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Rough Guides
Top things to do in Holland
Must-see Holland sights
Delve deep in Holland and you will find a diminutive country with a heavyweight cultural heritage: its A-list of art superstars such as Van Gogh, rivals that of any country, and you could easily spend a solid week just scraping the surface of its museums.- Head to buzzing Amsterdam
- Discover Haarlem, a nearby city to Amsterdam
- Visit the cute city of Delft
- Enjoy vibrant Rotterdam
- See the highest church tower in Holland
- Discover an exciting student city
- Enjoy a cheese feast!
Dutch cities provide plenty of architectural eye candy with pretty gabled houses and peaceful canals perfect for aimless wandering, while its flat fertile landscape means cycling can get you almost anywhere.
1. Head to buzzing Amsterdam
Amsterdam’s compact Old Centre contains many of the city’s attractions and takes about forty minutes to walk across. Centraal Station lies on its northern edge, and from here the city fans south in a web of concentric canals (grachts), surrounded by expanding suburbs. To the south is the city’s main square and energetic party venue, Leidseplein, with the leafy Vondelpark and Museum quarter just over the Singelgracht to the south. The Jordaan to the northwest features mazy cobbled streets. Spot the many canals trickling through the city too.
Best for: The perfect introduction to Holland
While you’re there: Don’t miss the outstanding Van Gogh Museum which features paintings from the artist's earlier years.
2. Discover Haarlem, a nearby city to Amsterdam
Just over fifteen minutes from Amsterdam by train, Haarlem is a handsome, mid-sized town that can be easily explored in a few hours. It also makes a good alternative base to Amsterdam at busy times. Those after a decent pint will also love the Jopenkerk, a church converted into a brewery. The core of Haarlem is Grote Markt and the adjoining Riviervismarkt, flanked by the gabled, originally fourteenth-century Stadhuis. Inside, the mighty Christian Müller organ of 1738 is said to have been played by Handel and Mozart.
Best for: A day trip from Amsterdam
While you’re there: The town’s main attraction is the wonderful Frans Hals Museum, that houses his lifelike seventeenth-century portraits.
3. Visit the cute city of Delft
Delft, 2km inland from Den Haag, is perhaps best known for Delftware, the delicate blue and white ceramics to which the town gave its name in the seventeenth century, and as the home of the painter Johannes Vermeer. With its gabled red-roofed houses standing beside tree-lined canals, the town has a faded tranquillity - though one that can suffer beneath the tourist onslaught in summer. Delft’s main square, the Markt, is framed by the impressive Nieuwe Kerk.
Best for: Cultural Holland
While you’re there: A fifteen-minute walk south of the centre is the Royal Delft Experience where you can see Delftware being painted.
4. Enjoy vibrant Rotterdam
Looming skyscrapers, gritty docklands - Rotterdam is the Netherlands but not as we know it. The largest seaport in Europe, Rotterdam’s urban landscape is largely a result of the hammering it received during World War II when bombing completely levelled the city. Today, with its elegant Erasmus bridge, playful Blaak cube houses and the vast Tetris-block “De Rotterdam”, the city can boast some of the most adventurous architecture in the world. There’s also plenty to keep you entertained, including a great museum park, the bohemian Witte de Wittstraat artistic quarter and, last but not least, the welcoming and independent-spirited Rotterdammers themselves. Looking for Holland holiday packages? We’ve certainly got you covered!
Best for: A vibrant city
While you’re there: Rotterdam has an exciting food scene with a range of cuisines from Japanese to Indian.
5. See the highest church tower in Holland
A short hop from Amsterdam, Utrecht, with its world-class university, stunning medieval architecture and canals full of people lazily boating about in summer, has an almost Oxbridge feel. The city is perhaps best known for the 1713 Peace of Utrecht, a series of treaties which ended the War of the Spanish Succession. Its focal point is the fourteenth-century 110m-high Dom Tower - the highest church tower in the country.
Best for: A day trip from Amsterdam
While you’re there: A one-hour guided tour takes you unnervingly close to the top, from where you can see Rotterdam and Amsterdam on a clear day.
6. Discover an exciting student city
Squashed between the Belgian and German borders, Maastricht is one of the most delightful cities in the Netherlands. A university town popular with foreign students, it made a fitting location for the 1992 treaty that established the modern EU and the euro (you’ll find € symbols decorating the pavement). The trendy Wyck quarter is home to a cluster of bars, restaurants and the city’s most interesting shopping street, Rechstraat. It’s worthy of a couple of nights to explore properly.
Best for: Student vibes
While you're there: If you can, try to time your visit to coincide with the excellent pinkpop music festival (mid-June) in nearby Landgraaf.
7. Enjoy a cheese feast!
What to do in Holland if you like cheese? Head to Gouda of course! A pretty little town some 25km northeast of Rotterdam, Gouda makes an enchanting day-trip. Its Markt - the largest in the Netherlands - hosts a touristy cheese market every Thursday (April to late Aug), an event that dates from the Middle Ages when farmers would barter their goods using a handjeklap (hand-clapping) ritual.
Best for: Cheese fans
While you're there: Note that Gouda can also easily be reached from Utrecht and The Hague too.
