The Netherlands is one of those countries that is massively underestimated by most travellers. People fly into Amsterdam, spend a few days exploring the canals, visit the Rijksmuseum, and then fly home thinking they’ve seen the Netherlands. And look, Amsterdam is brilliant, genuinely one of the best cities in Europe, but it is barely scratching the surface of what this country has to offer.
The thing that surprises most people about the Netherlands is how much variety is packed into a relatively small area. You have medieval fortified towns that have barely changed in centuries, tiny canal villages so picturesque they look like they were designed by a film set decorator, historic cities with world-class museums, a rugged coastline, and an entire collection of places that most tourists never bother to find simply because Amsterdam is right there, pulling all the attention.
The country is also incredibly easy to get around. The train network is excellent, distances are short, and a lot of these places are close enough to Amsterdam to visit as day trips if you want. But honestly, the best approach is to slow down, spread out and actually explore. The Netherlands rewards that more than almost anywhere else I can think of.
Here are the 11 best places in the Netherlands that you absolutely have to visit, whether it’s your first time in the country or your fifth.
1. Amsterdam
Okay, yes, we’re starting with the obvious one, but there’s a reason Amsterdam is famous and that reason is completely valid. This is one of the most beautiful, most liveable and most genuinely enjoyable cities in the world, and if you haven’t been, it needs to be at the top of your list.
The canals alone would make Amsterdam worth visiting. The network of 17th-century waterways that runs through the city centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and exploring them either on foot or by hiring your own boat for a few hours is one of those travel experiences that just makes you properly happy. The light on the water on a clear afternoon, the houseboats, the cycling bridges, the crooked canal houses leaning into each other — it’s one of the most distinctive and beautiful urban environments anywhere in Europe.
The Rijksmuseum is essential and not optional. Rembrandt’s The Night Watch alone makes the entrance fee completely worthwhile. Right next door, the Van Gogh Museum houses the largest collection of Van Gogh’s work in the world and is equally extraordinary. Both get busy, so book tickets in advance and skip the queues.
Anne Frank’s House on the Prinsengracht is one of the most moving experiences available in any European city. It’s sombre, it’s important and it’s done with real care and thought. Book tickets weeks ahead because they sell out completely.
For food, Box Social does the most outrageously good Yum Cha waffles that you’ll think about for the rest of your trip. For dinner, De Silveren Spiegel in a beautiful 17th-century canal house serves tasting menus that are genuinely special and worth the splurge for a proper evening out. And for the best sunset in Amsterdam, get yourself to Pllek in the NDSM Wharf area for cocktails on the waterfront as the city lights up across the IJ river. It has a brilliant, beachy, relaxed energy that is very Amsterdam.
2. Rotterdam
Rotterdam is the city that people keep discovering and then wondering why nobody told them about it sooner. It’s the second largest city in the Netherlands, one of the largest ports in the world, and architecturally one of the most fascinating cities in Europe.
The reason Rotterdam looks so different from every other Dutch city is that it was almost entirely destroyed in a German bombing raid in May 1940 and then rebuilt from scratch over the following decades. Rather than trying to recreate what was lost, the city committed to forward-looking, experimental architecture and became a showcase for some of the most ambitious contemporary building in the world. Every time you turn a corner in Rotterdam you see something that makes you stop and look up.
The Cube Houses are the most iconic example — a cluster of houses tilted 45 degrees on a cube base, designed by Piet Blom in the 1970s, which look like something from a science fiction film but are actually normal homes where people live. You can visit one that has been opened as a museum and see how people actually manage the tilted walls and unconventional spaces inside. The Markthal Rotterdam is another showstopper — a vast horseshoe-shaped covered market building with the most spectacular painted ceiling you will ever see above a food hall, full of fresh produce stalls, restaurants and the general brilliant chaos of a great city market.
