15 Best Places to Visit in the Netherlands | Top Things to Do, North to South, from a Dutch Resident

hello everyone in this video I'm going to share with you what I recommend visiting in the Netherlands from north to south I will only talk about the places that I've been personally and my favorite ones so I can only imagine that there are some other hidden gems that I will not be mentioning but please let us know in the comment section okay so let's start with Tessa tessell is the biggest island and I've been there in 2020 during Corona time it was very good because there were not a lot of tourists so I could enjoy much more the nature but I could not go to the local shops and the restaurants or close or there was only takeaway options so I cannot really give an opinion about the restaurants and the local Commerce but I can say if you are working for opportunity to get out of the city and to breed some fresh air Tessa is one of your options in my opinion the best way to visit Tessa is by cycling it is about 20 kilometers length and 8 kilometers width so it is possible to visit in a couple of days by cycling but it can get very windy thank you so what happened with me is that we cycled several kilometers away from our rental house and then when I wanted to come back there was headwind very strong and I just did not have the strength to cycle towards our home so my husband had to pull me all the way in order for us to make on time home if it is very windy and if you have the opportunity to rent a new bike just do it because then you can visit much more comfortably and you do not have the risk to stay stuck you have this very wide sandy beaches and you have this beautiful and cute local villages to visit as well next we have heathon I think I've been here at least two times and I noticed that usually the Dutch say that this is a way to touristic Village but I really do not mind because I've never seen a place like this before he Thorne is a small village which is completely car free so you can only get around by walking cycling by boat or with a canoe and it it has this beautiful houses that are set up in islands that are connected to the mainland and I think there are about 176 bridges that connect the houses to the mainland and it just gives this beautiful and unique scenery it's like you are in a fairy tale even though it is a car free zone there are several parking places outside of the village and there are so many local restaurants and local shops to visit and many many rental vote companies and actually my favorite activity to do in this Village is to rent a boat with my friends and just explore the different canals and just enjoy the beautiful houses and everything is so well maintained the gardens are so well maintained the houses it's just everything is so beautiful to look at and it has this huge Lake as well in the summer it is very nice because you see a lot of activities happening so children playing in the water sailing boats and there is this small island in the middle of the lake where you can buy some ice cream so it is a very nice and different activity and at the end of this video I'll share with you a video that my sister recorded when we were doing our boat route and it is about the family that is in front of us it is very funny and it is an example of not to do when you rent a boat in return another place is Ann's friends I have no idea if I'm pronouncing this correctly apologies if I'm not but this is another place that usually the Dutch side is way too touristic but I really enjoy it for a day trip I actually went from Amsterdam to Zan strands by cycling and it was about one hour and a half I really like the route there and in science fans you have an unique landscape with these industrial Mills you can even visit inside of one of the meals and then you also have a small area that has these wooden buildings with craft shops inside you have some restaurants and you have beautiful Terraces where you can at the end of your visit just relax and eat something drink something just next to the river Sands it is another place that is very close to Amsterdam where you can see the industrial windmills next we have Harlem I've Been to Harlem a couple of times it is just 15 minutes by train from Amsterdam and it is just beautiful city just to walk around and look at it has this Monumental historical buildings it has countless of restaurants and cute cafes old squares and there is also the museum of friends Halls one of the great Dutch Masters but it was actually during the Christmas season that I was the most impressed with Harlem because Harlem hosts the biggest Christmas Market in the Netherlands and there are these hundreds of stalls just outside the main square and in the main square with food and different crafts there are orchestras and choirs it just gives you a beautiful info government of the Christmas season although it can get very crowded next we have Amsterdam and I could make a very lengthy video just dedicated to Amsterdam I lived there for two years and it is a city with so much to do I'll start with my favorite activity which is and I think this applies to the majority of the cities in the Netherlands it's just to walk around in the city center I love to see the canal so I recommend to walk around in the neck and Stripes the night streets neighborhood and in the urban neighborhood those for me are the most beautiful usually I like to take my guests to the stall misters broch which is a bridge with a beautiful view to the canal and from this bridge if you walk towards the amster river there is also a very nice spot to take some pictures the background actually reminds me the dancing houses scenery but with much less tourists for me doing about tourism must Amsterdam has so many canals around the city and you can really go through the city center and see the majority of City Center through a boat so I think this is the city where you can experience that I did some boat tours with guided tour so where you are in these big boats with several other tourists inside and to be honest you learn a lot in these guided tours there are so many facts that I share with you that you will not have found interesting books or if you just export the City by yourself I did that once but I think my favorite thing to do now is to just rent a boat by myself with some friends and we can just go around with the boat very chilled well sometimes can be very crowded if it is very sunny and if it is warm weather a lot of people get their boats out in the canals