There aren't many countries with so much land below sea level. There aren't many - if any - countriesthis flat. There aren't many countries with so much reclaimed land. There aren't many countries this densely populated, and yet so liberal. There aren't many countries with so much water and wind, or so many boats, sails, bikes, birds, dykes, polders, windmills, flowers, fish, bridges, cafés, cheese - and tall people. And there certainly aren't many countries who can claim such a vibrant colour (vivid orange in this case) as their own. Simply put, there is no place like the Netherlands.


Start with the Dutch cities. Who hasn't heard of Amsterdam, the capital of culture, coffeeshops and canals? Its mesmerising beauty is hard to overestimate, and yet a surfeit of stunning metropoles are only hours, or even minutes, away by train. Haarlem, Groningen City, Rotterdam, Utrecht City, Den Haag, Leiden, Delft, Maastricht - the list seems endless, a mind-boggling concept considering the size of this small nation.


Outside the cities, the Netherlands once again borders on over-achievement. Its splendour of national parks and sheep-patrolled polders is perfectly complimented by shimmering lakes, sandy coastlines, and a chain of windswept islands. Best of all, it can all be seen from the comfort of a bicycle seat.


There's no place like the Netherlands. But don't take our word for it; come join the Dutch in their gezellig ways - you won't be disappointed.

You’re nursing a drink in a canal café when you hear Bach. A man with a wild hairdo is playing organand trumpet on a nutshell of a boat, while his feet do the steering. Only in Amsterdam…

… and back by popular demand. After a few years’ pout, this beautiful city has found its old self – quirky, creative and open-minded. Yet beneath the self-assured exterior, mental notes are everywhere. Not long ago the Netherlands swung towards the right, with crackdowns on immigration, religious freedom and red-light districts. Even in freewheeling Amsterdam, people were asking themselves: is too much tolerance a bad thing?

You can breathe easy: the soul-searching is over. The core values of Dutch society that we knew and loved have emerged intact. Newcomers who integrate are welcome; practising a faith is OK, as is the right to turn away from it. You like reefer madness? Fine, let’s hit a coffeeshop. A studded jockstrap for skate night? No problem, that’s crazy enough. Tolerance hasn’t gone out of fashion, it’s just had a makeover.

The city’s gorgeous looks haven’t faded either. The moments you spend ogling the old merchants’ villas, the Jordaan’s charming lanes or the lush Vondelpark are as magical now as in centuries past. The cafés are full, the museums are littered with Golden Age art and everyone still parties like there’s no tomorrow. Amsterdam is a delight to visit any time of year, but it’s hard to trump Queen’s Day, the world’s biggest party-cum–garage sale. In summer there’s an endless parade of festivals and events such as the Holland Festival, the Roots Music Festival and the outrageous Gay Pride parade, as well as delightful concerts on canal stages.

This city is too relaxed to stop being fun. To join in, all you need to pack is a few days’ attitude.

Den Haag, officially known as ’s-Gravenhage (‘the Count’s Hedge’), is the Dutch seat of governmentand home to the royal family. Prior to 1806, Den Haag was the Dutch capital. However, that year, Louis Bonaparte installed his government in Amsterdam. Eight years later, when the French had been ousted, the government returned to Den Haag, but the title of capital remained with Amsterdam.

Den Haag today is a stately, regal place filled with palatial embassies and mansions, green boulevards and parks, prestigious art galleries, a mouthwatering culinary scene, a clutch of tasty museums, and some throbbing nightlife. Plus it’s attached to the seaside suburb of Scheveningen, worth a visit for its lively kitsch and long stretch of beach.

In the 20th century Den Haag became the home of several international legal entities including the UN’s International Court of Justice and the Academy of International Law.

Rotterdam, the Netherlands’ ‘second city’, was bombed flat during WWII and spent the followingdecades rebuilding. You won’t find the classic Dutch medieval centre here – it was swept away along with the other rubble and detritus of war. In its place is an architectural aesthetic that’s unique in Europe, a progressive perpetual-motion approach to construction that’s clearly a result of the city’s postwar, postmodern ‘anything goes’ philosophy.

But tradition is strong elsewhere, for Rotterdam is Europe’s busiest port (and second in the world) – a lineage as a shipping nexus that dates back to 1572, when Spaniards being pursued by the rebel Sea Beggars were given shelter in the harbour. Rotterdam became a major port during the conflict, and it remains so to this day.

Rotterdam has a crackling energy, with superb nightlife, a multicultural community, a gritty arts scene, and a clutch of excellent museums. It also has a long-standing rivalry with Amsterdam, reflected in most aspects of culture. When local football team, Feyenoord, meets Ajax of Amsterdam, the fur always flies. And when Rotterdam unleashed its extreme form of techno, gabber, on the world in the early ’90s, one of its most enduring targets was Amsterdam: an early gabber single was memorably titled ‘Amsterdam, Waar Lech Dat Dan?’ (‘Amsterdam, Where the F*** is That?’).

Utrecht is one of the Netherlands’ oldest cities – not that you’d know it when you step off the train and findyourself lost in the maze that is the Hoog Catharijne shopping centre. The Hoog is huge…and it’s attached to the station…and it seemingly goes on forever…and ever. Never fear: it’s going to be destroyed soon. But fight your way through and you’ll emerge starry-eyed into a beautiful, vibrant, old-world city centre, ringed by striking 13th-century canal wharves. The wharves, well below street level, are unique to Utrecht, and the streets alongside brim with shops, restaurants and cafés.

In summer, Utrecht is Festival City, hosting various jazz events (you’ll see musicians on every corner) and the Netherlands Film Festival in September. Added to that, the city’s student community of 40, 000 is the largest in the country, making it one very infectious place.

Make no bones about it: Maastricht is utterly beautiful. The Crown Jewel of the south –maybe even theentire country – it’s about as far from windmills, clogs and tulips as you’d want. Much of the Netherlands has a ‘samey’ feel to it, but here there are Spanish and Roman ruins, cosmopolitan food, French and Belgian twists in the architecture, a shrugging off of the shackles of Dutch restraint. Even the landscape’s different: there are actually hilly streets and what passes for mountains ringing the centre. Unsurprisingly, many locals see themselves as a sophisticated breed apart from the north; by the same token, earthy northerners see posh Maastricht as having an identity crisis – are these people Dutch or what?

Spanning both banks of the Maas river, with a host of pavement cafés and lovely old cobblestone streets, Maastricht is renowned for world-class dining and an elegant atmosphere that’s exquisitely addictive. Hemmed in between Belgium and Germany, it has a pan-European flavour: the average citizen bounces easily between Dutch, English, French, German and Flemish (maybe more). Appropriately, the city hosted two key moments in the history of the EU: on 10 December 1991, the 12 members of the then European Community met to sign the treaty for economic, monetary and political union; they reconvened the following February to sign the treaty creating the EU.

No Netherlands itinerary is complete without visiting Maastricht. If you’re heading this way by rail or road to Belgium, you’d be doing yourself a disservice to bypass this wonderful town.