Climb the Euromast tower for the best views over the city and the port, and spend time in the Delfshaven quarter, one of the few areas that survived the wartime bombing. It’s a perfectly preserved 17th-century harbour neighbourhood and feels like a completely different world from the futuristic architecture a few kilometres away. The Kinderdijk windmills are about 15 kilometres outside the city and are exactly as beautiful as you imagine, especially in the morning light.
3. Delft
Delft sits between Rotterdam and The Hague, and it is one of those Dutch cities that punches well above its weight. It’s not huge, but it’s historically rich, genuinely beautiful and the kind of place you walk around thinking you could spend a very long time here without getting bored.
Most people know Delft from the pottery. Delftware, that famous blue and white tin-glazed earthenware, was developed here in the 17th century when Dutch potters tried to replicate Chinese porcelain, and the tradition is still very much alive. The Royal Delft factory is the last remaining original Delftware factory in the city and you can tour the workshops to watch the hand-painting process, which is extraordinary in its precision and artistry.
The city itself is beautiful in a classic Dutch way, with canals, narrow brick bridges and 17th-century townhouses arranged around a series of lovely squares. The Markt, the main square, is anchored on one side by the Renaissance-style Town Hall and on the other by the Nieuwe Kerk, a magnificent Gothic church where the Dutch royal family has been buried since 1584 and where William of Orange, the founder of the Dutch state, is interred. The Oude Kerk nearby has a tower that leans noticeably to one side, which the Dutch seem entirely relaxed about and which tourists can’t stop photographing.
Vermeer was born here and lived his whole life here, and the city honours that connection thoughtfully. For lunch, Stads-koffyhuis has an easy, relaxed atmosphere and excellent coffee, and the outdoor tables on a sunny day with a view of the canal are perfect.
4. Giethoorn
If you’ve seen photos of Giethoorn and thought it couldn’t possibly look that beautiful in real life, I’m here to tell you that it does and actually you’ve probably undersold it.
This village in the province of Overijssel has no roads in its old quarter. None. Getting around is either by boat on the extensive canal network, by bicycle on the paths that run alongside the canals, or on foot. It earned the nickname Dutch Venice a long time ago and while Venice doesn’t really need the competition, the comparison is understandable.
The canals wind past thatched-roof farmhouses with gardens that look like they’ve been maintained for centuries, narrow wooden bridges arc over the water every hundred metres or so, and the whole place has a profound, unhurried quiet that is genuinely unusual and lovely. In summer, the gardens bloom with colour and the canal banks are thick with reeds and wildflowers.
You absolutely need to hire a boat to see Giethoorn properly. The village makes much more sense from the water than it does from the paths, and puttering quietly through the canal network past the old farmhouses and under the low bridges on a sunny afternoon is one of the most enjoyable things you can do in the Netherlands. Book your boat in advance, especially in summer, because slots fill up fast and there is a limited number of boats permitted on the canals each day.
5. The Hague
The Hague is the seat of the Dutch government and parliament, home to the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court, and one of the most elegant, sophisticated cities in the Netherlands. It also has a beach, which the Netherlands serves as a useful reminder, is an actual thing the country has.
The Binnenhof is the complex of medieval buildings at the very heart of The Hague where the Dutch parliament has sat since the 13th century, and it’s one of the most impressive parliamentary complexes in Europe. The great Gothic Hall of Knights inside it, the Ridderzaal, is extraordinary and worth going in to see. Noordeinde Palace, one of the working palaces of the Dutch royal family, is nearby, and the surrounding streets have a quietly grand, ambassadorial character that is very much The Hague.
The Mauritshuis museum is small, perfectly curated and houses some of the greatest Dutch Golden Age paintings in the world, including Vermeer’s Girl With a Pearl Earring and Rembrandt’s The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp. If you’ve seen these paintings reproduced a thousand times, seeing the real things in the intimate, beautiful rooms of the Mauritshuis is a genuinely different experience.
