son who fought against the German invasion of 1940 and died in Dachau. It continues to fund support programmes for those injured in war.

The East

Apenheul Primate Park at Apeldoorn in the woods of a 30-acre park, one of the world's most innovative zoos. It includes more than 30 species of primate, many allowed to roam among visitors (who have to seal all belongings including particularly food, into monkeyproof bags as some animals are expert at picking bags and pockets). There is a tropical petting zoo based on a Bornean Dayak Farm, the world's largest social group in a zoo, an Amazon boardwalk to oberve rainforest inhabitants at monkey level, and a playground with suspended rope tunnels to allow children to pretend to be monkeys, climbing into the tree canopy and dropping rapidly by twisting tube. Keeprs talk about the animals at the regular feeding times.

The country's biggest national park Hoge Veluwe near Arnhem, which is home to the purpose-built and excellent Kroller Muller modern art museum (with 250-plus Van Goghs alone). The park holds a stock of 1,300 free bicycles which include some with child seats and child bikes and around 27km of bike paths to ride them on.

Arnhem's Het Nederlands Openluchtmuseum of traditional rural architecture including windmills, a dairy anFounded in 1912 it was one of the first museums of the type, the buildings grouped to form traditional villages of the different parts of the country. There is every type of windmills plus working craftshops demonstrating things like miling, brewing and papermaking.

The West

Duinrell By Wassenaar, 30 minutes by car from Amsterdam, a camp site which is also an amusement park seeing 1.3 million visitors a year with both more demanding rides and gentler ones including a non-stop carousel, plus a selection of well designed play areas for children including a section of trampolines, different slides, ‘Matterhorn' mounds covered in netting, Rope Challenge, a rope track through the trees, and indoor adventure playground and a great deal more. Also two outdoor pools and, for an extra fee, an indoor one with Europe's biggest indoor water slide complex with more than 1,000m of water slides,. In summer there is also a magic show.
Accommodation is available in ‘Duingalows', something like up-market mobile homes with a dedicated children's playground. , type C with cot, changing table, baby bath and playpen and costing from €435 per week, or there are different camp site options, the most expensive site with access to cable TV €1.75 per night with further charges of €6.50 per person, under 3s free. A section of the park is made over to mobile homes for Eurocamp, Eurosites, Keycamp and Selectcamp. There is a beach 2.5km from the site.

Avifauna the largest bird park in the Netherland with 3* modern hotel hotel half way between Amsterdam and Rotterdam. There is a section on Australia and another on the Philippines, talks and shows with birds, plus 75-minute boat trips through the local country to see local birds. Also a children's play area.

The South

Efteling - one of Europe's oldest amusement parks and regular award winner, around 30km north of the Belgian border. In 72 hectares there's plenty to keep a family busy, divided into a fairy realm (with figures from Grimm and Anderson fairy tales), adventure realm (with the thrill rides), alternative realm, (with for example a 3-D eco-show put together with help from the World Wildlife Fund), and the Travel Realm. There are around 50 modern rides including the roller coaster Python, and rather less demanding, if wetter, Pirana rapids. The park really is a park, with plenty of trees and attractively landscaped and gardened. The effect is to feel less hyped than many alternatives, though queues can still be very long during holidays and at weekends. On site accommodation is themed as a fairytale castle, stately home or woodland villa, the first with a castle themed playground. Babysitting and bike hire is available on request. Open end March to end October though year-round is planned.

Burgh-Haamstede (Zeeland) Delta Expo about the Delta Works which protect Zeeland from sea flooding, includes a waterpark, 3D cinema and sealife centre. Explains the history of Zeeland's battle with the sea and the engineering for the country's flood defences. From April to October a round trip can be made here to visit a dolphin station.

Archeon archaeological theme park at Alphen aan den Rijn in the form of a giant time machine moving from the beginning of life through to dinosaurs, the Roman period, and the Middle Ages. All reconstructions are based on archaeological finds in the Netherlands which are inhabited by so-called Archeo-interpreters. Hands on activities include making your own fibula (broach), practising calligraphy or archery, having your face painting or exercising with Roman soldiers. The price includes participation in a meal at the Roman Inn.

Beaches

Zandvoort and Noordwijk are the most popular seaside resorts for day trips from Amsterdam with sand and dunes. Katwijk slightly south is another option. The Nationaalpark de Kennermerduinen is right on the dunes due west of Amsterdam. Further south Zeeland's dunes and nature reserves are also popular.

Alternatively to the north are the Friesian islands. Terschelling with dunes, sandy beaches, meadows and woods is 80% nature reserve. Texel just north of north Holland is much larger, busy in summer months but with dunes and a good beach for example at the main resort of De Koog.

However, the coast faces the north sea so if you want calmer water and less wind the Markermeer, Ijsselmeer or connecting waterways, for example the Veluwe Meer running between Harderwijk and Elburg, or lakes around Giethoorn, would be better. The water here is likely to be much warmer than the sea, and will certainly be calmer. It is also likely to be less windy.