The Netherlands

More than just tulips and windmills

The Netherlands has a charm and uniqueness that far outweighs its size — the Dutch number less than 20 million, all crammed in a space about the size of Maryland. It’s one of the most densely populated countries in the world.

But first, what’s it’s name — Holland or The Netherlands? Despite having been there a number of times, I had to look this up. Turns out that, while “Holland” is used by English speaking peoples, the name actually refers to only the two provinces of Noord- and Zuid-Holland, whereas the Netherlands refers to all of the 12 provinces that make up the country. The Dutch prefer you call it The Netherlands.

Moving on. What makes this place special? Well, when you think of the Netherlands, your thoughts are likely to include windmills, canals, tulips, cheese, and the Dutch Masters. These world famous cultural icons are unique to the Netherlands. But its so much more than that — the cities and towns that dot the map are incredibly beautiful with an architectural style all their own.

Historically, the Netherlands had its Golden Age, albeit brief. From 1588 to 1672, it was one of the wealthiest nations in the world, dominating trade, science, and the arts, and their military helped to create an extensive colonial empire, including a little place they called New Amsterdam, or as we call it today, New York.

However, around 1672 things came crashing down, and quickly. That year is referred to as the Rampjaar, or the Disaster Year, and a saying at the time described the Dutch people as redeloos (“irrational”), its government as radeloos (“distraught”), and the country as reddeloos (“beyond salvation”). This is a time when the Dutch found themselves in conflict with France –who together with allies Cologne, Muenster, and England, almost overran the republic. The Dutch Prime Minister and his brother were blamed for the defeat and were lynched in The Hague. And if that wasn’t enough, their bodies were partially eaten by the citizens. Slightly thereafter, they were in the middle of the War of the Spanish Succession. Effectively, the wars left the country bankrupt, with no means to strengthen their depleted navy. From that point on, The Netherlands would come to be no more than a second tier power.

But that was then. Today, the Netherlands is ranked year after year as one of the happiest countries in the world, with a high quality of life, great healthcare system, good work-life balance, multicultural society, great public transportation, and a strong social safety net. Here’s a few more things the Dutch are famous for…

• Dutch men are the world’s tallest people.
• The Netherlands is the world’s biggest flower exporter.
• The Netherlands was the first country to legalize same-sex marriage.
• Carrots are orange because of the Netherlands
• The Dutch own more bicycles than any other country in the world
•  The Dutch invented gin
• The Dutch national anthem is the oldest in the world

While Amsterdam gets a lot of attention, don’t skip the rest of the country. As we mentioned, its cities and towns are loaded with old world charm, great cafes and restaurants, a Golden Age feel, and each offers the visitor with glimpses into the Dutch lifestyle. There’s a lot to see and do and taste here.

We put together 6 itineraries that will give you a very good feel for the country. We use two cities as our home base — Rotterdam and Amsterdam are conveniently located to same amazing destinations, and Amsterdam is a fun place to come home to after roaming the countryside.

The maps below lay out each itinerary, followed by pictures of each town. We don’t go into detail for any destination — suffice it to say there are lots of websites you can go to for specific information.

As with all of our driving itineraries, we recommend that you load each town in your GPS, or whatever device you use for driving directions, scout out parking lots and restaurants for each destination, and print out this itinerary so you have a hard copy to take with you.​

You will probably find that some towns are just drive throughs and some you might want to skip altogether. That’s the beauty of these tours, you can see what you want and skip what you don’t, but you’ll likely still find a few destinations that are more than worth your time.

ITINERARY 1 — 99 MILES

Using Amsterdam as your base, this is an easy drive and includes 4 towns — Edam, Hoorn, Enkhuizen, and Alkmaar.

ITINERY 2 — 150 MILES

At 150 miles around Amsterdam, this drive is still fairly manageable as a day trip. Here we hit 6 towns — Utrecht, Delft, The Hague, Leiden, Haarlem, and Zaandijk.

ITINERARY 3 — 137 MILES

Here we start at Rotterdam and hit 4 towns on our 137 mile journey — Heusden, Hertogenbosch {or Den Bosch}, Breda, and Willemstad.

ITINERARY 4 — 176 MILES

Again we begin from Rotterdam and travel to 6 towns over 176 miles — Gouda, Amersfoort, Arnhem, Nijmegen, Gorinchem, and Dordrecht.

ITINERARY 5 — 224 MILES

We are back in Amsterdam and have a drive of 224 miles, visiting 5 destinations — Harlingen, Leeuwarden, Giethoorn, Zwolle, and Spakenburg. This trip may be a bit long for some, so adjust as you need to, either by eliminating a town or two or limiting your time in each.

ITINERARY 6 — 152 MILES

Rotterdam is a base here with three towns visited and a driving distance of 152 miles.