and some accidents might happen but still I think it is a very good activity to do next I recommend to visit the neighborhood called the pipe and in the pipe there is a great Street Market which is called the Albert calp market so it's called after one of the other Dutch Masters and in here you have several stalls with traditional food normal food and with other items as well but what I like to do most here is to eat the typical Dutch snacks or the Stroop waffles and the puffer chairs which are very small fluffy pancakes and they cook in front of you so when you eat they are very warm and yummy and then you can also eat for example the Herring which is a raw fish with onion that it is very typical in the Netherlands in regards to museums my favorite ones are the hikes Museum where you can see works from Rembrandt van Gogh and Vermeer there is also the Anne Frank house and for me this is really a must to visit because you can really see with your own eyes what this family has been through and what was happening to families like them during the second world war and you get to learn a lot about the second world war as well but it was in The Hermitage Museum of Amsterdam that through the classical art exhibitions that they have that that I got to learn a lot about the Dutch Society back then and you can see a lot of traces in the behaviors and culture of Dutch society today lastly my favorite thing to do in Amsterdam and this can come as a shock for so many because there are so many other things to do that are quite unique in Amsterdam is to go to Amsterdam's Falls and this is a wood that is about 20 minutes cycling from the city center of Amsterdam but it is such a massive park or Woods a massive Place only with nature and it is interesting because I usually take my guests there as well and it is one of their favorite parts of the visit of Amsterdam I don't know if it is because people are not expecting to experience that so close to a capital but they really enjoy and there is a small goat farm in the middle of it I think this is more targeted to children but we all like it anyway with different farm animals and you can feed the goats and you can drink some coffee and eat some of their cheeses so so it is a very nice and unique experience as well next we have appledorn and in appledorn you can visit the palace head flow and I've visited in May this year so just after the renovation and you can see how beautifully they have done in order for people to have a much better experience when visiting these Palace and the royal family live in this Palace so you learn a lot about the history of the Dead royal family and also the history of the Netherlands what I really like about this visit is that they have several audio tours throughout the palace and they are very interactive and entertaining in a while when you walk into the room they really tell the story about the objects that we are seeing the decoration and what was the room used for so it was not the typical audio tour but they really add some entertaining content there and if you go to appledorn you cannot miss the move the wolf is the biggest National Park in the Netherlands and it is so diverse in terms of of wildlife you can see wild boars wild deers if you are lucky of course and I heard that there are also some wolves and it's also very diverse in terms of scenery you can either have very dense forests and also Sun drifts as well so I think it is very interesting and it is very easy Park to visit with a bicycle and if you are there and if you like art do not miss the crawler Muller Museum it is a museum with a smaller exhibition versus the museums that I recommended earlier but it has works from Ham brand has works from Picasso and Peter Mondrian you get some bicycles for free and you can explore the surroundings and the nature and it was actually in this area that I saw throughout the years and the booze and they have this small wooden cabins so they just stay nearby and you can just relax and enjoy whatever they are doing then you have Lisa and if you happen to be in the Netherlands between middle of April and mid of May I will recommend you to go to Lisa one of the regions where they cultivate these Bob flowers such as the Dutch tulip and it is amazing to see this sea of colorful tulips they have very much bright colors like they have pinkish red yellow purple white it is beautiful to see this rainbow of tulips in we see there is also the konkanov and I've been there but to be honest I felt a little bit of a tourist trap I've been there in May maybe the garden was not as beautiful as it used to be but what I felt like was a campaign here 20 to 25 Euros to see another beautiful garden while next to it I have this amazing huge tulip fields that I can see for free and I think the two fields are something that I can I don't get to see in other countries while beautiful gardens a lot of countries have them so if you have to prioritize in terms of time I recommend you to stick to the tulip fields and if you can rent a bicycle to cycle around and see the different colors I recommend you to do that then we have Leiden which is a student city with the oldest university in the Netherlands and I recommend this city to go for a day trip it is a city also full of canals it has about 90 Bridges connecting between the canals and I really like to again walk around in the City Center and see this beautiful historic buildings it has several restaurants and cafes with amazing Terraces where you can just enjoy an afternoon then we have your track and if you think Amsterdam is beautiful you track tops Amsterdam in my opinion yeah new track is like a medieval city in the modern context and it has these unique canals while in Amsterdam you are walking above water level in new track you can actually go down the stairs and be inside of the canal on water level and they have several Terraces and you can just walk around next to the water and I really like to be having dinner or having a coffee next to the water especially when it is good weather you see a lot of boats passing by it is very entertaining and a unique experience a new track you also have the Dom Tower which is the tallest Church in the Netherlands and when the sky is clear you can actually spot Amsterdam from it it has been under renovation for a really long time I believe the renovation will be over by 2024 I think by now you can go to the top anyway and see I think the top is complete and see the view from there it is a very nice experience because in the