In summer, Scheveningen beach is wonderful. It’s a proper Dutch seaside resort with a long sandy beach, a pier, seafood stalls and an enjoyably lively atmosphere that is nothing like the rest of The Hague and all the better for it. For dinner, Dekxels has excellent food and the tuna tartare with yuzu is one of those dishes you order and then immediately start planning to come back for.
6. Leiden
Leiden is a university city in the truest sense, meaning the university doesn’t just happen to be there but defines the whole energy and character of the place. It’s the oldest university in the Netherlands, founded in 1575 as a reward to the citizens of Leiden for withstanding a particularly brutal Spanish siege, and that academic tradition gives the city an intellectual, slightly bohemian quality that makes it very easy to spend time in.
The city is also genuinely historic in ways that go beyond the university. Rembrandt was born here, which the city commemorates with quiet pride. The Pilgrim Fathers lived here for over a decade before setting sail for America, which is an extraordinary historical footnote that most people don’t know. And Leiden has more museums per square kilometre than almost any other city in the Netherlands.
The Hortus Botanicus is one of the oldest botanical gardens in the world, established in 1590, and is still a remarkably beautiful place to spend an afternoon even if you’re not particularly interested in plants. The National Museum of Antiquities has an exceptional collection of Egyptian, Greek, Roman and Near Eastern artefacts that would be considered a major institution in a larger city but gets relatively little attention here. The Museum De Valk, built inside a genuine working windmill, is excellent.
The canal network in Leiden is as beautiful as anywhere in the Netherlands, and wandering along the Rapenburg canal in the early evening when the light is low and the reflections are shimmering is one of those quietly lovely Dutch moments. For dinner, Just Meet does the best steaks in the city.
7. Broek in Waterland
Broek in Waterland is only about five kilometres north of Amsterdam and yet most people who visit Amsterdam never go there, which is honestly baffling once you’ve seen it.
Take bus 314 from Amsterdam Centraal and you’re there in about 15 minutes. The bus stops right in the middle of the village and the first thing you notice is the extraordinary quiet. Broek in Waterland is a protected heritage village, which means most of its buildings are preserved essentially as they were in the 17th and 18th centuries, and the effect is genuinely like stepping back into a Golden Age Dutch painting.
The wooden houses are beautifully maintained in their traditional colours, including the distinctive purplish-grey paint that wealthy families used to signal their status back when that sort of thing mattered. The village sits between several lakes and the polderland, with the watery, flat Dutch landscape stretching in every direction, and there’s a peaceful, unhurried quality here that is an excellent corrective to the bustle of Amsterdam just up the road.
It’s not a place with a big list of things to do. You wander, you look at the houses, you sit by the water, you cycle around the lanes if you’ve brought a bike. That’s the point. It’s one of the best small villages in the Netherlands and easily one of the most overlooked places in the whole country.
8. Naarden
Naarden is one of the finest examples of a fortified town in all of Europe, and from the air it looks almost too perfect to be real. The town was rebuilt in the 17th century in the shape of a twelve-pointed star, with a double ring of ramparts, moats and bastions designed by military engineers to be impossible to capture. Looking at an aerial photograph of it is one of those moments where you appreciate what a geometrically obsessive century the 17th really was.
At ground level it’s equally impressive. The earthwork ramparts are enormous and you can walk along them for a complete circuit of the town, looking out over the surrounding landscape of polders and water. The Vestingmuseum inside the fortress tells the story of the military engineering in fascinating detail and is surprisingly absorbing even if military history isn’t usually your thing.
Inside the star, the town itself is small, quiet and very pretty, with brick streets, historic buildings and the magnificent St. Vitus Church at its heart, a Gothic building from the 14th century with exceptional painted vaulted ceilings that are some of the most beautiful medieval art in the Netherlands. The old town hall nearby is equally well preserved. For food, Lan Tin does excellent Asian fusion and you will leave very full and very satisfied.
