Netherlands Travel Guide

Royal Palace Amsterdam is one of the Netherlands' finest Baroque buildings. Built 1648-1665 as a town hall, it features the magnificent Citizens' Hall (marble floor world maps, painted sky dome) — on Dam Square. Built 1648-1665 as Amsterdam's Town Hall. Converted to palace under Napoleon. Citizens' Hall — world map floor and painted sky dome. On Dam Square — Amsterdam's center.

The Rijksmuseum anchors Amsterdam's Museumplein, opened in 1885 as the Netherlands' grandest art and history museum. Its must-see is Rembrandt's Night Watch, a 3.6-metre-wide civic guard portrait whose glass-fronted hall is permanently ringed by crowds; Vermeer's Milkmaid and a superb Delftware collection share the galleries. Few visitors realize the formal gardens behind the building are free to enter and fill with cherry blossom in spring. Plan for half a day, and book a timed ticket online to skip the queue at the door.

The Van Gogh Museum, on Amsterdam's Museumplein, holds the world's largest Van Gogh collection: more than 200 paintings, nearly 500 drawings and 700 letters, spanning the gloomy Potato Eaters to the Sunflowers, Almond Blossom and Wheatfield with Crows of the south. The permanent display runs chronologically — Nuenen to Paris, Arles, Saint-Remy and Auvers — with letters and canvases telling one blazing decade like a biography. Photography is not allowed, keeping eyes on the paint; the audio guide and family trail are excellent. It sits beside the Rijksmuseum for an easy same-day pairing. Timed tickets must be bought online ahead; Fridays run late to 21:00. One of Europe's most-visited museums, and deservedly so.

Peace Palace is the symbol of international law and peace. Built 1907-1913 with Carnegie funding, it houses the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) — The Hague's most important building. Built 1907-1913; Carnegie-funded. Neo-Renaissance style. Houses ICJ and PCA. Gifts from nations worldwide. Visitor center with multimedia exhibits.

Giethoorn, deep in the Overijssel polders, is a roadless village often called the Venice of the North. Peat cutters in the 18th century hauled up heaps of goat horns from the riverbed — hence the name. Canals weave between reed-thatched farmhouses, linked by 176 wooden arched bridges, with electric whisper boats moored at every door. Drifting through the reeds you hear only water and birds; in winter the canals freeze and villagers skate to each other's doors. Rent a boat early in the morning to beat the crowds, or walk the towpaths past flower bridges for the village at its most everyday.

Hoge Veluwe National Park, in the central province of Gelderland, covers some 5,500 hectares — the largest continuous nature reserve in the Netherlands. Heather moorland, drifting sand, old oaks and fens shelter red deer, wild boar and mouflon. The park's charm: 1,800 white bicycles, free to borrow at the entrances, and cycle lanes weaving through the heath in the most Dutch way imaginable. At its heart sits the Kroller-Muller Museum, home to the world's second-largest Van Gogh collection — over 90 paintings and nearly 200 drawings — plus Monet, Renoir, Picasso and a sculpture garden of modern classics. Nature, cycling and art woven into one perfect day.