Netherlands everything is flat so you get to see the cities that are very far away from your Trek your track also has much less tourists so you feel like that you are much more blended with locals and it has this beautiful Dutch buildings I believe 40 minutes by car from the city center of your track you also have the castildahar which is the biggest castle in the Netherlands you can visit the inside and you can visit the gardens I recommend you to go there as well then we have the Hague and the Hague is the countries that needs to trip Center it is where the government is based and I really like to come here especially when it is good weather on sunny days to go to the beach they have this very extensive Beach and next to the beach they have this very nice beach clubs that I like to be in and it was actually in this beach that I saw the most beautiful pinkish Sunset ever the Hague also has this very nice squares in the city center with several cafes and restaurants to choose on but it is actually in the heck that right now my favorite museum is it is the maritz house just next to the government building and I really like this Museum because first I have amazing exhibition they have works from Hamra and Vermeer and it is here that you can see the very famous girl with the Pearl Earring and it is like a very cozy Museum so you enter and it really feels like you are in a house that is very well decorated with these works of art and it does not have as many tourists when I compare for example with the hikes Museum which is usually very crowded so I really like my experience here and if you are in The Hague I recommend you to visit the caring house which is a place that is 30 minutes I think by car from the Hague and here you get to see this amazing defense system that they have in order to protect the south of Holland from flooding so you can actually get to see how it works and get to learn more about it and get to learn more about the flooding history in the Netherlands I think it is a very interesting one to visit and it is not very popular because not many people even the Dutch know that the caring house exists then we have Haute which is very famous for its how the cheese here you get to learn a lot about the history of this this cheese but it is not all about the cheese here you have these beautiful small City Center with these Monumental Town Hall in the middle of the marked place and here in the marketplace is where they used to trade the cheese and even today they do this trade of the cheese and you have also the amazing straw puffles it was here that I ate one of the best strip waffles ever it was in the stupofo factory which is a very small Factory that sits in the main square of khada and you get to enter and see for yourself the whole production process of Stroop waffles and of course eat a lot of strip waffles so moving on to valkenburg I've been here once in my life and it was during the Christmas season and this is because valkenburg turns into a Christmas Town between the middle of November and January and it is very unique experience because they have the biggest underground Christmas Market in Europe so you basically enter in a system of tunnels and caves that they have there and there are several stalls in these tunnels and there are even restaurants and cafes so it is a very different experience in terms of Christmas Market and the town itself it's fully decorated for Christmas context and it's just a very nice cozy feeling and you get to feel the Christmas energy I really enjoy to be here and it is a unique experience so if you are in Christmas visit Falkenburg as well lastly we have Maastricht and we are ending this video where it all started for me Maastricht was the first city that I visited in the Netherlands because I did my Exchange program here in 2014. Masters is also a university city and it's just beautiful you can just explore it by walking and you just walk around every corner every square that you see it's just so well maintained with these historic buildings and one of the things that I remember the most are the countless restaurants with these beautiful Terraces very cozy with heaters and blankets it gives just a very cozy feeling and I really just enjoy walking around eat some waffles with chocolate and go to the main square right half and eat these delicious mussels that they have it has also one of the most beautiful bookstores in my opinion which is in the Bookshop Dominicans and it is a Bookshop inside of a church it is very impressive and of course Maastricht it has still the several fortifications around the city and the small curiosity is that it was in Maastricht that one of the most famous free Musketeers on dartangan was murdered during the battlefield another activity to do in Maastricht is also to visit the Maastricht underground which is again this system of tunnels and caves that were used by the population when they were being attacked by Foreign occupancies it is very interesting to see how they live during this time it's like a maze inside I remember in the tour you go with a small group with a tour guide of course and they let you to experience what it feels like to be in complete darkness and it is very difficult nowadays to find a place where you feel in complete darkness not even a millimeter of light coming in what starts to happen is that your brain starts to imagine some figures popping up in in the dark and you lose the complete sense of orientation that you have I hope it's not weird that I will like to visit underground systems and tunnels and caves but just after the visit next to it there is a chalet where you get to eat in my opinion the most delicious onion soup and these are my main recommendations to visit in the Netherlands for now please let me know what other hidden gems I missed in this video and let me know what is your opinion in regards to any of the places that I mentioned here and as promised I'm going to share now with you the video that my sister recorded of this family in return riding their boat it is very funny and I don't know if you get to see in this video but the family in the boat was completely unbothered by the driving skills of their driving and enjoy the video and I will see you in the next video [Music]

Channel: Mafalda Boers

Views: 2,998

Keywords: Visit Netherlands, What to visit in the netherlands, Top things to do in the Netherlands, Touristic guide netherlands

Id: BjyzfLhpbjw

Length: 20min 51sec (1251 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 17 2023