Just outside Naarden on the road back toward Amsterdam, Muiderslot Castle is worth going out of your way for. It’s one of the best preserved medieval castles in the Netherlands, a proper square fortress with round towers and a moat, sitting in the flat Dutch landscape like something from a fairy tale.
9. Harlingen
Harlingen is a historic seafaring city in the province of Friesland that has been doing what it does since 1234 and hasn’t particularly changed its priorities since. It’s a working port, still genuinely engaged with the sea in a way that most Dutch coastal towns are not, and that authentic maritime character makes it unlike anywhere else in the country.
The old harbour is lined with 17th and 18th-century merchant houses that speak to the wealth this city accumulated during its centuries of seafaring, and strolling along the quays watching the fishing boats and traditional Frisian sailing vessels is a genuinely pleasant way to spend an afternoon. The Harlingen Lighthouse at the end of the harbour entrance is beautiful, and the collection of historic buildings around the Galerie de Vis area gives you a real sense of what the city looked like at the height of its prosperity.
The other reason to come to Harlingen is that the ferry to the Wadden Islands departs from here. Vlieland and Terschelling are two of the larger Wadden Islands and they are both extraordinary places, with wide beaches, sand dunes, nature reserves and a car-free tranquillity that makes a day trip out there feel like a complete change of world. If you can stay overnight on either island, even better.
For dinner in Harlingen, Restaurant ‘t Havenmantsje is excellent. The Tom Kha Gai soup alone is worth the trip.
10. Thorn
Thorn is a village in the southern province of Limburg that looks, at first glance, like it belongs more in Belgium or France than in the Netherlands, and that slightly foreign quality is part of what makes it so interesting.
The village grew up around an abbey founded in the 10th century and by the 12th century had become its own tiny principality, the Abbey of Thorn, that was independent of the surrounding feudal lords. That independence gave it a peculiar character and a history that is genuinely unusual even by Dutch standards.
What makes Thorn visually distinctive is that nearly all of its historic buildings are whitewashed. The story goes that this is a direct consequence of an 18th-century window tax introduced by the French when they controlled the region, which caused residents to brick up their windows and then paint over the brickwork to disguise what they’d done. Whatever the historical accuracy of that story, the result is a village of white-painted cottages with narrow windows on cobbled lanes around a beautiful central church, the Abdijkerk Thorn, which is one of the finest religious buildings in the region.
It’s a small village and you can see most of it in a couple of hours, but those hours are very enjoyable ones. It’s the kind of quiet, genuinely unusual place that travel occasionally produces and that you feel quietly pleased about having found.
11. Valkenburg
Valkenburg is one of the most unusual towns in the Netherlands for the simple reason that it’s built on a hill, which in the context of a country that is famously flat is remarkable enough to be worth mentioning. It sits in the hilly Limburg region close to Maastricht, and the landscape around it genuinely looks different from anywhere else in the country.
The ruins of Valkenburg Castle sit dramatically on the hilltop above the town, the only hilltop castle ruin in the Netherlands and genuinely impressive even in its ruined state. The views over the town and the surrounding valley from the castle are excellent. Beneath the castle, an extensive network of tunnels runs through the soft marlstone on which the whole town is built, carved out over centuries for building materials and used during the Second World War as a hiding place. The tunnel tours are fascinating and unexpectedly atmospheric.
The historic town centre below the castle has well-preserved sections of the medieval city walls and the beautifully carved Saint Nicholas Gate, and wandering through the old streets with the castle ruins above you is a proper medieval feeling that you don’t often get in the Netherlands. The town also has a Christmas market in December that is partly held inside those underground caves, which is one of the more atmospheric festive events you’ll find in the whole country. For ribs, Sunndays does the best in the region and you really shouldn’t skip them.
The Netherlands keeps giving you things to discover, and that’s honestly the best thing about it. Whatever brings you here, try to leave room for the places on this list that you hadn’t planned on. The ones you stumble into without expectations are usually the ones you end up talking about the most.
